Was what I intended to write. But I guess Nina would not let me get away with it. So here the cliff notes: The plan was to take it slow, go a bit past Dublin to Brú na Boinne to check out the really cool megalithic stuff there and then head to Dublin to get set for two full days of Dublin exploration.
So close and yet so far…Newgrange on the hill
Problem Number 1 – I have taken ill, for now with a moderate cough. So everything takes a bit more time, is a bit harder and done with a little less patience.
Number 2 – the curse of overbooking struck again. We failed to check ahead, and so it turned out that the site is booked out for the entire week. Last week before the school year starts and all. In short, we waisted 2 hrs on the motorway and a bit of toll for this folly, to see a bit of an underwhelming exhibition of the place we were locked out of seeing.
Right, so maybe a coffee place on the way back as consolation? Nope, nothing good. Instead, the kids started getting antsy and picking up on the moody vibe. Stern words were exchanged. Campground it was – and, well. That was not much consolation either. The standard “feels like roadside robbery” vibe of so many city camps grounds. At least it had a playground, and we had some peaceful hours before bedtime.
I did not last much longer, apart from a cheerful conversation with a Swiss couple that we kept running into for the last two days. Ever since Mizen Head – what a small world. I’m sick, let’s skip that day …
Number 3’s amazing ability to make friends on the playground gave the Agent someone to push her
So close and yet so far…Newgrange on the hill
Through the fake passage tunnel in the visitor centre…at least the kids had fun
Completely unrelated but summed up our day nicely: Fresh & tasty not in service
Where others might spend their whole holiday, today must suffice for us on this campground. Venice is calling. Slowly but surely, we have built up genuine excitement for the Floating City. But before the leaving comes the packing. We took our good time. There are still some stragglers holding on to the last bit of moisture from our washing misadventure. Plus, the remaining distance to our Venetian base will be covered in no time on the autostrade. I did not share the reasons for my laid back-ness with Nina entirely, so she was a bit stressed out when I gave in to Number 3’s request for a final playground visit.
Good morning Alba! – Good morning Agent!
But, as these things go – after we had had a brief chat to set the expectations straight it turned out it was quite fortunate. A few newer arrivals were also playing – and as the Agent of Entropy had another chance to socialize with the little ones, Number 3 got the chance to tag along for some livestock exploration adventure (he took off with the others all on his own, with our permission). He talked a lot about this little adventure. Even with those “delays”, we left at 10am and arrived at the targeted Padua parking garage by 10.45am.
I did not technically need a lot of charging, but when I saw that they had EV marked parking with unmetered power outlets, I thought – must try. Unfortunately, they were not only unmetered but also unpowered :/
The string of disappointment hit its crescendo though when we, after some looking around, found the entrance to our top ticket item in the itinerary for today: The Scrovegni Chapel, full of masterpiece frescoes by Giotto. Nina’s home turf – as a master of art history (literally, btw) would not let us in today – tickets had to be booked one day in advance. Nina was, justifiably, gutted. The deal was that we do a quick highlights’ stint, with art history for Nina and natural science history for me. I felt really bad now – even more so when this hitch prompted us to double check for the next item, the Palazzo Bo of the University of Padua, and snatch the last few tickets for the only guided tour in English available to us today. Spain should have taught us a lesson, we mused, but so far Italy has just been too effortless in this regard and we had let our guard down. Well, that and the lack of a physical Lonely Planet guidebook to plan.
Waiting to feed these hungry hippos
The starting time for the tour allowed only for a quick lunch, but gladly the Lonely Planet app came to the rescue here. We dived into a real cool and friendly student bar / noodle house and got good quality lunch of carbonara, cacio e pepe and a poke bowl for under 30 €. Thus, fully reenergized we crossed our fingers for the hobbits’ stamina to hold and headed for the tour.
What a great tour it was. Of course, the big ticket items of “the podium from which a young Galileo Galilei had lectured” and the “world’s very first anatomical theater” were really cool. But the big thing for me was the history of the redesign in the 40s at the hands of Gio Ponti. Seeing what an architect and designer can accomplish when given the reins to do so is impressive. More so remembering that he did not work with a blank canvas, but an in parts 600-year-old structure at the time. The respect he payed for the past while also creating really cool designs will stick with me for a while.
Professors’ club room
Now a 45-minute guided tour that stretched in to 90 minutes in the end is quite the stretch for two younglings. They were a bit to manage at times, but we were able to do the full tour and all but the especially rude French lady on the tour put up with us with friendly encouragement. Thank you kids – that was amazing.
It was also our curtain call for Padua, even skipping the usual “gelato and go” routine. We did stop one more time, with both little ones fast asleep in the car, about 5 minutes from the campground to restock on ice for the cooler and a few essentials.
The campground – for a city camp chosen mostly out of convenience rather than the place itself – turned out to be amazing. Really fair price for Italy, our second cheapest yet, it has maybe the cleanest and sleekest facilities yet. We had Number 3 in a heartbeat when he saw that they have a whole bathroom, shower included, with every item in kid size. From there on, he demanded for every trip that he would only go in “his bathroom”. Seems like a good omen. Tomorrow – the Queen of the Adriatic.
Good morning Alba! – Good morning Agent!
Number 3 running to say goodbye to the chickens
Playground time in the morning
The Agent about to get into the carrier
On our way to the Scrovengi Chapel through a little park
After my utter disappointment of not getting into the Chapel, we saw a bit of the streets of Padua while headung towards a lunch place
Flo loves the font
The Agent at the lunch place, channelling her inner strong woman
Waiting to feed these hungry hippos
Feeding time! Noodles are a favourite!
This time, I opted for the slightly healthier option 🙂
Palazzo Bo used to be a the “Ox Inn” before was bought by the university so the symbol can still be found all over the place as a reference to its past
The newer part of the old building
A monument and a reminder that the order of today is built upon the remains and chaos of history
This monument is for the students who fought against the German occupation and the faschist
These new frescoes in the staircase depict the subjects of the university
Designed hallway of the professors’ floor
Professors’ club room
Number 3 being engaged with the tour. There was a mermaid depicted in the back of the fireplace
The writing desk designed by Ponti
Detail of the Ancient Achieve
Ancient Achieve
Former auditorium for medical students. Today it’s still in use for a dissertation defense of medical doctors
Model of the anatomical theatre
View up the anatomical theatre. It is super small and quite steep. One could also say…cozy and intimate XD
Entrance to the Aula Magna
Frescoes in the Aula Magna
Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684); – The First Woman in the World to Earn a Ph.D. degree in University
Finally got the Agent to calm down and try to sleep in the wrap
Finally, some kids’ time! Playground on the new campsite
Number 3 found another kid to go on the seesaw with him. Happy times!
Climbing action right next to our camping spot
Number 3 was an immediate fan of the kids’ bathroom
It had been
really bloody cold last night. Temperatures dropped to somewhere between 3 to 1
degree and it made for an uncomfortable night. Not because we didn’t have
enough blankets to deal with it but because Number 3 refused to sleep in his cold
“bed” and decided that mama was the only warm place to sleep upon.
There is a ticket office that has the “no tickets available” sign permanently nailed to it …
Today was
the day to visit Granada. Our camp ground was only about a 30km drive away and
I had really been looking forward to seeing the Alhambra. However, it turned
out (again) that Spain is incompatible with our travelling style. We had the same
trouble in Barcelona already when we couldn’t get tickets to see any of the
sights I wanted to see. Though back then, we could have remedied it by staying
a couple of days longer: No same-day tickets but tickets in a couple of days
were available. So we learned from this and had checked out tickets for the Alhambra
about 3 days in advance with the option of adding up to 3 days to our stay…just
to make sure we actually get to see it this time. De nada. Online tickets to
visit the Alhambra are sold out until the middle of June. There is a small
number of same-day tickets but people start queueing for them from 2am onwards…nothing
that is at all feasible with a baby.
So there we
had it. Physically in Granada, unable to see Alhambra. Didn’t make for the best
of mornings or city visits. I understand the necessity of regulating the number
of visitors…didn’t lessen the disappointment though.
We still
drove into Granada and checked out the outside of the Alhambra but it isn’t
that much fun. Also, there is not much to see except for a wall and a bit of
garden. It’s a good time to go as all the orange trees have fruits upon fruits
hanging on them and just look lovely.
TAPAS!
With that little sightseeing done, we drove into the city center of Granada. Eating traditional tapas helped a little to get over the disappointment. We picked a traditional tapas place instead of fusion one to get a taste of southern Spain. Flo loved it! He ordered the “warm plate” for two people, even if the menu suggested that only one thing on there was vegetarian. So I had Spanish potato and egg omelette from the plate and a spinach empanada that I ordered. Not feeling quite as filled as Flo I continued to order “Queso a la plancha” which turned out to be three big pieces of grilled cheese with orange marmalade and…fish eggs…*shudder*. Luckily, everything was piled up neatly and I could eat around the fish eggs.
A stroll
through the inner city showed us some great architecture and an impressively
clean and rich looking city. For our actual sightseeing, we went into the
museum next to the cathedral; the place where Isabella and Ferdinand are buried
and some of their personal things and art is exhibited. So I got to see some
Memlings and Van der Weydens as well as a Botticelli up close.
Worn out from walking around and spending that much time in the sun, we continued on a short while towards Malaga. A very affordable little camp ground right before the city was our stop for the night.
The team checking out the spectacular early morning views
that is what they found
Top view on the reservoir and the mointains from the campground
There is a ticket office that has the “no tickets available” sign permanently nailed to it …
beggars at the door
peeking in like a commoner
Would have been a nice walk down to the city
garden between the walls
A little orange grove in the parking lot. Funny to see fruit bearing trees as decoration
heading down to the city. Our front view with the tent up there 😉
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