Mantova / Mantua

When we left Grottomare we knew we had a 4 hour 17min trip on the motorway to get to Mantova. We thought we would go on the motorway as the secondary roads would have taken 6 hours 20mins. 8 hours later we arrived 😬 we averaged 50km/hour on the motorway, the traffic was so heavy. We thought it was busy at the first services area but we managed to get a coffee and go to the toilet. The 2nd service area we couldn’t get in the door! 3rd service area we got in the door, lined up in a very long line to go to the toilet. They had some amazing buffet style food there and even though there was a big crowd it all moved along very quickly so after fish & chips for me and roast pork for Neil we were back on the road.
Neil did brilliantly navigating the traffic. We have heard horrendous things about Italian drivers but we have found them to be ‘confident’ but not dangerous. Mind you, speed limits are set but not always adhered to. You can travel at 130km on the motorways here and apart from today it usually flows really well. There has been minimal tooting and if the traffic is slowing quickly on the motorway people put their hazard lights on as a warning to slow down now!

Random thoughts as we were driving:
Bottle caps stay attached - fantastic way to reduce waste
Snacks here are sweet rather than savoury
Wine bottles have corks - no screw tops
Cash is king - they take cards but they prefer cash.
At service areas and cafe’s espresso is served in tiny cups and people stand at the counter and drink them quickly and go. Obviously just need caffeine hit.
At a lot of cafe’s, restaurants you ask for a wine and they say white or red? No wine list, no choice, just take what you get. Makes you try a lot of different wines, if only you had a name so you knew what you were drinking 😂
Some Cafe’s & Bars seem to rely on an honesty system when it comes to payment. I was watching this young guy flying around taking drink orders last night, none of it was written down with no set tables and I said to Neil, I have no idea how they will keep track of all these orders. When we went up to pay they said “what did you have?” Same thing happened at the Seafood Restaurant. They must miss out on so much money!

We chose Mantova, also known as Mantua, because we are heading North to the Lakes District and it was on our way. It is known for its Arts Culture & food. It is on the edge of a small lake. We had a high of 24 degrees today with low humidity, a welcome change from the recent weather.
We wandered into town today after going around the lake front and discovered a treasure trove of food shops through about 4 different piazza’s. I felt very under dressed as people were coming out for Sunday lunch and they do it in style. We found a lovely cafe and sat in the back, inside, to hide our lack of culture! People were drinking Aperol which seems to be the local drink. One cafe had giant bottles of Aperol and Campari on the tables, I think to reserve them for later clients.
I knew Mantova had a Palace so I suggested we take a look, Neil was very good about it, even though he mentioned that the castle/palace budget had reached its limit.
Ducale Palace was amazing, even Neil was impressed. The artwork on ceilings & walls were mind blowing. This castle has over a thousand rooms and I don’t know how many we visited but every room had a masterpiece on the ceiling. Frescoes dating from the 11th century could still be seen in patches. They are in the process of renovating the whole maze of buildings and they are doing an incredible job. The sculptures had so much detail, then there was a whole hall of busts of past emperors. I recognised many names including Hadrian, as we had visited some towns in Turkey that had Hadrian’s Gates.
The tapestries were enormous and so detailed. I must admit to becoming quite overwhelmed with the absolute beauty of it all. I hope the photos do it justice.

I will put up two lots of photos for this post.
We went out for a drink at the local bar last night, Sunday night, and it was packed. A lovely man asked us where we were from and why we came to Mantova. He seemed genuinely surprised to see tourists here. We are deliberately picking out of the way places to escape tourists and crowded venues (I know, we are them) and it is working. We are seeing local Italians going about their day, or night, we are getting a glimpse on how they live their lives. They are social! The children are out with them, it is school holidays so I am sure that makes a difference.
I had to try an Aperol Spritz as everyone seemed to be drinking it - bit sweet for me. Then had a ‘white’ wine, I think it may have had a Chardonnay taste, but will never know 😂Read more