It’s Monday. After a relaxing weekend spent mostly indoors, we decided to get our butts out of the apartment early today. “Early” means sometime before noon. We did well. With shopping bags in hand we headed to Piazza dei Frutti just after 10am. Our goals were modest: pickup some tasty cheeses and bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and then pick up ingredients for linguine alla puttanesca for dinner. The seafood vendor always has fresh anchovies filleted on his marble table for sale, and I wanted to try these when making a sauce with fresh tomatoes. Alas, not realizing that it was the day after Sunday, the seafood vendor was closed. Since the fishermen are off Sundays, there’s no fresh catch to sell today. I’ll have to put off making puttanesca until later this week, but I’ll pick up the Gaeta olives and capers today.
We made our way to the Pam grocery store and picked up what we’d need for lunch: sliced Pugliese bread and a trio of cheeses – scamorza affumicata, taleggio, and camoscio d’oro. Of course we picked up more sweets: palmine, crostata (I think we got cherry), and some dark chocolate wafer cookies for Cinzia. The melon looked good and we got what is probably the last of the peach crop for the season. Yesterday was the first day of autumn and today they had chestnuts in the store, so panettone isn’t too far behind. After dropping them off at the apartment we went to Bottega dei Freschi on the corner to pick up San Benedetto lemon iced tea for me and a 4-pack of their acqua frizzante for Cinzia. Time for lunch. The grilled cheese sandwiches were great! The robust bread was crisp and buttery with just the right number of holes to let some of the cheese melt through and get toasted in the frying pan. You know what I mean. The mix of cheeses was good too, but the camoscio d’oro got lost among the more pungent pair. We were finished before 1pm, so Cinzia cleaned up and put a load of laundry into the machine. These washing/drying machines are terrible. They take hours to complete one tiny load and they’re never dry. She did a load of 3 shirts, a towel, a few pairs of underwear and a sock yesterday and the machine ran for 3 hours only to produce hot, damp clothes – and keep in mind that we can’t run the stove during this time or we’ll blow the fuse. So now it’s quiet. Cinzia is finishing her book “Life After Life” and I’m finishing this Ritter Sport Bianco con Nocciole Intere bar while I type this blog.
So, the title, “€4,25 Will Get You Almost Anywhere”. We’ve taken 3 day trips outside of Padova so far; once to Vicenza, once to Venezia, and once to Cittadella. The tickets for the train, or bus, are always the same: €4,25 each way per person, so for €17 we can get there and back. I’ve already blogged about our trip to Vicenza, so let’s talk about the other two.
We hopped the train to Venezia just before noon one day. It arrives about 26 minutes later, giving us ample time to settle down in a restaurant for lunch. Our favorite spot, Osteria Campana, only offers the seppia for dinner, so we settled for a small pizzeria with an air-conditioned interior. After sharing a so-so pizza, we continued our walk through the maze of Venice. Cinzia had a plan. She led us across the Grand Canal where we could look across at Piazza San Macro and the Doge’s Palace (and the throngs of tourists). We sat on the steps of the church and watched the gondolas and water taxis navigate this way and that. I think we got some good photos and videos. Have a look at our photo and video galleries and let us know what you think. After looking in more shops and stopping for a drink, we decided to get back to Osteria Campana early for dinner before it filled up. The seppia were as good as I remembered and Cinzia enjoyed her artichoke and walnut pasta too. It was getting dark as we finished, so I followed Cinzia as she expertly led us back to the train station in time to catch our ride back home. We’ll probably go back two or three times during this trip.
We were feeling fine that evening, but by the next morning we were feeling our age. Cinzia’s fitness watch recorded 20,000 steps, and some of those were up and down bridges. Her calves were aching and my lower back was killing me, though perhaps more from this terrible chair I’m sitting in and our very low loveseat in the living room. Anyway, the next 2 days were days of rest. On the third day we made plans to see Cittadella. They were hosting a 3-day festival that weekend and we wanted to see part of it. Armed with four €4,25 tickets we made our way to the bus stop. We took a bus there (better seats), but the train back. The city is tiny enough to see in an afternoon. The older walled city center is shaped like an oval with 4 gates, or ports, at the axis. Since we were coming from Padova, we entered the city through the Porta Padova. At the center of the oval is the Duomo where a couple was getting married. Their wedding car, a Pontiac Firebird, was filled with balloons. The couple was tossing the balloons to family, friends, and bystanders who were popping them – apparently for good luck. We joined in, of course. Some students came by and cheered, then everyone piled in for a wedding photo (I’m the tall guy behind the bride if you ever see the photo somewhere). Next we found a lovely restaurant and had a seat at one of their outdoor tables. Great food – bigoli with duck and pomegranate seeds for me and strozzapreti with mushrooms, bacon, and pumpkin for Cinzia. Two couples that I had given directions to happened to find themselves at the same restaurant seated at the table next to us. (Don’t ask me why or how I was the one giving directions – especially since they only spoke Italian.) After lunch we headed straight across to the Porta Bassano where the tourist information office was located. They sold tickets which allowed you to walk up to the parapets and around the city walls for €5 each. The walls look intact, and the other two ports, Porta Vicenza and Porta Treviso, were reconstructed after falling down. It was pretty high up and the parapet was rather narrow, but if vertigo isn’t a problem, then it gives you a great view of the city within. Almost as soon as we start out walk, the same two couples from the restaurant joined us. I guess this is the tourist thing to do. They were from Milan and visiting Cittadella. By the time we went 180° back to the Porta Padova, we were ready to end this ride. We took a few photos, and the Italians took some of us too, and were able to head down the steps back into the city in search of a gelato. We found a very good one too. Apparently tiny Cittadella has 4 gelaterie within the old city walls. The pistacchio and fior di latte I selected were the best gelato I’ve had so far on this trip. After a quick look inside the duomo, we headed towards the fair area. There were a few stalls filled with vendors selling homemade toys, honey, herbs, candles and the usual Renaissance Fair stuff you’d find in the States. The re-enactors were still setting up their “camps” and getting into costume. With few crowds and the day wearing on us, we decided to call it a day and headed to the train station for our ride home to Padova.
We hopped the train to Venezia just before noon one day. It arrives about 26 minutes later, giving us ample time to settle down in a restaurant for lunch. Our favorite spot, Osteria Campana, only offers the seppia for dinner, so we settled for a small pizzeria with an air-conditioned interior. After sharing a so-so pizza, we continued our walk through the maze of Venice. Cinzia had a plan. She led us across the Grand Canal where we could look across at Piazza San Macro and the Doge’s Palace (and the throngs of tourists). We sat on the steps of the church and watched the gondolas and water taxis navigate this way and that. I think we got some good photos and videos. Have a look at our photo and video galleries and let us know what you think. After looking in more shops and stopping for a drink, we decided to get back to Osteria Campana early for dinner before it filled up. The seppia were as good as I remembered and Cinzia enjoyed her artichoke and walnut pasta too. It was getting dark as we finished, so I followed Cinzia as she expertly led us back to the train station in time to catch our ride back home. We’ll probably go back two or three times during this trip.
We were feeling fine that evening, but by the next morning we were feeling our age. Cinzia’s fitness watch recorded 20,000 steps, and some of those were up and down bridges. Her calves were aching and my lower back was killing me, though perhaps more from this terrible chair I’m sitting in and our very low loveseat in the living room. Anyway, the next 2 days were days of rest. On the third day we made plans to see Cittadella. They were hosting a 3-day festival that weekend and we wanted to see part of it. Armed with four €4,25 tickets we made our way to the bus stop. We took a bus there (better seats), but the train back. The city is tiny enough to see in an afternoon. The older walled city center is shaped like an oval with 4 gates, or ports, at the axis. Since we were coming from Padova, we entered the city through the Porta Padova. At the center of the oval is the Duomo where a couple was getting married. Their wedding car, a Pontiac Firebird, was filled with balloons. The couple was tossing the balloons to family, friends, and bystanders who were popping them – apparently for good luck. We joined in, of course. Some students came by and cheered, then everyone piled in for a wedding photo (I’m the tall guy behind the bride if you ever see the photo somewhere). Next we found a lovely restaurant and had a seat at one of their outdoor tables. Great food – bigoli with duck and pomegranate seeds for me and strozzapreti with mushrooms, bacon, and pumpkin for Cinzia. Two couples that I had given directions to happened to find themselves at the same restaurant seated at the table next to us. (Don’t ask me why or how I was the one giving directions – especially since they only spoke Italian.) After lunch we headed straight across to the Porta Bassano where the tourist information office was located. They sold tickets which allowed you to walk up to the parapets and around the city walls for €5 each. The walls look intact, and the other two ports, Porta Vicenza and Porta Treviso, were reconstructed after falling down. It was pretty high up and the parapet was rather narrow, but if vertigo isn’t a problem, then it gives you a great view of the city within. Almost as soon as we start out walk, the same two couples from the restaurant joined us. I guess this is the tourist thing to do. They were from Milan and visiting Cittadella. By the time we went 180° back to the Porta Padova, we were ready to end this ride. We took a few photos, and the Italians took some of us too, and were able to head down the steps back into the city in search of a gelato. We found a very good one too. Apparently tiny Cittadella has 4 gelaterie within the old city walls. The pistacchio and fior di latte I selected were the best gelato I’ve had so far on this trip. After a quick look inside the duomo, we headed towards the fair area. There were a few stalls filled with vendors selling homemade toys, honey, herbs, candles and the usual Renaissance Fair stuff you’d find in the States. The re-enactors were still setting up their “camps” and getting into costume. With few crowds and the day wearing on us, we decided to call it a day and headed to the train station for our ride home to Padova.
The Ritter Sport is done, but the washing machine is still running and Cinzia is taking up the loveseat reading the last few pages of her book. After that lunch, I’ll be having tortellini in brodo for dinner and Cinzia will make herself a farro salad. She reminded me that we have 5 weeks left in Italy before flying home on the 29th. Where has the time gone?