I was all packed and ready to travel to Treviso, but first breakfast! Before leaving, I spent a little time chatting with the very nice waitress. I planned to take the city bus to the train station instead of a taxi. It as an easy walk to the bus station and the bus was usually not very crowded. When checking out of my hotel, Massimo suggested that I should purchase an extra bus ticket, which costs €1,25 in addition to using my FVG card because of my luggage. That was a much cheaper deal than taking a taxi and really just as easy.
I took the 10:07 regionale veloce train (1 hr 16 min) to Treviso . I sat in the empty first class train carriage. I prefer traveling first class when traveling with luggage – more room and less stress. When the train was set to arrive at the Treviso Centrale stop, I stood in the area between the two trains where you depart the train. As I was ready to depart, a very nice young man offered to carry one of my bags off the train for me. I know to be alert for scams when someone takes your luggage and then charges you. This young man was just generally being kind. He even carried my bag down the flight of stairs from the binario.
I followed the signs to the centro instead of to the main station. When I reached the stairs at the end of the tunnel, a woman a little younger than gave me this look as if to say… what was I doing with all that luggage and how was I going to go up those stairs (I had a 22 inch suitcase that weighed no more than 25 lbs, a tiny roll-on carry on bag, weighing even less, and a backpack). She offered to carry one of my bags. I thanked her and declined saying I was fine. She grabbed my bag and proceeded to carry it up the stairs. I thanked her at the top of the stairs.
I did not do any research as to how to get to my B&B since my plan was to take a taxi. What I did not realize until I reached the top of the stairway was that the tunnel I took went underneath the very busy multi-lane street and I was now on the other side of where the taxis were waiting. At that point, I had two choices – go back down the stairs and then up a bunch of other stairs OR walk to my B&B. I decided to walk. My main bag rolls nicely and I hook my second bag onto that main bag. The walk from the train station is a very easy walk, except in this case, Google Maps failed me. My B&B was located by a little canal and Google Maps took me up and down all the streets around my B&B. Finally after probably an extra 15 minutes of walking, I found my B&B.
I checked in, unpacked, got a map and some recommendations for lunch and headed out. I decided to eat at the nearby Ristorante Pizzeria Zeus. I ordered a homemade tagliatelle with little tomatoes and zucchini. Yum!!
Now I was ready to go out and explore this delightful city with canals, rivers, and a wall or mura which surrounds most of the city. I started out exploring the area not too far from my hotel so that I could orient myself and find my way back to my B&B later on in the day. I believe this is the Fiume Sile (the Sile River). It was taken from Via Roma.
Heading down Viale Luigi Cadorna, I found a very cool health food store & little bistro called NaturaSì. I visited this store a few times while I was in Treviso. Great selection and one of the larger health food stores I have been in while in Italy. There were also a couple of interesting restaurants on this street. At the end of the street, you will find the Monumento ai Caduti di Piazza Vittoria (Monument to the Fallen of Piazza Vittoria). This monument is the largest in the Veneto region. It is the work of sculptor Arturo Stagliano and is called “Gloria” in honor of the 630 soldiers from Treviso who died in the war.
Next door to this monument is the main post office of the town. I went inside to use the post office ATM. I have read that the ATMs inside the post office are usually the safest ATMs to use. I have a $500 daily limit and so I tried to take out 450 euros. My card didn’t work! The exchange rate was 1.12 and so I figured that amount should work. There was a line behind me waiting to use the ATM, so I decided to try it again later.
When I was packing for my trip, the weather was still cool in the morning and at nights. I ended up bringing too many warm clothes and decided to inquire how much it would cost to ship home a small box (a fleece, heavier sweater, wool socks, and a wind jacket). That would was not going to change the weight very much in my luggage but would give me more room to either put my pillow inside my bag instead of rolled up on top or more room for things I might purchase. There is an electronic machine in the post office with options for mailing things, banking, and I forget the 3rd choice. I pushed the mailing things option (obviously it has a more formal name but I can’t remember it now). I got a number and waited, hoping for a nice person to help me.
Although I have pretty good functional Italian, I always get a little nervous doing business at the post office as it can be complicated. I thought my number was called and walked up to the station where a not so friendly woman told me my number was not for her station. Can’t remember now what the problem was, but I sat back down waiting some more. I saw my number flash again and went up to that station. I was waited on by a very kind woman. She showed me different size boxes. I chose the smaller box, which cost 3,50 euros. I think the mailing boxes in Italy are pretty cool! They are bright yellow. They are folded up and come with 3 little pieces of tape that you attach on the 3 sides (the 4th side is where it folds. They are not the sturdiest boxes but they have always worked for me. Next we discussed shipping options. I told her the slowest, cheapest way was how I wanted to ship it. She warned me that it could take a month to arrive. That was fine with me. She looked up the cost and told me it would probably be 13 euros. That worked for me! She warned me though that it had to be lighter than 4 kilos or it would cost more. I paid for the box and left to go pack up my items.
I went over to NaturaSì to buy some yogurt and then went back to my B&B to prepare my box to mail. I assembled my box, put my stuff inside, added some brochures and maps I no longer needed from the Udine part of my trip (I save everything!) and headed back to the post office. When I arrived, I tried the ATM again, this time taking out 400 euros. That worked! Then I got a ticket and waiting, hoping to get the same woman. There are little stations in 2 sections of this post office. At first, I thought that only 1 section was for mailing and the other was for banking. I realized that my number was flashing in the other section. By the time I realized this, the man pushed another number. I went back to the little machine and got a new number. This time my number was called by a woman sitting right next door to the very nice woman who helped me earlier in the day. She weighed my package. Under 2 kilos! Yay! When I explained to her how I wanted to ship the package, the woman that originally helped me overheard our conversation and confirmed that I was not concerned about how long it would take. The only surprise was that it ended up costing 22,50 euros instead of 13 euros. Oh well, at this point, I was happy to just send it. I also had a very cool baseball shaped Father’s Day card that I purchased at the Denver airport that I wanted to mail. *My package arrived 3 weeks after I sent it and the card, that was sent 1st class took 5 weeks, missing Father’s Day!
Next, I walked over to Piazza dei Signori, the main piazza of Treviso. Of course I had to inquire about the tower! No luck though… no tower climbing in Treviso.
The original Fontana Delle Tette is behind (dirty) plexiglass inside the Palazzo dei Trecento. This fountain poured red and white wine during special occasions during the rule of the Venetian Republic. It took me a couple of days to find the replica in a side street nearby. I’ll post photos of the replica in another post…
Here’s a nearby pedestrian street…
The Cattedrale di San Pietro Apostolo (Cathedral of Saint Peter) is not too far from Piazza die Signori. The outside of this cathedral is huge! Below are some photos I took of this cathedral (both outside & inside).
After visiting the Cathedral, I went back to my B&B to take a shower and wash some clothes before dinner. I usually do a lot of planning before a trip to Italy, preparing lists of restaurant recommendations but I decided spur of the moment to take this trip and so I was left with hotel/B&B recommendations, Yelp, and old Slow Travel recommendations. Because many restaurants are closed on Mondays, I decided to check out one of the restaurants I saw near the post office earlier in the day. It was pretty busy at lunch and so I thought I would give it a try.
On my way to Pizzeria Da Roberto, I saw this crowd assembling outside of the theatre. It turned out to be parents and relatives waiting to see a school production! Here are two views of the crowd.
Dinner at Pizzeria Da Roberto was yummy! I ordered a pizza con mozzarella di bufala e pepperoni (the vegetable/not the meat). Two pizzas in two days… I paid for this the next few days. There was a family sitting nearby with a mother, three children, a grandmother, and relatives or friends stopping by to chat. The children were very enthusiastic. I enjoyed watching them while waiting for my pizza. When I went to take a photo of my pizza after it arrived, the little boy looked over at me reacting in such surprise that I was taking a photo of my pizza. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I was not planning to order dessert as I usually prefer to find a gelateria after dinner, but I could not resist the frutti di bosco torta – berry pie. Just the words – frutti di bosco – make me smile.
I have always wanted to visit Treviso while staying in Venice but never found the time. I am glad I decided to wait and instead spend a few days in Treviso instead of just trying to see it as a quick day trip.
Next up… more of Treviso.
*Reminder – clicking on photos in a group will reveal a larger version. I just put them in groups to save room so the post is not as long.
shave ice & gelato 