Verona

Our destination today was Verona, home of Romeo and Juliette. Brad drove again and we were doing alright until we got to Verona, a couple of awkward intersection cross overs (who knows if we were in the right or not) and we finally made it.

As this was just an overnight stop, we checked into our room, unpacked and set out to explore. I had completely underestimated Verona when planning as it was such a lovely place that I wish we were staying longer.

We checked out some of the major sites and enjoyed walking in the older part of Verona. The first piazza we came across was Piazza Bra, the largest piazza in Verona, Italy, with some claims that it is the largest in the country. The piazza is lined with numerous cafés and restaurants, along with several notable buildings and is a very picturesque site.

It is also the location of the Verona Arena, originally an amphitheatre built nearly 2000 years ago. The building itself was built in the first century AD on a site then beyond the city walls. While it can now host crowds of up to 22,000, the original amphitheatre could seat 30,000 spectators. This is now a world-famous music venue with regular operatic and contemporary music performances including Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, Elton John, and Muse. Unfortunately because it is a commercial venue it was covered with advertising signs and scaffolding.

It was a lovely vibrant piazza to start our mini tour of Verona and we were already in love with the city. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring more of the sites while trying not to get too hot. We were just not prepared for the heat here. Luckily, like most Italian cities, there are fresh water fountains throughout the piazzas to refill our water bottles.

We finished our night with a very delicious dinner at Locanda degli Scaligeri, a restaurant not far from the hotel. Not sure if they had their translations right but there was gnocchi with overcooked horse meat on the menu. Needless to say, I did not order that. After dinner we enjoyed another stroll into the main square to admire it at night.

The only thing that could have improved was the weather. It was very hot and humid, not what we expected for this time of year. What a lovely stop on our way to Venice.Read more