San Quirico to Padova by Public Transport

If any of my travel plans were going to go wrong then today was the day! To get from San Quirico to Padua required an early start and four transport changes, and some of the plans were sketchy.

The only bus that could get us to Siena in time for our first train left San Quirico at 7.30 am from a spot outside the town wall, and nobody could tell us where to get the tickets. Some detective work and some luck meant we found a safe walking route to the bus, and our trip back from Pienza introduced us to the fact that all buses in Tuscany now acccept a credit card tap. And it wasn't raining, as predicted. So leg one was accomplished with ease in one and a quarter hours.

As we circumnavigated the city of Siena I tried to capture some shots of the ancient gates.

Less than twelve months ago we were in this very spot having just completed walking 128 kms of the Via Francigena.

Leg two from Siena to Florence required purchasing the tickets on line many months ago without allocation of seats, then very early this morning I had to check-in on line but still no seat numbers. Weird, even weirder that our tickets were never checked.

We arrived in Florence at 10.52 am and had time for much needed food - a vegetarian piadina. A thought crossed my mind that two couples that were with us in Morocco were probably also in Florence today. A quick WhatsApp chat told us that D & K were on their way to Venice on the train and we had just missed J & B who were going to Pisa. What fun!

Our Italo fast train was fifteen minutes late leaving Florence, and the rain had started. The trip was smooth, fast and quiet and I slept for a lot of it. We arrived in Padova just after 2.30 pm. They have obviously had a lot of rain recently as there was water everywhere. Step three accomplished.

Our apartment, Casa Elena, is quite a way from the station but luckily there is a modern tram that bisects the city and runs past our front door. A dash through rain, a book of ten tram tickets and in five minutes we were on the tram ... and not long after, off at the correct spot.

The  casa is fascinating  because it is a self check-in with a big door on a colonaded footpath. Once inside, the wide corridor opens up to a garden and a pair of apartments upstairs overlooking gardens and rooftops. We can't hear the trams but we can hear the church bells.

Another new conversion with all amenities, lots of charm and class. As it hasn't stopped raining we haven't ventured any further than the panificio next door to get some food and drinks for tea ...and then these two little ducks will be wading off to bed. A big day that thankfully went perfectly.