In Padova.

August 10, 2023

Today is the last day of our trip, so we thought we'd take the 25 minute train ride to Padova and explore this stunning town once again. We'd been in Padova in 2016, and we always remembered it as a very beautiful city. It's a city that lies low under the tourism radar, and doesn't get the same attention as places like Verona, Venice and Milan, but, in our opinion it's just as impressive.

Padova is a very ancient city, and is one of the oldest in northern Italy. It also has the 5th oldest university in the world, and Galileo and Copernicus are said to have taught here. It is full of attractive Venetian architecture, covered porticos, ancient Roman ruins, and has one of the oldest astronomical clocks still in working order.

Plus, it's citizens are bicycle crazy. But, we hardly saw any new bikes at all. Throughout the day, we saw very old bikes being ridden around by both young and old. I'm talking about bikes that are between 50-70 years old, and many of them did not look to be in good working order; but, they were still functional and apparently served their purpose shuttling their owners around town. I'm not sure what this was all about. But, it sure did seem to be a common thing around town. I regret not taking more photos of the really old ones, as some of them had very interesting designs, and components.

Below are some shots of our day in Padova.

Padova's market has been continuously running at the Piazza delle Erbe for 800 years.

One of the 'newer' bikes. I just liked this shot.

Here is Padova's astronomical clock built in 1344. It sits high above the Piazza dei Signori. What is interesting about this clock is that it only has 11 of the astronomical signs, with Libra missing. There are many theories about why this might be. The one I find most intriguing tells that some workers were not paid for the work they did on the clock; and since Libra's symbol is the balance scale representing justice and equality, the workers left it out.

Can you tell what time and date we were here by looking at the clock?

This shot is taken from directly under the clock. Here we're looking out at the Piazza dei Signori.

Padova is full of covered porticos. This one here is lined with butchers and peschieras.

Looking up at the frescos of the Palazzo della Ragione. An old Venetian style town hall used for governance, markets, trade and city administration.

Covered Porticos of Padova. Here I am eyeing up a big leg of prosciutto. It's too bad, I can't take any food items back into Canada!

Old. But, not as old as some. Kind of like me.

Here we're approaching the old Jewish quarter. Padova is said to be one of the most important centers of medieval Judaism (since the 1300's) where students from all over the world came to attend the rabbinical academy as well as a medical school. However, upon further reading, the Jewish community later faced incredible discrimination and treatment by various groups conquering Padova over the years.

Chiesa degli Eremitani. This is an interesting church in Europe because it consists of a single nave, with a ship's hull ceiling rebuilt after World War II following the original model.

If you ever get a chance to visit Padova, we highly recommend it. It's a beautiful city. It's incredible that it's only a 30 minute train from the hoards of tourists flooding into Venice, yet you feel that its not overrun by the likes of people like us. What a great way to end our trip.

As I write this, the bikes are packed away in boxes and tomorrow we begin the long day of travel back to Vancouver.

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Scott AndersonGreat gallery! Padova is on our list for a proper visit someday. We ended our spring tour here with Suzanne and Janos, but didn’t really see any of what’s obviously a city worth some exploration.
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1 year ago

Kelly IniguezIs this the same as Padua? RWGPS insists that's where I want to be. It is close to Venice. ??
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1 year ago

Rachael AndersonTo Kelly IniguezYes, it is!
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1 year ago

Patrick O'HaraTo Kelly IniguezHi Kelly. Rachael is correct, they're the same place. Italians call it Padova, and for some reason the rest of the world call it Padua.
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1 year ago