“In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...”
¬Despite the rain, NOTHING could spoil the beauty of Verona. I read that many tourists do not visit Verona, but instead visit Milan and Venice. What a shame, this place is gorgeous. We arrived around midday after an interesting drive from Bellagio. Coming out of Bellagio...and we are talking cliff/lake one side, rock the other and barely enough room for two cars on a very wet and windy road...was an experience. Manual cars are wasted on the Italians. They just need the accelerator...which they must push through the floor and a brake...which they also push through the floor. They are CRAZY!!! Sometimes thought they believed our car to have super car powers to scale cliffs...driving in the middle of a mountain road...scared the ....out of us when they didn’t move. Traffic sign says 30kms. Would fly past us. Went through a few tunnels. Not exactly feeling secure when the inside of the tunnel is somewhat flooded and you can see water leaking from the roof and walls. (Sly’s Daylight, came to mind a few times). A few diversions ... not sure why...maybe flooding and we made it. We were very keen to check out “fair Verona” and excited to go to the market for food, only to be told...IT”S A PUBLIC HOLIDAY...not a lot open. Drove to the Piazza Bra, which is the main part of Verona, parked and spent 3 ½ hours just walking around the city. It didn’t matter in which direction you went, the streets were beauiful. Lots of balconies with window boxes full of brightly coloured flowers, concrete/stone walls, scultures, fountains. Verona was one of the most powerful cities during the early rule of the Roman Empire and the old city of Verona is one of the best-preserved in Italy. Everywhere you walk you see evidence of this. As you walk under the large stone gate arches you walk into Piazza Bra. The thing that dominates this square (though it is a huge circle) is The from Arena. This looks like a colosseum. The Arena di Verona is the third largest arena in Italy, and was constructed in 30 AD. A lot of this still remains intact and although some of it was undergoing construction, we paid the 6 Euro (each) entrance fee and went in for a look. It was great. Stone seats, large oval shape. You could imagine performances there...actually they still do. The opera season finished a month ago. Apparently the acoustics are fantastic.
After this we walked up a mall with the nicest shops. The Italians maybe crazy drivers, but boy their bags, shoe¬¬s, leather and jewellery are superb. I am wondering how I can get some bags home...Big Rick is already mildly stressing about weight (luggage, not his body fat). Will check out the postage situation and maybe send some stuff home. Went past a great underwear shop. They had a model (plastic one...not Paris H... a real plastic one) with these really cool golf boxers on. Thought I should get them for dad (or perhaps mum). At the end of this mall we ended up at Piazza Erbe. This was one of those moments when you stand there and slowly turn around and take in the sheer beauty for 360 degrees. Old buildings, sculptures, fountains...old clock tower, markets. Picture perfect. Continued our stroll, aimlessly wandering around streets...didn’t matter where you went it was all magical. Entered another little piazza and again beauty, with a statue of Dante Alighieri holding a prominent part of the square. Walked through the arches and found the mausoleum of Arche Scaligere and the outdoor tombs. This is where the Scaligeri princes, who were city leaders as well as great warriors and patrons of the arts are buried. Browsed through the market stalls. I am pretty taken with some of the masks, they are beautiful and would look great on a wall back home. Might have to add them to the packing container I might need to have shipped home. We eventually found our way to the Adige River, which was flowing very fast and was full of debris because of all the rain. Also saw the Ponte Pietra stone bridge.
Well huge disappointment...could not cook the feast. Had to have a kebab...all that was open near our apartment. Bummer. Tomorrow though holds a new promise of a feast. Shops open. Find a Post Office pretty early. Suss out postage prices...might even post the postcards I wrote in Edinburgh. Hope the Scottish stamps are ok. Tomorrow we visit some churches, Juliet’s balcony, go to the top of the clock tower for views over Verona...buy my bags...check out the guys undies (in the shop) and look at a mask or two. Sounds like fun. Hope the rain stops...it is supposed to get back to being sunny and 18. At least the rain does not stop you doing anything and we have only had a couple of days where it has rained most of the day.
Day 2, Skies still a bit grey and light showers for the morning. Sky cleared later in the day. This is the second day Big Rick has walked around singing, and I quote: “Romeo and Juliet, Susy and Ricky, Nikki and Kimberly, Ally and Lacey, Livvy and Joshy” to the tune of FIRE (was that by the Pointe Sisters? Believe the actual words are “Romeo and Juliet, Sampson and Delilah”). Caught the bus into Verona and got out at Castelvecchio. This was an old castle/military fortress that has been transformed into an art museum. Continued our walk and found Juliet’s Balcony just off Piazza Erbe...had walked passed it 3 times and did not realise it was there. It has been staged for tourists, it actually has nothing to do with Juliet...but there was a statue of Juliet that everybody had their photo taken with...me included...though I did not kiss nor stroke her right breast...which was very shiny from all the action. A balcony had been built...it did look quite nice. (rather ironically, I read that the house was a bordello for many years before being bought by the city and turned into a tourist attraction). Next stop was the clock tower. Caught the lift to the Bell Tower look out and got some amazing views over Verona. Apparently if you are up there when the bells sound every hour it is quite deafening. I walked up a few flights to the very top, but it was surround by protective mesh so views higher but not as clear. A coffee and brouche (really yummy pastry) later and we bought the church pass and did the big 4 (Duomo, Fermo, Zeno and S. Anastasia). Each was stunning in its own right, and they were quite different from each other.
And finally the feast happened...sausage, steak, vegetables, Italian ice-cream. Delicious.
To end with a contribution from Rick.....
And Juliet says “hey its Romeo. You nearly gave me a heart attack. You shouldn’t come around here singing up at people like that; anyway what you going to do about it...Juliet, when we made love you used to cry. You said I love you like the stars above, I love you till I die. I forget, I forget, the movie song. When you going to realise it was just that the time was wrong. Juliet”. (Dire Straits Circa 1978)
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