Padua

Helen here, doing a guest contribution to Heather’s blog. We are having a relaxed afternoon after two busy days of cycling.

After enjoying the sights of Verona on Tuesday, we were up early on Wednesday for our longest cycling stretch of the trip- from Verona to Vicenza. In keeping with our aim of getting as much cycling done as possible before the highest heat, we were on the road shortly after 7:30. But in the end there was no avoiding the sun as it was 7 hours later that we arrived at the hotel in a smokin’ hot 29 degrees with humidity. Not only was the ride our longest at 80 k but featured the most climbing, a fair few stretches of unpaved track which are always slowerr and some challenging urban navigation deftly handled by our “guido” Heather.

The scenery en route was a mix of light industry and sleepy farmland peppered with historic churches and villas. The highlight was the town of Soave - really a castle which extends its fortifications around the town.

Our bags had not arrived at the hotel before us (they are getting later each day as further from base) So we went in search of our traditional arrival beer - a longish search as Vicenza seemed to be having a siesta. We were pretty whacked on return to hotel. A welcome shower, some laundry and a rest and we were ready to explore the lovely town of Vicenza.

As this is the home of the famous Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, I enlightened the ever patient Mike and Heather about the various Palladian gems that we passed. At his town hall on the main square,the Basillica, we stopped for an aperitif at a nearby bar to enjoy the building armed with refreshments in hand. Mike and Heather will be awarded advance standing for year 1 of architecture training after this with Mike planning his major paper “ The Influence of Palladiun Architecture on the Evolution of Man Caves”. ……..

We strolled around the small but always charming old town of Vicenza then at H2’s recommendation looked up a favourite local eatery. Favourite indeed, and we almost gave up because of lack of outdoor tables. But as we contemplated the choice we struck up a conversation with two local ladies, one of whom spoke fluent French, (transpires she is a French teacher) and decided to join forces and bagged the last large table.
Our two new friends gave us advice on the menu and we all had a local codfish and polenta dish. Delicious!

With a shorter ride today to a spot just outside Padua we started a little later today. We had a much simpler ride almost all on dedicated bike paths through the countryside. An early highlight (for me anyhow) was passing another Palladian masterpiece, the Villa Rotunda, on the way out of Vicenza.

As we only had a 53 k ride today we reached our hotel - part of an out of town spa/ golf resort - by lunchtime well before our bags. As I write this, we finally have our bags, have just enjoyed a swim and are having a beverage poolside. We are too far from Padua to go in easily for dinner so will see that town tomorrow.
Tomorrow we reach Venice for 2 nights. Ciao for now!!
HelenRead more