While Mela is on vacation in a tropical paradise, Ananas and I went on a quick jaunt up to Thiene because we had seen a flower market advertised online. The website said the event was free and that there would be a plant market, a castle, and an orchid exhibition. “Sounds good! And you can’t beat free!” we thought.
We arrived to find a line to get into the castle walls and saw that people were clearly paying for their entry. Sure enough, a poster on the wall stated “Ingresso: €4.” We paid and walked into the courtyard where we saw lots of plants for silly amounts of money.
Inside the castle proper there was a beautiful display of orchids, which we actually enjoyed quite a bit. Ananas took these pictures of the gorgeous orchid room.
We wandered around some more out into the “garden,” where we found kids swinging from trees and a very bare domed arbor.
Where is the garden in this garden?!
Oh wait! Here’s a “secret” garden! Maybe this will be worth seeing….
…. Or not.
Overall, it wasn’t very exciting, and not worth the €4 it cost to get inside. I think we would both rather have been lying on the same beach as Mela, but we learned a lesson – not to trust that website! We also felt, despite it being a small Italian town, that Thiene was lacking in charm. We probably won’t visit again unless we have a better reason than a so-called “free” flower market.
Happy Travels!
-Maracuja
God Save the Spritz 