Village Italy - 2014
Padua, Italy
Saturday, September 6
Arrived and our first day in Padua, Itay
After arriving in Rome, we took a connecting flight to Venice.
From the Venice airport we had a one hour cab ride to Padua
arriving at our hotel, the Albergo Al Fagiano at 7:30 in the evening.
Since this was our first time in Padua we wanted more time to
experience the city before the tour started the following Monday.
After checking into the hotel we got a restaurant recommendation
from the desk clerk and enjoyed our first of many great Italian
dinners before going to bed. Since leaving home, we had been
up for 31 hours and were really tired.
With a map and our guidebook be spent the day exploring Padua. Our first stop was the Basilica of Sr. Anthony located a few steps from our hotel. We spent more than an hour touring the Basilica and its many beautiful courtyards. Construction of the Basilica began in 1281 and was completed in 1310.
For supper we chose a restaurant recommended in Rick Steves guidebook. We decided on Pago Pago, a small family run restaurant located on a very narrow street offering a variety of Italian dishes including wood–fired Neapolitan pizzas.
Dianne ordered a sea food platter with shrimp, lobster, octopus and mussels. I ate a pasta dish in a tomato sauce, tomato’s and tossed in a buffalo ricotta cheese. The food was wonderful.
Basilica of St. Anthony
Albergo Al Fagiano
Sunday, September 7
We started our day in Padua with breakfast
in the hotel courtyard.
Pago Pago
Monday, September 8
The tour didn’t start until later in the day, so we took advantage of the time we had to see the areas of Padua not included in the tour.
All the members of our tour group met for the first time in the hotel breakfast room at 5:00 in the afternoon.
There were 24 people on the tour. After everyone introduced themselves our tour guide, Lisa Anderson and her assistant David Tordi, gave a short review of all the things we will be doing over the next 13 days.
We then walked a few blocks to Trattoria al Pralo for our first group dinner.
Map of the tour
Tuesday, September 9
Following breakfast, the tour group met in the lobby of the hotel. We then started our day visiting Scrovegni Chapel. The small chapel, built in 1303, was filled with frescoes on both the walls and ceiling. The frescoes are considered some of the greatest artistic masterpieces of all time.
The market in Piazza Signori
Dianne at a market stand that is selling sewing supplies
In the evening we returned to Pago Pago for dinner. We enjoyed our meal at the restaurant yesterday and since it was close to our hotel we return. This time we ordered a wood-fired Neapolitan pizza.
© 2014. 2015 Bill Juffernbruch