Day 59 Where for art thou

After leaving Geneva our plan was quite simple, to head east to the unique and exotic city of Venice. However there was a problem. After quite a bit of research we decided that staying in Venice was simply not going to fit our budget. So we decided to find somewhere close by and just do a day trip to Venice by train. After quite a bit more research and the consideration of two or three possible candidates we settled on Verona as our alternative venue to Venice, the legendary city that inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette.

Upon arrival we discovered that Verona was a great choice. Armed with our Verona Card, the best value three day pass we have come across in any city, we were ready for free transport and free entry into many of the sites and places of interest in this old Roman town. To begin with we visited the first century arena, second only in size to the Colosseum. Our only disappointment in visiting this extraordinary site was that we realised that we had arrived two weeks too early for the Opera Season, which has been staged in this restored ancient venue for over 80 years.

We then visited the home and balcony of Juliette, where Romeo called out to his beloved, “What light from yonder window breaks….” – you know the rest! We left the crowds outside Juliette’s house taking ‘that picture’ in front of her statue touching an intimate part of her body in the vain hope of finding a new lover. This was yet another one of those bizarre tourist myth’s, that seem to exist in every city. After a lovely quiet meander through some exquisite streets and piazzas, we continued our tradition of climbing the highest peak, and decided to tackle an ancient 85 metre bell tower but this time with the aid of a new feature…a lift. We love the perspective gained by looking down on a city as we try to understand its character and geography.

Later in the afternoon we visited the building next door to where we were staying. Castlevecchio is a castle that had once housed princes in the 4th century and had been used and remodelled through the centuries until Napoleon used it as an army barracks. Sadly the Nazis blew up its original stone bridge as they withdrew in 1945. Verona’s layers of history were revealed in the history of this castle, which is now used as an art gallery. At twilight we walked across the restored bridge to visit more Roman forts and ruins

We felt the need to apologise to Verona for only visiting because we couldn’t afford Venice. We were actually very glad that we had not missed this ancient town known as ‘Little Rome’.