The Veneto

Verona

May 8th to 12th

We left Bergamo and Lombardia and headed into what was for us uncharted territory: The Veneto. First stop was Verona. We found a hotel for four nights out of the Lonely Planet and spent the next days wandering around this beautiful city. Looped by the river the main section of town is a winding series of streets paved with pink marble. The main market area, though now full of stalls, is still quite stunning, and the castle contains an impressive museum. North of the market hangs the fossilised rib of a whale, said by legend to fall on the first just man to walk underneath it. It apparently hasn't fallen on two future popes. It didn't fall on me: why walk under it and disturb the pigeon perched on top? Just on the north side of the river out of the main loop are Roman ruins including a theatre facing the river. Churches abound as they do through the country.

The main feature of Verona would have to be The Arena. A 2000 year old ampitheatre constructed out of pink marble. The outer wall had been destroyed in an earthquake in 1700 odd (I think), but a small section remained. The rest of the ampitheatre was intact, one of the three largest. Not only that but it was consistently used for opera and other events (see box). Some sections have had some stone replaced but the majority was the original marble, polished by years of feet and bums. The Romans made this one to last.

We had several nights of Italian aperitivo, and one memorable meal underneath the covered walkway adjacent to a cobbled street. This was definitely a good way to pass the time. Unfortunately it was in Verona that my computer decided that it had had enough, which completely munted my plans on numerous activities I had forseen, not to mention the blog. What followed was weeks of trying to find a place to repair the machine and then two months of waiting for those repairs to be made. Don't get me started on Italians...

Padova (aka Padua)

May 12th to 19th

Next stop was Padova. We managed to book an apartment through a website for a week. After meeting the non-english-speaking owner and gesturing a lot, we paid for the week and settled into our three-and-a-half room apartment. The best bit: The Padova markets, quite rightly regarded as one of the best in Italy, was merely a few hundred metres away. We indulged. I think we only ate out two nights, and one of those was very average "Cinese". We basically cooked Italian food: plates of cured meats and cheeses, fresh made pasta and sauces, rolled meats stuffed with prosciutto and cheese, quail, and more. The only thing we didn't try was the suckling piglets. They looked a little too whole.

We did a few of the touristy things, but for the most part chilled out. We had a tour of the University, and wandered through the churches, well the free ones. St Anthony's contains his tomb and is a common place for people to go to ask for the gift of children, or to pray for those departed prematurely. It was quite an introduction to the vagaries of Italian churches, with sections for reliquaries and bits of dead saints. Definitely a change for an agnostic male WASP and atheist pom. We also managed a visit to the more austere church of St. Lukes, which supposedly had parts of the dead apostle. A monk changing flowers told us to walk around to tomb, and then questioned me and my intentions towards Hal all in Italian. Made for an entertaining visit.

One of the prime things to see in Padova is the Botanic Gardens. Neatly laid out in probably the same format for centuries, it has been a valuable adjunct to the University for years. It also contains the Goethe palm. Buggered if I can remember why that was important, but it is worth a visit.

Venezia (aka Venice)

May 16th

One trip we did do from Padova was to Venezia otherwise known to plebs as Venice. We got there by train, which seemed odd to me in the first place, but you can simply catch a train straight to the Grand Canal. What can I say about Venice. It is stunning and overwhelming, and full of Americans. The canals are superb and smelly -- dredging apparently removed the natural drainage -- and the buildings stunning and slowly crumbling. St Marks Square was a sea of people and pigeons with landmarks I didn't even know I knew. The Grand Canal is one of the great architectural wonders of the world and simply teeming with boats of all shapes and sizes.

We didn't go to any churches, and we only went to one guild. We wandered the streets as they are and soaked in the sights. And neither of us wanted to go back: it's overwhelming to the point of exhaustion. I think I might try going again, but only in low season. I know that was a really crap retelling. I just simply cannot think of something else to say about this place. One of those "must go" and maybe never return kind of places.

Hal's additional thoughts: firstly, we really should've read up on the place before we went there - neither of us was remotely prepared for it, we had no real idea of what 'highlights' we wanted to see, and, as Sam said, we were completely overwhelmed. It's an absolutely beautiful place, and a part of me wishes we could've seen it in it's 1800s heyday - there's an overall slight aura of decay to it now, like the city knows it's had it's heyday, but it's still stunning. Low season could be good, since I'm assuming there would be slightly fewer people, but the sheer amount of things to be seen would still be the same! I'm really glad we went, since I really wanted to see Venice, but may never return. Whatever season you go in, ending your day with a ferry ride from the mouth of the Grand Canal all the way back up to the train station is definitely a good idea...

Summary

Time for a rating frenzy. So here are my purely scientifically spanked and mathematically frequented ratings of each town:

• Verona: three pink marble stars and a piece of pre-chewed gum.
• Padova: four rolled pork and cheese roasts covered in prosciutto.
• Venice: three thousand pigeons and two gobsmacked faces.