Matua, Italy - a morning walkabout

[jim_mex]

After a hectic month working mostly 12 - 14 hr days in a hot and sweaty porcelain tableware factory here in northern Italy I finally got to get a free day last Sunday and headed just 35 miles south of where I'm living between Verona and Lake Garda to the small town of Mantua, Mantova as its called locally, which is in the district of Lombardy

Mantova is famous for having some of the best examples of medieval architecture in Italy. The town is surrounded by 3 large lakes and a river which probably accounts for the local delicacy being pike in green sauce (luccio in salsa). I've only eaten pike once in the UK and thought it to have a muddy taste and I remember being told by a coal miner fisherman friend that after catching pike you should take them home and let them swim around in fresh water in the bathtub for a day or two to let the water clean out their system. That sounded too dangerous to me! Pike are pretty darn agressive at the best of time and have got really nasty teeth. Imagine deciding to take a casual bath without remembering the pike are in there! That could easily end up turning a manly voice into a high pitched falsetto! No thanks to that idea!
As it happens I didn't get to taste the pike on this trip but I'm sure to be going to this town later on in the year and have it on my 'must try' list!

The day turned out to somewhat overcast and a bit misty when I arrived at 7.00 am to miss the tourists who throng the place later on and guess which idiot left his UV filter at home after taking it off the lens the previous night to clean it? As a result my photos were a bit iffy and I've had to tweak them a little in Photoshop. It's a good job I'm just an amateur photographer!

Enjoy the tour!

Mantua Italy

Note the file size is about 3.5 mb so folks on a slow connection would be better to download it first and then run it

[sappy]

Thank you for the walking tour and the websites. Very impressive! It's hard to imagine buildings this old, in the states we where still playing cowboys and Indians! Italy is the only country I've ever had an interest in visiting. And that is mostly because of the architecture.

[joleet]

Wow, Jim, that tour was awesome!!! Makes me want to board a ship and go there. Don't downgrade your photography skills, they were extremely good.

[handibunny]

Thanks for a very impressive tour, Jim. I'm blown away by your careful research and attention to detail, not to mention the really interesting photos. I eagerly await your next adventure.

[wood-n-things]

What a great tour. I've never seen fishing equipment quite like that. That was not all that caught my interest but it was interesting never the less. Thank you for sharing with us!

[Wood Dog]

bravo clapping.gif Excellent tour Jim, you are one good narrator.
Photos are beautiful, thanks for taking us along the journey. Take care.

[Sally]

Thanks Jim - that was fun/interesting.

[sawman101]

Great show Jim! Maybe you should be working for National Geographic magazine! Thanks for the fantastic guided tour! I'm glad you found a little time to explore a little of Italy.

[jim_mex]

Morning folks! - thanks for the very kind comments.

It's really good fun putting these shows together as mementos of my excursions to show the family back home but the icing on the cake comes when I can share them with an appreciative audience on this forum.

I'm not sure where I'll be heading next. In fairly easy striking distance to the east is the town of Padua, and then to the south Firenza (Florence) both of which I've earmarked for a visit. Then of course the biggie which is a two hour thirty minutes train drive away to the east has got to be Venice which I'm hoping to spend a full weekend exploring. I think I'll be taking spare sets of batteries and memory cards for my camera on that trip - maybe even a new camera - LOL!

Rain has been forecast for this Sunday morning so today I'm staying put, first to perform the household chores and clean up a bit and then hopefully to switch the saw on and spread a little sawdust around - something which has been sadly lacking during the past weeks.!

Have a good day all
Cheers!

[Hawaiilad]

Jim, I thank you very much for the very nice walking tour. I feel a bit bad that you have taken some of your short off work time to do the great play by play, but I think you are enjoying it as much as we are.....Thank you again

[Kiwi]

Thanks for the time and trouble in putting your pics and commentary together. It was very interesting After you have seen Venice make sure you make time to get to the Cinque Terra on the West Coast

[jim_mex]

Hey Larry - no need to feel bad. This is obligatory but enjoyable work I do to keep the family informed of what I'm up to. It also keeps me out of too much spare time mischief of the long legged feminine kind - not that I think the local ladies will have too much interest in a slightly overweight aging Brit scroller - LOL!

@Kiwi - thanks for that tip on Cinque Terra. I just spent 30 mins googling the area and without a doubt its been added to my days out. Again this looks like I'll need a full weekend to cover first the driving and then the walking. Although I usually hate most forms of exercise medium distance walking across rugged terrane is something I really enjoy and I'm looking forward to this one once I find some decent hiking boots.

Ok - it's back to the cleaning! Grrrr!

[Kiwi]

Hey jim, you dont need special hiking boots to do the Cinque Terra. It is pretty well formed paths.Straight forward walking

Thanks Kiwi - I meant to say walking boots - not hiking ones! I was looking at some really lightweight Gortex lined ones last week to replace a similar pair I had for a good while in Mexico until my darling wife left them in my shed on a shelf that catches the sun for 18 months whilst I was on my last overseas job. When I got back the Gortez was still intact but the sun had weathered the soles into shreds! I've been promising myself to replace them for a good while but was never able to find them in Mexico. Now I have the opportunity to do just that. Thanks for picking up on the comment.

[journeyman]

Great walk through Jim. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. You are certainly in a beautiful part of the world there and it's good that you can take the odd day off to enjoy it.
Mick

[Anneh]

Thanks Jim. It was the next best thing to being there!