Lauren and Nick's Travel Blog: Fair Verona...

Now, it actually went Dubrovnik -->Bari (Italy) --> Rome --> Verona, but Rome is in Nick's ballcourt and that guy actually WORKS these days, so fair's fair - so "Verona and beyond" it is.

Now, some bloggers have been quite slack for… oh, 6 weeks or so (shock horror!) MANY apologies. But at least you can have the consolation of more abridged blog entries, as our memories have faded and as it’s now sooooo long ago, you are unlikely to be hanging on every (any?) word, so it’s in everyone’s interest to keep it brief, yeah?

OK, so Nick’s got Rome (his favourite place) and I’ll agree with him totally on everything there. Especially fearing for our lives when driving on the roads. I must admit, in my case,it was refreshing to be being scared of fellow drivers rather than dangling off terrible heights - although realistically, Nick’s driving on the side of a mountain was way safer than those crazy Romans.

We went to Verona based on the advice of Candyce - our friend from Auschwitz. She was cool as a button, and so when she said it was a lovely place to walk around, and really relaxed (something we were needing after Rome) we thought - it’s close to Venice, so we’ll do that on a day trip (we didn’t end up, actually) and stay in Verona. And it was beautiful.

It smacked of all the pride in its history that Rome lacked. The Roman arena there is the 3rd largest around, and unlike the Coliseum has been maintained, restored and now even has concerts and plays performed in it. So that was pretty darned cool.

Some other sights included the beautiful river that circles through town. It’s shallow, runs very fast, and is this amazing clear crystal green colour. Because it winds through town there’s 4 or 5 bridges, of differing ages (but equal beauty), one of which was joined to the Castelvecchio (Castle Bridge is what it means and it is what it sounds J ) bits of which date back to 1355. And…. Beautifully restored and kept.

There’s also a Roman amphitheatre also restored to a degree, after excavations. An amazing feat of architecture again, like though they used the natural slope of the hill and reinforced that to form the basis for the different tiers of seating, they dug a deep trench into the rock (way deeper than the base of the furthest tier from the stage) so that water running down the hill didn’t erode the foundations of the tiers. COOL! And it was really cool to see some of the arches of the third (highest) tier still standing around the place. They also had a pretty half hearted archaeological museum there, in a converted convent above the amphitheatre, or rather - lots of cool old stuff, but with less or un-certain history to the pieces, although lots had been excavated from the centre of Verona itself so again - pretty interesting feeling.

Hmmmm, what else. Oh yeah - it’s the city of Romeo and Juliette. And they embrace that with a passion, as do the millions of walking tourists (I mean this in the sense of doing a ’walking tour’). So the Veronese thing is that Romeo and Juliet really existed (hmmmm),but I think the bard just used the most beautiful and romantic place ever as the site of his tragic love story. There’s Casa di Giulietta and Casa di Romeo and Juliette’s house has a court yard with THE balcony above it, and a statue of Juliette. People rub her boob for luck in love (didn’t work out for R & J, but whatever) and obviously someone somewhere grabbed the wrong end of the stick because they’re rubbing the non-heart side (right). You can’t even get a second in there during the day, and into the early evening, but it was still cool to see. And to have Nick get into my only chance to have a pic of the balcony without some nonce standing on it, and 400 people below, milling and boob-rubbing. Although… I snuck one in after.

Being the city of love that it is (doomed love, but clearly that’s another ‘whatever’) it’s also covered in graffiti of lovers. Everything from Juliette’s courtyard, to the more romantic of the bridges. It seemed a shame to me, but it’s all part of the magic of the place. There’s also spots where different couples have locked a padlock and written their names on it, symbolising their connectedness and undying love. Sigh. I mean “or something”.

We also found a certain palace’s (palace as in rich family’s house, I think) garden and wandered about that on a Sunday morning. It’s been there for 400+ years, in various incarnations and had an amazing view at the top over Verona. It was really special, and having an odd turn for the lame-o (romantic) side I genuinely had a tear in my eye looking over the city in the fresh morning haze after exploring the cool winding paths though the mossy cool garden. Sigh again.

Food-wise we had some delicious food there, and it’s worth going to the restaurants as they aren’t too expensive if you get a deal with a bottle of wine and just lovely soaking up the atmosphere. Didn’t try horsemeat (I’m sure Jenny, Cleo and Sunny at home will be most happy with that) but we did have some delicious squid ink pasta (very black on the teeth and lips, though a quick drink and a wipe takes it away - not first date material though!!!), mushroom ravioli in truffle sauce the proper Italian way (I.e. amazing taste, fresh pasta and just a few of them… sadly!) and a local specialty from the markets of risotto with uncooked sausage meat added (and obviously cooked at that point).

The Veronese were soooo stylish. The most classic-cut clothes, shiny hair, poise and class. They also have the interesting habit of coming into the centre of town in the evening but particularly on Sundays, from wherever they live, and strolling the streets in families. Quite a parade of stylish people, and it gets crazy busy through some of the narrow old town streets (completely refurbed with stylish shops, of course). On the topic of the streets, they were even lovely - mostly in beautiful condition, with colourful buildings, wrought iron balconies, flower pots, and often coming off at all angles - making it a wonderful place to explore. Have I sold it to you yet? DEFINITELY worth a stop in - 3-4 days is a good time, very relaxed… though one day I want to go back.

All in all, we loved it. I definitely loved it more than Nick, but I think he’d agree that it was still a special place.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! For all the promises of brevity, sadly, I lack the ability to follow through. Anyway - hopefully the break will have whetted the appetite for some overseas piccies… HUGS!

Pretty streets...

Nick and the pretty streets and sky. Still haven't broken that habit. At least we know he was there!

The locks. Eternal love. I guess.

The courtyard,the balcony and the abused statue.

The graffiti, all of about 2m from the courtyard - in the only entrance.

Pretty coloured buildings, all in a row.

The arena. Made in the typical Veronese style - white stone, then a particular pink stone found locally. See? I learned stuff.

Guess who. And the arena. Pick which of the last 2 pics were taken first...

Bits of the castle and bridge were made in 14th century. Been rebuilt and restored, but that's what makes this place. Ruins can be neglected too (even after they've been deemed important enough to keep. Hey Rome? Yeah? I thought so... no rebuttal).