Sixteen miles (25 km), flat and cool weather had me arrive in Padova (Padua) with hardly a sign of being tired. I must have drawn energy from an epiphany I was experiencing. Let me explain. There were signs of events coming together today—events that seemed randomly connected before.
As I started walking, I saw signs that I was on the Camino of St Anthony—his last walk as an ailing priest from Camposampiero to Padova—my exact route along the little stream (he died at the end of that walk).
Now earlier, St Anthony (a Franciscan) came to the attention of the founder of the order, Francis of Assisi. They formed a special bond, and I somehow unknowingly overlaid their bond on my overall route by ending my first phase here in Padova and continuing on the Assisi Way in Florence. My break at first seemed like a random discontinuity, but now seems to “fit.” And finally, while searching for a hotel in Padova, first using Booking.com and seeing nothing, then switching to Hotels.com and selecting their first entry, I booked into Hotel Casa del Pellegrino (house of the pilgrim). I‘m staying here two nights—is that coincidental or what?
There’s more in the sense of when I walked our California Missions, St Anthony of Padua, our third mission just west of King City left a very strong impression on me. It’s the only mission St Serra would still recognize today—nothing has been built around it. It’s also the only mission that pushed me to the limit (I was going north to south).
A few pictures of the basilica of St Anthony (no real architectural style—over the centuries it’s added on top of the Romanesque. You can see the sarcophagus of his body in a separate transept chapel.