Day 5 — 6, 8 Padua - 2022 Spring Forward While We Can

Day 5 — 6, 8 Padua

On foot, no bikes

We are settled into Padua / Padova and it is a delight. No biking because of city density and deep cobblestones so skip this part if you are looking for that info.

The first few days here we spent on foot doing extensive walks (8-10 miles per day) and absorbing life in this university town. Notice how we keep ending up in places that have higher education? It really is an accident or maybe our subconscious at work.

Padua has 60,000 students along with regular residents. They don‘t all live locally, the train is extremely full, and yet many stay fairly late into the evening. We dip our toes into the university buildings, finding a music department and the anatomy labs. The layers of education are everywhere from the first university botanical garden (1545) to the digital ads for the engineering department.

Morning view from Padua apartment. Balconies do more than dry laundry.

Pollarded trees near apartment. Would love to see this in July.

Cheese and bakeries are features of life here that we embrace. We don‘t go out to eat and tend to shop at the Coop/Spar/PAM so this isn’t fancy food. The range of cheeses in the convenience store is enough to make you weep — in the first day we had a fresh mozzarella that was the perfect amount of stringyness and water, a scamorza with the slightest hint of smokiness, and a stracchino with a whole new flavor profile. No pictures because, well, they were eaten quickly and honestly they are not glamorous.

As to bakeries — a huge range is available. The individual pizzas and quiches heat up perfectly at home. The polentina apple cake (not polenta despite name) disappears quickly. Arancini balls filled with ragu and peas for walking lunch. Good bread is harder to find which is odd. Buying daily rolls seems like the best option.

Local advert done in mosaic. The name changes and the mosaic can too.

Piazze delle erbe and frutta. Both sides of this market place have open-air stalls. Recent re-location of the market spots from the obvious (erbe=Herbs, frutta=fruit) has led to the need for signs re-directing locals.

Toothpick battlefield. All have a warrior name.

Zucchini blossoms ready to cook up. So plentiful here that they are even at convenience stores.

Early digital clock — the corners show date and time in Arabic numbers. Central clock face has Roman numerals.

The Basilica of St. Anthony has the science of visiting down to an art. No pictures inside nor graffiti writing etc.

Eremitani museum. (Loads of amazing frescoes here in the chapel but no pics allowed.)

Geometric shapes fit together. Imperfect repetition did not bother Romans in this outpost.

Huge oval park that has 500 vendors spring up on Saturday. Everything from garden pruners to winter coats and housewares available along with usual fruit and veg vendors.

Bombastic Prices indeed — all available at market today just for you.

Zelda in market on laundry day, hence all the layers of random clothing.

Most shoes are about 15 euros. Yellow color is huge this year even before Ukraine invasion. Easily 50 shoe vendors at Saturday stalls.

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Rachael AndersonLooks like a great place to explore by foot!
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2 years ago

Bob KoreisI enjoyed the photos, especially of you in front of the plant vendor. My wife is not having much luck with her lemon plant and the ones behind you look fantastico. We had a couple of nights in Padova back in 2019 and loved it. It's a right sized city, large enough to keep us occupied and small enough to feel accessible.
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2 years ago

Zelda MekCompletely agree about the right size. I could spend months here.
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2 years ago