France/Italy roadtrip – Mantova part 2 | alison richards

Where I left off in part 1, I'd been into the Ducale palace, the cathedral and the library of Mantova. It was market day and there were people everywhere, so I went wandering down some of the side streets. My eventual goal was the Te Palace, situated in large gardens at the very other end of Mantova. But it was a very scenic walk there...

Inside the Basilica of Sant’Andrea, a 15th century church in Mantova

Right underneath this dome is a hole in the floor that goes to the crypt. This is where the church keeps a phial of what is purported to be the blood of Jesus Christ. Yep, right under my feet.

Everywhere you go, the dome of the church follows you…

The astronomical clock on the side of the Palazzo della Ragione

I'd made it to the Giardini Parco Te, the park where the Te palace was, so I bought a ticket and went inside. If there's a take-away from Mantova, it's that Italian palaces are seriously extra in their decoration...

I left the Te Palace a little before 2pm and made my way back to the Ducale Palace, where I had visited earlier this morning but only half of the palace. They had opened up the other side to visitors, so I went in to finish exploring. It was just such a beautiful place!

This building was my favourite in Mantova. It was so pretty

The Gallery of Mirrors in the Old Court. Humans for scale

Detail of some of the beautiful paintings in the Gallery of Mirrors

I left the palace, took one last look at Mantova and made my way across the river to my camper. Since I had so much trouble finding a campsite near Mantova the night before, I decided to drive straight to my next destination, Verona. It was about 3pm when I got back to the camper so I quickly looked up the campsites near Verona and made a booking - the last place available in a campsite within walking distance of the city!

I drove there and got to my site about 4:30pm. My campsite there, however, wow. I mean, I get that we were inside the city limits and that was part of the appeal, but I barely managed to get my tiny camper into the campsite itself without scraping it (soooo narrow and hilly!) and then into the tiny spot. It made me very nervous to think about reversing it out, but that was a problem for another day, as I was staying for two nights...

I made a quick dinner then had a wander into Verona - I have wanted to go to Verona for ages so I was happy just wandering aimlessly in the evening light.