Mooching around Mantova (Mantua)
Zagan the motorhome is in what our Camperstop
This morning we were up and at ’em and left Cremona by 9.30am. You’d be surprised how long it takes to get fed, walked (Charlie), washed, dressed and ready in a motorhome. Soon we found ourselves on a lovely smoothish red road, with only crazy drivers desperate to overtake everything to contend with – it must be the racing driver in them.
We stopped off at a small town called Grazie – the sosta there, another campsite-like one, had been taken over by huge trailers with pull-out sides, surrounded by smaller motorhomes parked in a defensive pattern. We can only assume it was a Roma camp as they looked very settled, but couldn’t believe they would be paying the €12 a night to stop there.
The reason for our detour to Grazie was to visit a church we had read about in our Rough Guide. Now neither of us are religious, but the description of this place had us intrigued. The church is full of mannequins in various poses and costumes and surrounding them are wooden hearts, hands, feet and even breasts nailed onto the pillars as votive offerings from recipients of miracle cures. The whole place was a bit surreal, especially compared with the gold encrusted, uber-blinged churches we normally look around.
Mantova is just ten minutes down the road from Grazie and following the huge signs (they really don’t want you parking your motorhome just anywhere) we were soon at the barrier gate to the camper parking. The only problem was we couldn’t work out how to get in. Eventually, after pressing pretty much every button there was on all the machines, the entry machine – which said ‘insert ticket’ – spat out a ticket and we were in. Just so you know, it wasn’t us being stupid, every van has struggled and we’ve gone across to help a few of them get in!
Keen to see why the Rough Guide raves about Mantova so much, we set off with Charlie for a walk around the town. Driving in we had come around the edge of the defensive walls, so didn’t actually see the impressive skyline until we started our walk.
Once in the town itself, it didn’t disappoint either. Vast cobbled squares surrounded by ancient buildings of all shapes and sizes, along with the obligatory towers and statues who watch you wherever you go. We soaked up the atmosphere and indulged in a couple of local speciality cakes, bought from a shop where Mamma was making the cakes while Pappa worked on the pasta (and their daughter served me!).
In the past naughty people were put in the cage on the tower for the town to see.
As locked o’clock approached, around 1pm – 4pm here, we jumped on the free shuttle bus and headed back to Zagan, where we gave him a long over-due clean out. It took over an hour to de-dog fur him to a reasonable level – not helped by Charlie making a beeline to lie on everything that had just been cleaned. While I hoovered Jay went to help a German motorhome stuck at the gates and met Bern and David from Australia, they are touring with their two pooches and once the van was finished (on the inside, outside tomorrow) we got chatting to them. Tonight they are coming over for tea with their maps so we can compare places to go, as they’ve just come from where we are heading.
Lunch hours over, we headed back into town, minus Charlie, for a look inside a few places. It turned out that we visited three more churches (four in a day!), each very different. The Duomo has the body of a saint tucked away in its altar which comes out on the saint’s day in nine days time. The Basilica has gold urns which hold soil containing the blood of Christ, which go on display on Good Friday. It also has some great trompe l’oeil on the walls, making it look as if it is full of carvings and expensive ceiling tiles when really they are clever paintings. The final church was a small round brick place with is over 1000 years old, inside it was very plain but had half a school party in it, the rest were outside, so you couldn’t call it peaceful.
The Duomo
Duomo Ceiling
You had to pay to light up many of the artworks, or light up a bulb instead of a candle
The Basilica
Trompe l’oeil
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing more wandering around the streets, eyeing up places to visit tomorrow. It’ll be nice to stay in one place for a couple of days with plenty on our doorstep to see and do.
I loved this window we saw today, it looks like a painting
Mantova – watch out, the streets get narrow!
Ju x
hi, on my Coach trip last year our guide did point out that in Italy they do tend to drive a little bit tempestuous…ok He did’nt use the word tempestuous but I just did, when we drove through Italy things livened up.
If you do get to go to Florence and you visit David (The real one in the museum) please take a photo of his broken arm…I’ve seen two Davids..the one outside in Florence and the one in London..both copies, oh and a photo of the gold door in Florence… the first art with perspective.
I will again be in Florence this year on a coach trip and again I don’t think I will be allowed the time to visit the real David,,,however if I go back in a motorhome I would spend a few days in Florence and wonder about at my own pace.
Happy travels, thanks, Marcus
Haha, some of ’em are on a mission. Feels good to be in a 3.5 tonne vehicle, sat up high. I drive very defensively too, especially braking very early and gently! Florence was on our agenda last time out. Not sure if we’re heading that far south yet, but although we loved it (we only saw fake Davids too!) we tend not to go back in an effort to find new places. Never say never though, cheers Marcus, Jay
If you like this place… You are going to love Bologna!!!
Bring it on!
“If you like this place… You are going to love Bologna!!!”
Second that
Any tips on where to stay/park in Bologna? Our books has nothing!
Looks like you guys are warming up a bit ! But you have just sent me into a rather large “Jason Doh Mode” with the camperstop link. Having just spent bundles of drinking vouchers on aires and maps I am now realising that a lot of sites have app downloads, some with a fee, park4night, campingcarinfo etc. The doh mode gets bigger cos of the fact that I went down the windows phone route, one reason being the free road maps and pratnav. But can I suss out how to convert the POI files and put them on the phone ? No way Jose !
Anyways the point of my babbling is this….
http://www.campercontact.com/en/content/downloads
I suppose you already know about it but just in case.
Happy trails
What a weired little church, how macabre? Love the window, you can’t beat a good window shot, as long as there’s no one on the other side with two fingers up…akward :-)