Trento to Padua - by bus

We enjoyed our time in Trento. It was the perfect place to rest and relax. Our attic room was above shops in a central street which meant that we could easily wander around the centre of Trento and not walk great distances. 

Today we said goodbye to Trento and came to Padua by bus. 

A mix of photos taken on our way to the bus stop:

Our route took us past the Chiesa S. Maria Maggiore. 

Our route took us to the back of the church. 

Much of the church was constructed in unpolished marble. 

The front view of the church from the piaza.

Some of the ceiling. 

Our next stop was at this little bakery where we bought some lovely small biscuits to nibble on as we walked. 

Jeff in the bakery. 

Some other random shots:

We liked the heads poking out from the circles on this building. There were about two dozen of them on the first two stories. 

We spent about an hour at the café in this park filling in time until our 1.10 pm bus.

On our walk from the park to the bus stop:

Torre Vanga.

We crossed the River Adige.

The Badia of S. Lorenzo, the Abbey of St Lorenzo, from the bridge over the River Adige.

We thoroughly enjoyed our bus trip from Innsbruck to Trento but, unfortunately, we can't say the same about today's bus trip. We used the same bus company, Flixbus, but that was the only thing that our two bus rides had in common.

Today's bus was 50 minutes late, we didn't have the front seats we had reserved but instead had to sit towards the back with very poor viewing windows. 

The main problem with today's trip though was the bus driver. He was unfriendly and drove so badly, speeding and then having to brake suddenly. Quite a few times we were almost thrown out of our seats! Perhaps he was trying to make up lost time. If he was, he didn't succeed. We were very late arriving in Padua. 

For the first hour or so we travelled along a valley with very high, almost vertical, hills which were mostly scrub covered with vineyards in patches. On several of the high points there were old castles or forts surrounded by high walls, also churches. 

Out of the hills the landscape was quite flat with bigger areas of vineyards. Much of the way was through or past busy industrial areas. Any towns or villages were further away. 

Arriving in Padua was a bit of a shock. Our first impressions are that it is completely different to Trento. It seems to be older or less well kept. Certainly no marble pavements here! And there people everywhere.We haven't done any exploring though as we arrived so late. 

Our first mission was to find our accommodation and then to find a supermarket and somewhere to have dinner. 

Our accommodation is across from the Basilica of St Anthony. This is the view from our window:

We walked past the Basilica to go to the supermarket. We didn't go inside though, that's for tomorrow. 

The front view of the Basilica. 

We were hoping to find a restaurant and have a meal before going to the supermarket but we didn't find any serving evening meals, they were mainly serving drinks. 

The supermarket had rotisserie chickens, something that we hadn't seen in supermarkets before, so as well as buying breakfast things we bought a chicken, small tomatoes and yoghurt drinks, plus water and serviettes, for our dinner and we sat in Prato della Valle and enjoyed our picnic meal. Prato della Valle is an oval green area within a moat-like waterway which is lined by statues. 

The Basilica was bathed in the late evening sunlight as we walked back to our accommodation. 

Trento - day 2

We've had a very quiet day today as Jeff still needs a lot of rest.

We did go for a short walk to see the Castello del Buonconsiglio, the Buonconsiglio Castle, which is in a slightly elevated position above the town. 

The castle consists of several buildings, enclosed within a wall, and range from the 13th century through to the 18th. Throughout this period it was the residence of the Prince-Bishops of Trento.

Not wanting to be there very long, we only walked around the base of the buildings and through the gardens.

Trento was part of Austria until 1919 and during WW1 part of the Buonconsiglio Castle was walled off and used as a prison for those who were pushing for the district of Trentino to be part of Italy. The prisoners were held in cruel conditions while awaiting trial, several were executed. 

The extremely tiny cells were off this passageway. 

There are many churches randomly dotted throughout central Trento, in and amongst shops, cafés and restaurants. Here are two of them:

Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo, the Church of Saints Peter & Paul, dates back to the 15th Century. 

 

Chiesa della Santa Trinità, the Church of the Holy Trinity, was built for the Poor Clare sisters in 1525.

In one street we came across Palazzo Geremia, Geremia Palace. The palace, once a nobleman's residence, is made up from three buildings - two are medieval and the third dates back to the 15th-16th centuries. Frescoes can still be seen on the external wall. 

Part of the ground floor ceiling - much of the interior jad been altered over the years. 

This staircase was made from unpolished marble. 

Other random photos: