I made my way by taxi to the Termini Station in Rome centre. It's always quite a difficult station to negotiate as its just so busy and so big. Once I knew my platform I was off. I had already pre-booked my tickets so had my carriage and seat allocated. I got myself onto the train... my one problem was my suitcase. With it being so big there is no way I could have it with me or it could be lifted onto the racks. I had to leave it at the entrance to the carriage, which meant that every 20 minutes I had to go to the loo to pretend to blow my nose to check it was safe haha!
I arrived in Verona, suitcase in tow safely. I contacted the owner to let them know that I had arrived and would be with them and they said they would be waiting for me. When I arrived I was greeted by the owners friend and he carried my case up to the apartment (poor him, it was rather heavy!) and then he proceeded to show me around. It was a stunning apartment, large, clean, nice colours and just absolutely gorgeous. After he left I decided to go and have a wander and see the sights of the city. I had also decided that I wasn't going to post any photos on Twitter or Instagram as my parents were arriving the following day and this trip was booked long before my 10 week trip was organised so I wanted to share this place together.
Now I went down the stairs and then realised I had left something upstairs so went back to grab it and I couldn't open the door... now even I knew that this wasn't a good position to be in... I stood there for 10 minutes and the lock just wouldn't open... I had to phone the landlord... She answered and I explained the problem and she sent her brother to have a look, who it turned out was the chap that had met me and showed me round. I was quite please and felt relieved when he also couldn't open the door and that I wasn't doing something wrong!! He then said that what he was going to do was to wait at the apartment and call a locksmith and get it sorted and I could go off and explore and he would contact me when it was all fixed....
So explore I did. I wandered down to the river, which was just stunning looking up towards the mountains, taking in the beautifully covered buildings...
I then wandered down towards the Piazza Erbe which is so called as it used to be the herb market. It is now full of stalls selling bags, scarves, food, drink, jewellery and other tourist trinkets. It is surrounded by bars and restaurants serving great food and seemingly serving everyone Aperol Spritz! I continued to walk and found myself wandering down a beautiful marbled streets lined with Versace, Gucci, Prada, D&G etc..... I fit in so well here ;-)
I turned the corner and suddenly in front of me was the Arena. It's a smaller, more compact version of the Colosseum. I was not expecting it so soon... It was stunning... There was nothing for it.. this is where I was going to have my first meal in Verona.. in Piazza Bra (quite fitting for me.... get it?!).
My first meal was a simple salad with wine. I had forgotten in the North of Italy, house wine is normally sparkling. I had this in Bologna... Anyway, it was then I got a text saying that the locksmith was there and they needed my key to get in as the spare key wasn't working. I finished my meal and hopped in a taxi back. Turns out the whole lock was knackered and they had to replace the whole thing. With mum and dad due to arrive tomorrow lunchtime this needed to be done!!! It was agreed he would be back the following morning to fix it. I spent the remainder of the evening sitting on the balcony, sipping wine listening to someone playing opera in the distance as I looked out over the red rooftops..
The following morning the locksmith turned up at 9.30 to change the lock and it turned into a huuuuge faff. He was there over and hour and had to take half the door off as it is a fire door. However it was finally complete and all was sorted. At 1.30 I got a text from mum and dad saying that they had landed and were on their way. Yay! :)
Mum and dad arrived and I took them to the apartment which they instantly loved. We sat and chatted for a while and had a drink and a catch up and then decided to wander into town for a late afternoon, early evening meal. We took the same route that I had walked the following evening taking in the sights as we went as well as catching up on everything :)
Now that evening I already knew what I wanted for dinner. It's a speciality in Northern Italy, particularly Verona... Horse meat and Polenta with potato. I have to say, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever eaten. Its a cross between beef and venison in a really rich sauce. It is served with sliced polenta and creamy mash. The meat is so rich, you would only ever want something plain with it. All I can saw is wow... and yes all of the horse meat jokes were done over dinner, not surprisingly mostly by my dad :) I am posting a photo of it and I am fully aware that it is one of the least appetising photographs of food I have put on, however I stand by my claim that it was amazing and would never have any further issues eating it, in fact I had it the following night with gnocchi!
So the following day we wandered up towards the Duomo via the river, watching crazy teenagers white water raft the rapids! It was a hazy misty day after we had had some rain in the morning, but it was far from cold. The buildings in the back streets of Verona are some of the most beautiful. It is such a clean city, full of different colours and all set in traditional northern Italian style... absolutely beautiful.
The Duomo inside was lovely but its most outstanding feature was its organ pipes (insert joke here as you wish!) We sat and absorbed the atmosphere for a while before wandering on to find some food for lunch.
We had a quick lunch of 2 rolls shared between us in a cafe in Piazza Erbe before wandering down all of the side streets and finally ending up in Piazza Bra. We went back to the same place as dad wanted to try the horse with polenta. I ordered the horse with gnocchi (another dodgy photo!) and mum had a salad I think... Absolutely beautiful. We then got a taxi home and sat and chatted for the evening before trundling off to bed!
The following day we wanted to go and see the Castlevecchio and Juliets Balcony. I'm aware that it isn't the real balcony etc etc but the idea is lovely. We had got the taxi system sussed by this point so we text for a taxi and it arrived almost instantly. We got dropped at the entrance to the castle and went inside. You can wander around the grounds for free however you have to pay to go inside the museum. As we are not huge museum lovers unless it is something we are specifically interested in, we decided to just wander. We made our way to the bridge. Today was a gloriously sunny and hot day and the views from the bridge were amazing. We walked across taking photographs and then the other side we sat, had a coke and relaxed watching the world go by. All we could talk about was how beautiful it was and what an amazing city it is and how its almost underrated. People fly in, see the balcony and the Arena and then leave when there is so much more to the city.
We then walked towards Piazza Bra to get a taxi towards Piazza Erbe. This piazza was better suited for lunches and also had a taxi rank so it was easy for us to get back afterwards. We made our way down to Juliet's Balcony.. Now it was busy, however not as busy as I had expected. Now I am a romantic at heart and I do believe in all that stuff so for me it was fantastic to see all of the declarations of love scrawled across the walls, stuck on with anything people had to hand which is mostly chewing gum and plasters (fresh ones!). Juliet's balcony itself was lovely and just a quaint area. There is a statue of Juliet and its good luck to rub her right breast... dad was in there like a shot!
After seeing the balcony, we had some lunch in the square and then mum and I wandered around the stalls. I bought myself a new handbag and mum and I bought some bracelets, and then we went home for a snooze...!!
That evening we went back to the Piazza Bra for dinner and had a wonderful meal! We all had pasta and wine and mum and I had an Aperol Spritz... well why not!! It was absolutely wonderful and we all said how we didn't want to leave Verona. It was such a lovely few days and it just wasn't long enough.
The following morning mum and dad left for their flight. I decided to go to see San Zeno, a church to the North West of the city. It was quite a walk but it was a beautiful walk nonetheless, and the church was stunning. The main door is made from from 48 bronze panels, each one individually hand made. The unfortunate thing is that you cannot see these from the outside so you have to pay to get in to see them. Its not expensive at 2.50 euros but its the principle. The church itself was stunning as was the inside.
I then made my way back to the centre for some food before returning home to pack as I was leaving the next morning... I was so sad to say goodbye to Verona. I will definitely be back. It was a stunning place and I would never hesitate to recommend it.. It has a piece of my heart after all.
Next stop... Milan....
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