Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . . : Padua … Take two

Monday 28 May 2018

Padua … Take two

We left the campsite at Rosolina Mare this morning and set off for Padua.

We were here last week in heavy rain so barely even got out to look around and I`m so glad we made the effort to return even if we are really just killing time waiting for this dam part !

When we arrived it looked like they had just had a rain shower and we feared the worst, surely we couldn`t be rained off here again ?

We need not have worried, the shower freshened things up and the sun soon came out and it was another hot day.

The old town has some very beautiful historic buildings and is a very old University town. The University now is quite large and it has a very strong influence on the city. There are a lot of students about and they are clearly very well catered for in Padua with lots of sushi restaurants and juice bars.

We parked close to Prato della Valle which is a large square with an oval shaped park with a moat around the island and around 70 classic stone statues standing guard around it and a central fountain. It is a very elegant park, perhaps the most elegant I can think of. There are good views of Abbey de Santa Guistina although the buildings next door are undergoing renovation works.

We wandered the lanes and went to the famous Cappella degli Scrovegni.

Built in 1303 by Enrico Scrovegni, hoping to spare his dead father, a usuer (Usury is, as defined today, the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. Originally, usury meant interest of any kind), from eternal damnation in hell, as described by Dante in his poem Inferno. Who know`s if he succeeded ?

It is decorated inside by famous fresco`s by Giotto between 1303 and 1305. They depicted Christ`s life and apparently had a great influence on classic art in the years that followed. Anyway we couldn’t go in, you have to buy tickets in advance and numbers are strictly limited.

From the exterior it is the plainest chapel you could ever imaging and certainly doesn’t look 14^th century. I even checked Google maps to make sure we were stood next the correct building. It`s also undergoing renovation so was covered mostly by builders equipment.

So it was an enjoyable day, the city is quite compact and easy to explore without any great excursion and I`m very glad we returned to visit this fine city.

Tonight we are parked up at the Sosta on the outskirts of the city (GPS 45.44205 11.89188). Just one other Belgium motorhome as a neighbour for tonight.

This dam part still hasn`t turned up, if it doesn`t arrive at the Venice campsite first thing in the morning we will head off as we can`t wait around here any longer. We`ll have to make other arrangements, maybe if I ask nicely they will be willing to forward it to another campsite if we stay somewhere a few days ? Or to UK.

So that plan didn`t really work out well.