When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet - Venice Part 4

On Saturday, I went off script and took the train to Padua to see the Scrovegni Chapel which has some of the most famous and fragile frescoes you have never heard of. 

 

The train was really simple, I took a boat to get to the station and in the process captured these great shots from my amazing seat at the back of the boat:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there, it was really simple to buy a train ticket and find the right train.  Italy is actually easier for that then the NL - most signs are in both languages and have all the stops listed.  Either that, or I'm just getting better at navigating.

 

 

View from the train over the lagoon

 

Once there, I went straight for the chapel:

 



 

 

The chapel has timed entrances only and you only get 15 minutes in there at your designated time.  You have to watch a 15 minute video in a room just before hand to de-humidify you.  The video was good.  There were also interactive exhibits and more art in other parts of the museum, but the highlight was definitely the chapel.  The Last Judgement was crazy good - I actually liked the whole experience a lot more than the Sistine and equally to the Last Supper in Milan.  It's really impressive.  The art museum I would skip if I could do it again.  I saw the famous stuff, but it wasn't very well signed so I got lost and couldn't get out.  All of the docents were Italian women who spoke Italian only and so I ended up with an extra 30 minutes trying to find a way out.  Good thing there wasn't a fire!

 

 

After that, I headed to the Basilica of St Anthony, which is technically Vatican soil.  It's one of the most famous pilgrimage sites within Catholism and I was surprised that it was just as busy or more than St Mark's, but mostly with locals and real Catholics, rather than tourists.  The basilica is beautiful and you definitely get the sense that it's holy ground for a lot of people.

 

St Anthony is credited with helping people find love and with saving babies (patron saint of pregnant women and for infertility).  There were lots of marriage invites and pictures of babies around his tomb and people praying there.  I said a quick prayer out of tradition - can't hurt.

 

 



 

The Basilica

After the Basilica, I wandered the streets of Padua, got some Gelato and an aperitif and then headed back to Venice

St Mark's square at dusk, headed back to the hotel on the boat:

 

 Forgot to post earlier, but this was my best shot of a dry St Mark's square:

 

 

 

 

This was the tackiest place I saw in Venice - an American steakhouse.  I wouldn't touch that food with a 10 foot pole!  To be honest though, Venice wasn't for eating.  The food in Rome and Milan was a lot better - it's very touristy in Venice, making it hard to find a good hole in the wall.