Visiting Pavia during an Italian Holiday

We arrived in Italy on 10/20, the cats on 10/21 and shortly after I took a 4 day weekend to finish shopping and setting up our apartment. An extra bonus is that I only had to to take one day off of work since November 1st is a holiday in Italy. Yippee !!!

We spent most of the weekend making multiple trips to Ikea (you can only fit so much in a VW Golf at one time). Putting things together and attempting to watch Netflix using our hotspot.

On Tuesday, November 1st, we chose to explore and drive 25 minutes to Pavia to visit the town and have an adventure that did not involve Ikea or shopping. We broke this rule, no Ikea but we did stop to shop on our way home - buying a tv and a few other small appliances - love sales!

Following the GPS on our phone (which usually you lags two to the poor cell reception - compared to the US) we made it to Pavia. Mind you, we drove around the center of the city - illegally on some streets, making wrong turns, and being the "dumb Americans" for about 15 minutes. 

Happily, no tickets, that I know of, and we chose to reroute and drive on the road close to the river to get out of the inner maze of narrow streets.

Pavia - view from the Ponte Coperto.

The Pavia Cathedral is the tallest building -

at least that we could see from the bridge - Ponte Coperto.

The interior of the Cathedral was beautiful. The white marble stunning.

We were only allowed in for a few minutes and I was quick to take the photo below before we were asked to leave (of course in Italian with many hand gestures pointing to the door.

Pavia Cathedral - Inside

Below, Michael looks so small from this angle as he sits on the top step outside the Pavia Cathedral.

Look at the size of that door!

Michael on the steps at Pavia Cathedral

As we walked the streets, many things were closed because it was All Saints Day in Italy. Happily down a small, narrow street I noticed this blue neon sign "Pizzeria" down a small. Expecting it to be tiny inside were were pleasantly surprised at the maze of small rooms and the many locals having lunch.  We chose to relax and enjoy ourselves. The pizza was delicious!

Pizzeria - Pavia

After lunch we strolled back to where we parked the car and decided to walk halfway across the covered bridge - Ponte Coperto. It  is a replica of the original built in the 14th century. Bombing during World War II destroyed most of it and it was rebuilt.

Ponte Coperto - Pavia

In the center of the bridge there is a small chapel seen in the photo above as the white part of the bridge. If you look close there is a cross at the top of the building.

We looked through a small window into the chapel. It is simple yet the light was stunning.

Chapel, Ponte Coperto - Pavia

 Picture added bonus, just for my Mom. (See below)

There is an inside family joke about these lovely round hay bales that you see in the photo below. 

Mom, they even have "cows" in Italy. lmao

The short story Is that at 6am driving in South Dakota (when I was in 4th grade, I think) round hay bales can look like cows to a tired Mom. She has never lived it down - it is a standing family joke whenever we see them. 

By the way, Michael took this picture - as we drove to Pavia he suggested we take the picture on our way home just for you -  giggle.

Italian "cows" for mom - family joke

Thanks for following our Italian Adventure - feel free to leave a comment.