Tuesday 6th August
Leaving Croatia went
as smoothly as the arrival. However, 4 super cruise liners had arrived and
disgorged 1,000’s and 1,000’s of visitors who headed straight to the wall.
Whilst we enjoyed breakfast under the roof top grapevine of lady Pi pi’s we watched
an endless continuous stream of people walking the wall. So the battle to the
local bus terminal in 38degree heat was a bit hectic. However, we made our connection with our “4hr”
bus trip to Split which took 5hrs, but we arrived with time to spare. The only
hitch on boarding the ferry was that we an old Italian tour guide who had about
50 people in tow on their way back from the Medjugorje Mary Visitation Miracle
site in Bosnia who kept pushing in front of us in the various queues at: the
Custom Check-in or at the ferry’s boarding steps or when checking in on the
boat for our room keys. Luckily, a fellow Italian who had also been delayed a
number of times by this little odd tour guide working “miracles” for her group
of “followers” decided to tell everyone around the reception desk just what the
problem was with the our poor helpless lost little tour guide who kept pushing
in front of others in the queues – which was her , “Attitude”. He didn’t mind
giving way & waiting an extra 5 minutes for an older person but her “attitude”
really got on his goat. I think he expected her to apologise to the others in
line and explain her situation and beg our forgiveness and then it would have
been ok. But she did not. The “LOW COST” Blueline Ferry was a lot bigger than
the ferry that took us over and so was our room with a big double bed, a
separate lounge room with leather couch, chair, table and TV and a good sized
bathroom. We were happy. The trip was very smooth and we both enjoyed a good sleep.
Our self-serve breakfast was ok and we had no problems catching a bus which
took us in the wrong direction and then eventually back to the station (this is
the 3rd time we have jumped on a bus with the right number but have
forgotten that everybody is either driving on the wrong side of the road or
going in the wrong direction). Next time we will check with the driver before
boarding. However, as it turned out it was a good way to see a bit of Ancona and
we caught our train to Bologna where we switched to the very fast train to
Padova/Venezia.
It was 41 degrees when we arrived and crossed the tramlines
between our hotel and the train station.
The hotel room is a corker - old school elegance: good sized
and comfortable room, king sized bed, writing desk with leather chair a couple
of tables & luggage rests, another table & chair , TV wardrobes and
safe, AND extra pillows and towels.
When we had settled in and cooled down we went to the
information centre purchased our Padova Card and headed to the Scrovegni Chapel
to see a very significant series of frescoes by Giotto depicting stories from
the life of Jesus and the bible. Only 25 people are allowed in at a time for 15
minutes only. This is to better control the environment of the frescoes and
maybe assist their longevity.
Then on our Padova Card we perused the Musei Civici Eremtani,
the Pinocateca, Palazzo Zuckerman and the church of the Eremtani, where we
enjoyed in air conditioned comfort the paintings by: Titian, Giotto, Mantegna,
Bellini, Tiepolo and other amazing collections of: handcrafts (jewellery:
tie-pins, rings, etc), one of the world’s oldest & comprehensive coin
collections going back to ancient pre-Christ times - which the rich and noble
have donated to the city of Padua over the centuries.
After which Mary asked where was a good place to eat and we
got directions and enjoyed a spritz and dinner in Piazza delle Frutti – the sea
bass fried in a very fine coat of finely shredded potato was perfect and Mary’s
chicken stuffed with porcini was good. And we finished the night by catching a
tram heading in the wrong direction (purposefully on our Padova Card) but which
took us on a lovely tour around the city right back to our hotel.
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