Italy - Padova/Verona/Trieste

Finally the beginning of the trip.. Strange this feeling, the end of the preparation? Or the start of something else?

So we took the night train from Paris to Padova and found ourselves with seven other people in a cabin thought for six! We really love big families with a bunch of small kids! :/

The first city in our itinerary: Padova! We really enjoyed walking around the city and its pedestrian zones during a sunny day. Italy is not that exotic for us because we have already visited this country a lot! A smooth beginning as one might say... 

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In Padova, the city of San Antonio, a Lisbon native and his luxurious complex:

 

We also enjoyed the Prato della Valle, a round garden surrounded with statues and water: 

And the S. Luc’s Tomb at the Basilica of St. Giustina: 

 

 

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The first thing we learned of this trip is that time flies so while we were waiting at the station we went to the bookshop and started planning our days in Syria and in Iran thanks to the Lonely Planet Guides there, in Italian of course! ;)

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Next Verona! Oh bella Verona!! We were hosted by a wonderful couple who shared with us their passion of this city and its History. We had a four hours walk around all the main tourist attractions but also around some hidden curiosities of the city. Indeed, there are not only the fake Juliet’s balcony and the Arena but a lot of wonderful churches (San Zeno, San Fermo, San Lorenzo, etc.), and traces of the Romans, the Austrians and the Venetians! What else to say from a city where even the Cemetery has a monumental entrance...

 View of Verona

San Zeno

 

 Arena and Via Mazzini

 

 Statue of Juliet and the balcony

 

 Entrance of Juliet's house with the chewing gum of love..

 San Fermo - Lower church

Duomo

 Piazza Erbe

 Roman Door

The half metre pizza!! :))

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There we realized some thermal clothes would be necessary. Weather in continental Europe at the end of January is really not that warm and an extra stop at Decathlon was needed.

Also cleaning our clothes by hand in a sink and having it dried will be a much more significant task than we could have imagined before leaving! ;)

 

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Trieste is definitively a frontier territory, an Italian city really influenced by the Austro-Hungarian domination, then part of the separation between Western Europe and the Communist bloc, and for some times between EU and non EU countries.. but now fully integrated in Central Europe.

Maybe this disturbed History explains a relative tolerance toward religions and the city is marked by a multiplicity of cult places from different religions. Even the cemetery is divided in various areas by religion.

Trieste welcomed some famous writers like James Joyce, the explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton, and is filled with ancient caffè where we thought we touched the atmosphere of the beginning of the 20th centuries.

 Caffè San Marco

 

Caffè Tommaseo

 

Luis, James Joyce & Paola, our couchsurfing hostess..

 

We also enjoyed the Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia and its monumental palazzi:

 Palazzo del Governo

City Hall

View of the city from the Castello di San Giusto