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Life in Rivalta

First Impressions

A lovely journey - little trains through pretty countryside nearly the whole way. We had three to get, and not a hitch, except for a few train beggars which is disturbing a little.

Our host Simione picked us up from the train station. She is really nice, and chatty, introducing us to bits of the areas as we passed and talking about her family.

They have a horse-shoe shaped home, and a lot of room. So they split it into a few flats. One is her son's home, the other is to rent.

To say it is split off, there is plenty of room!

Still not having learned any lessons from setting of the security systems in japan, Ryan is immediately into everything ha! No alarms this time though.

Super clean and with all the household items needed, there was even a little message for us :)

We communicate via whatapp and quickly had a message saying they were leaving more loo roll on our window sill (one window faces into their courtyard) - How thoughtful.

The Local Area

The town is generally pretty with a few monuments and a nice river, although no path to walk alongside it just here, mostly private land.

Transport

Buses - There is a bus to Mantova, it seems pretty expensive 5 euros each for us to have a 15 minute bus trip. I think he was driving and distracted by us not speaking Italian, and way overcharged, as it is only a couple of euros from the machine. Next time!

Trains - Trains from Mantova go everywhere. They are perfect and take us in all directions :) Great links, and I would stay here again just to explore northern Italy more.

We have bikes! YES! So This area of Italy is really flat, and has amazing, smooth cycle paths everywhere.

Our first port of call is only a 30 minute cycle away to....

The SUPERMARKET

Shops

Yes we have a supermarket, which is overly exciting after two months of almost living without. Real food here we come!

Cooking!

Great news! Our host makes special pasta for a living!

It means we got some freebies - Yes!

When life hands you pasta. EAT IT WELL :D

Since the supermarket is a half hour cycle, and we have our tiny rucksack and a basket, we tend to buy food sparingly. Luckily this has the side-effect of eating healthy stuff - especially when you dislike the local restaurant.

Pesto here has become a firm favorite, and it is SO good.

Something as simple as pesto pasta, with a yummy mince (really well herbed up by Chef Ryan!) can taste out of this world.

When life hands you vegetables... (I'll quite the phrase now!)

Well we do have loads of veggies in, SO a bit of yogurt, a squeeze of lemon and some curry powder later, Voila! Veggie curry at your service.

Its really good - definitely a weekly. We had no rice but green veg works just as well!

Other Food

The bakery does odd things, mainly pastry with Nutella in.

Ryan who has always hated Nutella, now loves it as pretty much the ONLY chocolate available in town.

Work/Life balance

The town is quiet, so we mainly stay in to work in the week, and head out on the weekends :) Much more relaxed than when staying in or near a big city.

The flat is very quiet, so sleep is now a real option, so we are more well rested here for sure.

Interesting bits

The region has floating cherry blossoms in the at air this time of year. EVERYWHERE. No joke. I asked Simone and apparently it continues all Spring. It is quite pretty and fluffy like dandelion seeds, and the paths are literally white and look snowy from it all.

Amazing makes it here! As long as you know how it order in Italian via Amazon.it ... took hours!

We have used washing machines in Japanese, Spanish and Italian to date. Yet the one that confuses us on which wash to use is in English. Typical - too many options ha

The bike rides!

The bikes are a massive part of our stay here and really made all the difference.

We built up our distances and managed to get to the whole circular route of Mantua, around the nature reserves and lakes, and back to Rivalta.

We didn't get the photos on the first one, (AND it was a gorgeous day, but we remembered the camera when it was threatening rain - you know just in case we wanted to get soaked).

This kind of track was a little more tricky. The times when the route disappears into uncharted territory...

Wifi - Broken!

Eeek.

Our hosts live next door, and invited me to work in their beautiful home. Lush!

We had to stop them looking after us, with an effort ha :)

Much love

x


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