Mantova / Mantua.
So it was really about time we visited our nearest town instead of just cycling past it all of the time. It was a pleasant surprise, and more than we expected.
To start, it is surrounded on three sides by lakes and park land, and it is just BEAUTIFUL. It grassland takes turns in being empty, or filled with parties and picnics.
So there was PLENTY of deliberation about were to park the bikes.... Yep for a country that has a cycling craze, there are too few bike racks!
We wondered into the main area of the town. Guess what! Market time - totally my favourite browsing time when we find these, and luckily in Italy they are plentiful!
Best bit : They had amazing globes of cheese, hanging above smoking charcoal, which they lowered to melt, then scraping some off onto toast for you.
THE BEST cheese on toast experience :)
This was a pre-snack to our snack. Yes that is a thing.
Ryan had found us a little bar that was supposed to do a speciality drink.
Great - we found it!
Hmm - we didn't find this so-called drink
Amazing - they bring snacks when you order wine!
Overall a good find :)
The town is 'cute' with cobbles streets, plenty of restaurants with terraces, plus rivers and gardens to your hearts content.
We also went to visit the castle here too. It was so beautiful, and they called it the jewel of Mantova. Extravagant and elaborate might be the best words.
For some reason they had loads of wedding dresses on show throughout the entire castle.
Perhaps a sign we should stop avoiding wedding planning soon ha!
By now we were starving. It was 34pm, which means NOWHERE is open. Weird restaurant and cafe timings I will never get used to.
We did find a beach-hut style bar with the best lake view :) They had no food except the cakes in the display cabinet (yep seriously no where serves in the mid-afternoons. I guess not that unusual, but just more widespread). I got lucky and plunged for the last two pizza breads they had - phew!
Nothing beats good music, a strawberry daiquiri, and some sunshine with amazing company <3
Much love! <3 xxx