Verona

Last stop of the trip Verona... I actually had no idea about this place but it's where Romeo and Juliet is set and you can go see Juliet's house. I don't know the story... I've never read it or watched the film so Holly had to tell me in the airport before our flight. I did Google it before we went and knew they had a colosseum but was called an arena as they have concerts there. Also a Netflix film came out a few days before we flew called Love In the Villa set in Verona because of Romeo and Juliet.

We got up at 8am and went to Rosa Salva bakery as it is one of the oldest bakeries in Venice. Holly got a custard filled croissant and I got a pistachio. We also went back to the bakery we went to get cannolo to get an almond cookie. We then took them back to the hotel to eat and checked out and headed to the train station.

The croissants weren't as good as the ones we got the morning before and I actually though the one we got from the Milan hotel (which I forgot to take a photo of) was the best croissant we had. The cookie wasn't what I expected.. It was soft like a scone and had candid peel inside. I thought it would be a hard crunchy cookie which was a bit disappointing.

The trek to the train station wasn't as bad as the day we got there as it wasn't as hot but it was still a task.

So we weren't in first class like on the way there so thought it was going to be a real downgrade but the train was fine. It was a double decker one, sat wherever we wanted, was clean, had a USB plug to charge your phone. We just didn't get a snack or have a table. Train was 10 minutes late but we ended up making time and got to Verona in the afternoon.

Not quite the same view as we got at Venice train station... We got a taxi to our hotel as it would have been a 45 minute walk but a 13 minute taxi ride. We were glad we did get a taxi as it was high up in the mountains and we wouldn't have been able to walk it but lucky to make it there in one piece as the taxi driver was mad. She just did a u-turn in the middle of the road because she missed the turning and had no idea where she was going and fully had her phone in her hand using Google maps. But we did eventually make it there in one piece.

We got there and was pressing the buzzer for ages but no answer. Rang the number and no answer. We were stood there for about 10 minutes before a woman eventually opened the gate to let us in. She said she Whatapp'd us earlier on to check when we were coming but didn't get a reply. We said we never got anything... She said she didn't have a booking for us. As Holly originally had 2 nights booked but changed it to just the 1 it got messed up with their system. We said we had confirmation from Booking.com that the booking had gone through but said she didn't have anything for us. Basically she made us panic that we wouldn't have anywhere to stay the night but said she did have a room for us, not the one we had booked but had 2 rooms to choose from that we could have a look and choose. We were too early for check in as it wasn't till 3pm so we left out bags and then went off to explore Verona for the day.

Verona looks very much like Spain. I wasn't sure what it was going to look like as Milan, Venice and Rome have all been very different.

 There was a festival happening that weekend Tocati. It's a traditional games festival that happens every year on a weekend in mid September for children and families with games stations scattered around the city, food stands, concerts and events related to folklore and folk tradition. "Tocati" in Veronese dialect means "it's your turn". What children say when they play a street game which is what the boy in the symbol depicts to be saying. There's 50 of these symbols around the city (we didn't realise there was that many of them). We decided we would take turns to copy the boy each time we saw it. We thought everyone else would be doing the same but turns out we were the only ones even though people were looking at us and saying it was a good idea!

Walking into the town and found our first gelato stop

This was some pistachio flavour that had dried candied fruit in it. It was nice and refreshing but the most expensive out of the 8 gelatos we had. I got charged €5 for it but Holly's was cheaper and I said I wanted the same so don't know what happened there.

This is the main high street with all the shops on and Juliet's house is on this road.

Juliet's House

So weird people touching her right boob for good luck

We paid €6 to go into Juliet's house - it's only small and nothing to see it's just mainly for people to take photos on the balcony. You have to get the people behind you in the queue to take your photo - there's no staff there offering that service. In the courtyard and the tunnel into it I think in the past people would write notes and put them on the wall but now there is huge signs saying you will be fined €3mil if you graffiti. You can pay an extra €1 to go to Juliet's tomb but it's a 20 minute trek some where else and from Google images it's just stone like it could be anything. So I said no to that.

After we went to look for the arena. We made it in time for last entrance but it meant we would only have half an hour in there and didn't think it would be enough time so save it for the day after since we had no other plans. So we just took some photos and wandered around the centre.

Google maps took us the long way round to get to the arena

If you walk through the arch where the clock is on the right there is a McDonald's so we went for a toilet pit stop and I got an ice cream cone as after lockdown they stopped doing them here and they were the best. This was €1 which was 87p they were only 69p back in the day

These restaurants and bars facing the arena as expected were expensive

Romeo's house is private apartments so nothing to see just a sign!

City walls

We took a pitstop - Holly got an aperol spritz and I got an actual Fanta lemon.

It was 6:15pm by the time we finished our drink which was the perfect time for dinner. We found a restaurant on our trek round which was also recommended by the hotel woman. We liked the menu but forgot to check that it shuts and doesn't open back up till 7pm and didn't think to book so had to wander some more and go back.

We went back for 7pm and it was fully booked for outside so we sat inside as we were too hungry and bored to wait any later

It was nice inside - really big but just looked nice outside.

We got a cheese and meat selection it came with polenta the yellow mush - we weren't a fan

We got a veg mix that was grilled courgettes, roast potatoes and mushrooms (wasn't great)

Tasting pasta - Gnocci, ravioli mix and duck ragu spaghetti - all 3 were really good and we could have ordered another plate of this

I wanted to try risotto and this place didn't have the 2 people minimum to order it like Venice so I thought I would try it but it was a mistake because it was horrible and looked horrible - it was red wine a and the wine was strong.

Holly finally got her tiramisu - it didn't think it was that good and not what I thought it was going to look like. Thought it would be a on a plate in layers.

This was the most expensive meal of the holiday but was our last dinner. It came to €76 which included Holly getting a wine and negroni - we were charged €3 each caperto (sitting at the table charge). The pasta was really good but the rest was not worth the money.

We then went back to see the arena in the dark but I didn't end up getting any nice photos! I only realised this when looking back at my photos after we left.

We trekked back to the hotel and didn't get back till 10pm. 

The shower was rubbish because the you couldn't' control the pressure and it was weak all you could do was change the lights so it was like a party in the shower. Then when I tried to use the hand shower it fell out the wall!

The room and bathroom was nice and big just a shame about the shower.

This is just a long post of mainly photos as we didn't really do that much in Verona - Verona part 2 next on the last official day

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