In Love with Verona

The coffee maker was set up and ready for the early risers in the group.  That would be Rick and Emmett, thrilled when coffee is available early.  Breakfast at the B&B was wonderful.  House made yogurt, cereals, fruit, cornetti, rolls, even a strawberry cake.  Plus, Simone made a fruit concoction in his juicer, with a little ginger, which was great, and very healthy, he said.  He made stove-top Italian coffee for anyone who might like it - and I loved it!

One big advantage to staying in a B&B, at least a good one like Villa Beatrice, is the resources and expertise the hosts provide.  Simone plotted out the exact route for us to drive into Verona, told us where to find free parking, and gave us the card of a really good restaurant in town for lunch.

We headed in about 10, and truly, it was only 10 minutes away.  Free parking was a little tricky at this hour, but with Il Padrino at the wheel, a spot was procured.

Verona is a nice, small city, most famous as the fictional home of Juliet of Romeo and Juliet fame.  We wanted to see her home, of course, but there were a few other places of interest too.

As we got close to the old part of town, we could see remnants of the Roman theater, which was closed for renovation, unfortunately. 

The Roman theater in Verona

We crossed the Adige River over an old Roman bridge.

Colorful houses along the river in Verona                  

Looking across the river to the dome of St. Giorgio's in Verona

The big churches,  the Roman arena and the house of Juliet all charged an admission fee, so we bought a Verona Card at our first stop hoping it would pay for itself during the day.

Our first stop was The Church of Sant'Anastasia.  It's the largest church in Verona.  Near the entrance, there were two holy water fonts balanced on hunchbacked statues.  Hunchbacks were thought to be lucky when these were sculpted in the late 15th century.

Our favorite holy water font in all of Italy

Great side altar at one of the churches in Verona

The vaulted ceiling of the Church of Sant'Anastasia

Ruins of the Roman temple under the Duomo

Which church is this?

OK, so I'm starting to get a little confused about which church is which.  We visited both the Church of Sant'Anastasia and the Duomo of Verona.  Both are beautiful and both are full of art treasures.  As I look at the pictures now, I can't say for sure where some of the photos were taken.  But, let me tell you, they were both great.

Next we visited the home of Juliet.  In addition to the balcony, there was a whole three-story house to tour, a reproduction of what a home would have been like in the time of Romeo and Juliet.

On Juliet's balcony, waiting to be serenaded

Love locks on a gate in the courtyard of Juliet's house

Laurie ensures a lucky love life by rubbing the breast of Juliet

The courtyard was packed with tourists and tour groups.  We got in without trouble, but by the time we were ready to leave it was jammed with people.

We had lunch at Osteria da Ugo, the restaurant our host Simone had recommended.  He told us that authentic local cuisine was often made with donkey or horse meat, and we would probably see both on the menus of the better restaurants in town.  There were lots of other choices on the menu too, but Laurie decided to try the ragu of cavallo (horse) over pasta.  Emmett and I had a taste of it, and it was very good.  Rick couldn't bring himself to try it though, after spending his life around horses.  Emmett and I ordered a pasta dish with shaved truffles that was great, and Rick had pasta dish with duck that was also great.

After lunch we walked over to the Roman amphitheater.  From the outside it was amazing.

The 1st century Roman arena

Inside, because it's still used for concerts and the yearly opera festival, the modern seats and rebuilt bleachers take away from the romance of the original building.

Modern seating at the Roman arena



From the arena we walked to the Piazza Bra nearby, where market booths were selling food and other local products.  We bought some cheese and white asparagus for dinner.

On the way back to the car we walked through a nice shopping area and found the supermercato where we picked up supplies to make dinner at the house. 

We made our way back up into the hills to our B&B, and had a good dinner of pasta, asparagus, bread and wine.  Some strawberry cake for dessert too.  The lights of Verona twinkled in the distance.

Lake Garda and on to Verona

Since we were staying at a big hotel with a restaurant, our breakfast wasn't included in the price of our room.  Or maybe it wasn't included because we booked our hotel through booking.com, and got some kind of a deal that didn't include the breakfast.  That's OK, because we were in a busy area of town, and there seemed to be plenty of places to eat near there that might be fun to try.

Emmett ventured out early to find coffee, and stopped at a nice cafe near our hotel.  He was ecstatic that they offered him a to-go cup for his coffee.  We haven't seen that in Italy so far!  Emmett returned to the hotel and let the rest of us know the restaurant status in the neighborhood.  We all decided to find the cafe and have some breakfast.

It had been quiet when Emmett went out earlier, but by the time we all got up and got out it was getting busy. Lots of people stopped by the little cafes to have a cappuccino or espresso on their way to work.  How can you hope to be productive without your high-octane breakfast?

We got on the road, after Emmett inched the car out of the little lock-box.  Our next destination was Verona, not very far away, so we thought we could stop at Lake Garda for a picnic lunch.  The day was beautiful and sunny.

The little Sirmione peninsula  was a string of hotels, resorts, and vacation condos, with a castle fortress at the point.

Buying supplies for a picnic along Lake Garda

We asked at the little grocery store if there was a good place on the lake to have a picnic, and the clerk told us, partly in English, where we would find a nice spot.  We found parking, and a bench, and set up our lunch.

Our picnic spot along the lake

Bread, mozzarella, prosciutto, tomatoes, chips and pears.  A little wine to wash it all down.  Perfect.

We bought some pastries too, for dessert, but we were all too full to eat them.  They'd make a nice snack later.

I had been packing the picnic tablecloth and bandana napkins, cutting boards, Swiss army knife, and plastic cups around for the last two weeks, just hoping we'd have a picnic somewhere.  Rick said I live for occasions like this, and he's right!

The scenery was beautiful, and we enjoyed the company of a few swans along the lakefront.

Lake Garda

One of the swans, looking for a handout

We finished our lunch and walked down the path looking for a restroom.  We came to a quiet restaurant, probably with nice restrooms, but we felt compelled to buy something before ducking into the W.C.  So, another opportunity to taste our new favorite drink, the spritz.  The waiter asked if we wanted it with Campari, and we said we did. But we didn't like the spritzes as much made with Campari.  They were too bitter.

On the Spritz Tasting Tour of northern Italy

We headed down the road to Verona, to find our B&B, the Villa Beatrice.  We knew it was outside of town, and Rick had mapped it out prior to our departure from Bergamo.

Here is our travel WARNING.  When you get lost, DO NOT ask a patron at the local bar for directions to a place up in the hills.  DO NOT.  I can't stress enough that an intoxicated local is no better than a... well, than a tourist such as ourselves.

So, still lost, we had a minor fender-bender in the little village.  It took a while to sort out, since the elderly gentleman we hit couldn't speak English at all.  He used the phone at the local cemetery monument carver - OMG - please let there be no significance to this!  His middle-aged son arrived to help figure it all out.  I said, should we call the police?  The son said, emphatically, NO!  Maybe they don't like to involve the police in these little things, but holy mackerel, we're feeling a little worried about our liability here.  Anyway, the son helped us fill out the paperwork we needed for the rental agency, and the paperwork his father would need for his insurance.  Before long, another of the old man's children arrived with his or her spouse.  The old guy looked so concerned I wondered if his kids had been telling him he shouldn't be driving anymore, at his age. We got on our way again, without any hard feelings on the part of the Italian family, thank goodness.

We back-tracked a little to find the turn that the INTOXICATED local had told us about and drove up into the hills.  We were definitely very lost by now.  We saw a woman in her driveway, and stopped to ask directions.  She went into the house and brought out her 20-something daughter, who helped us call the B&B owner.  He directed us to a meeting place on the main road.  Within a few minutes Simone, our host, arrived, and we followed him up to the B&B.  We followed him up tiny, little, winding, donkey-path-like roads, with hairpin turns.  All of us thought, it doesn't seem like we'll be driving into Verona from here!  Much to our relief, Simone told us that the roads we'd just been on were a local shortcut up to the house.  The way into Verona was much more straightforward.  Whew!

Our B&B was a lovely house with  4 bedrooms.  We were the only guests for two nights, and the owner doesn't live in the house, so we essentially had the whole place to ourselves.  We were made to feel right at home, and even allowed to use the kitchen to make our own dinners, if we liked.

 Villa Beatrice in Verona

The beautiful yard at the B&B Villa Beatrice

Our comfortable B&B, with classical music provided to play on the CD player

We'd had a long and tiring day, and hoped there was a place near the B&B for dinner.  Simone called his friend Fulvio at Il Porcellino, an agriturismo nearby, to see if they were serving dinner that night.  Luckily, they were, and we were welcome to come over, if we liked.

 The outside of Il Porcellino, high in the hills overlooking Verona

At dinner at the neighboring agriturismo, Il Porcellino

The owners of Il Porcellino, which means little pig, had added a beautiful dining room, which our host said was totally booked for both Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday lunch.  On this evening, there were only two tables of customers.  At the other table was a young family from Switzerland, with two young children, who were staying at the B&B.  They recommended it highly.

We had a great dinner, which included some of the pork grown and processed on the farm.  We drove back to our B&B on dark country roads, following the little pink pig signs, in reverse,  which helped us stay on course.