It’s great to be joined by my film crew as we begin shooting the last episodes of our new television season (which airs this fall). We’re spending six days filming in Verona, Ravenna, and Padova (a.k.a. Padua). Here are a few shots that illustrate the fun we’re having as we kick things off in Padova. Just half an hour from Venice, Padova is a university town with 60,000 students and a wonderfully youthful vibe.
Let me stoke your travel dreams by sharing some of my favorite European experiences, roughly from northwest to southeast. Maximizing the experience is a dimension of smart budget travel that’s just as important in challenging times as saving money. Imagine these…
In Padua, Italy, sip wine with college students at an outdoor bar in the market square. Pour some fine olive oil on a dish, season with salt and pepper, rip a long strip from your bread, dip it, and bite. A student explained I was making the scarpetta — the little shoes. Soaking up the oil along with the conversation, we travelers become human scarpette,sopping up culture as we explore Europe.
Borrow a good knife from a friendly restaurant and hike from village to village through the terraced vineyards of Cinque Terre — Italy’s most exotic stretch of the Riviera coastline. Climbing through ancient terraces, surrounded by twinkling Mediterranean views and castle-studded villages, you’ll work up a thirst. Then, using a big leaf as a protective mitt, break off a spiny cactus fruit, peel it with your knife, and slurp it — sloppily savoring the sun and the fun as you explore the best of the Riviera.
When in Rome, drop by St. Peter’s early or late for a Mass at the high altar. With the alabaster starburst of the dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit before you, the greatest dome on earth rocketing above you, and the nearly 2,000-year-old tomb of St. Peter below you, eat the bread and drink the wine of the Eucharist with worshippers from around the globe. On the way out, kneel before Michelangelo’s Pietaand ponder what humankind can do for the glory of God.
In Bosnia, at the crest of Mostar’s single-arched bridge, survey the town that just over a decade ago was a killing field of sectarian strife. Take in the cityscape of crosses, spires, and minarets. Ponder the tragedy of Mostar’s recent past and the hope symbolized by the bridge upon which you stand — once bombed and now rebuilt. Then pay the kid in the bathing suit to make the dizzying jump from there into the river way, way below.
In Istanbul, wander away from anything of interest to a typical tourist, and find a convivial bar filled with Turkish men sipping tea and playing backgammon. Ideally, the bar has classic inlaid game boards — where their softer light wood is worn deeper than the harder dark wood, and stained with generations of laughter and smoke — and the players use handmade dice with unruly dots. Challenge a local to a game and gather a crowd. Learn to count in Turkish and holler the numbers as the dice are rolled. Bir, iki, üç, dört…Let the kibitzers move for you whenever you wonder which move is best. Expect to lose the game and gain a lifelong memory
Every corner of Europe offers magic moments like these to good travelers. Opportunities are rich and the stakes are high. Wherever you travel, meet the people, and understand the historic and cultural context of your sightseeing. Equip yourself with the best information and expect yourself to travel smart. Take the initiative not to just see your destination, but to experience it.
I’m in Padua (just half an hour from Venice, but a world away). I didn’t see a soul all day with my guidebook. (Kind of depressing after so many in Florence and Venice.) But if nobody’s here, I can’t let my coverage slide. I really like this town and I want my chapter to be worthy.
Galileo called his 18 years on the faculty in Padua the best of his life. The university seems to dominate the town and since its 60,000 students can graduate whenever they defend their thesis, I’ve never been here without little graduation parties erupting on the street all day long.
Graduates are given a green laurel wreath. Then formal group and family photos are taken. It’s a sweet, multi-generational scene with family love and pride busting out all over. Then, grandma goes home and the craziness takes over. Sober clothing is replaced by raunchy wear as gangs of friends gather around the new grad in the street in front of the university and the roast begins.
A giant butcher paper poster with a generally obscene caricature of the student and a litany of This Is Your Life photos and stories is presented to the new grad who, with various embarrassing pranks being pulled, reads the funny statement out loud. The poster is then taped to the university wall for all to see (and allowed to stay there for 24 hours).
During the roast, the friends sing the catchy but obscene local university anthem, reminding their newly esteemed friend to keep his or her feet on the ground: “Dottore, dottore, Dottore del buso del cul. Vaffancul, vaffancul.”
Very loosely translated it means: Doctor, doctor. You’re just a Doctor of the a-hole…go f-off, go f-off. (Sorry…G-rated blog.) Once I hear this song (it starts like an Olympic games fanfare and finishes like a German cartoon: oom-pah-pah, oom-pah-pah) and see all the good-natured fun, I just can’t stop singing it.