Fair Verona: Day 2

Thank you for all your lovely comments about the first day of our trip. We did manage to pack a lot in and had even more plans for Day 2. I woke up feeling refreshed and raring to go. Chickpea woke up grumpy, claiming I had kept her awake most of the night with my snoring: I totally dispute those claims! Luckily she was less grumpy after helping herself to the buffet breakfast ;)

Another bright and sunny morning. Our destination was Castel San Pietro from where there's a panorama of the city and surrounding area. Here we're crossing ponte Nuovo with the church of St Anastasia on the left.

This is the ponte Pietra which I mentioned in the May Scavenger Hunt.

As we got closer to the bridge we could see lots of little orange heads, like Oompa Loompas on a day trip, said Chickpea!

We were both very taken with this pink vespa.

Time to start climbing upwards towards the viewing point.

Pretty doorways and buildings at every step.

Almost there.

Wow, all those steps were definitely worth it!

While we were admiring the view we could hear lots of shrieking. We couldn't work out where the sound was coming from at first and then spotted dinghies of school children descending through the rapids on the river.

Behind us was the Castel though it was closed as it's currently undergoing renovation.

Also undergoing renovation is the Roman Theatre built in the late 1st century BC so we had to content ourselves with this view which we saw on the way down.

Back at the river we crossed over ponte Pietra, heading for the Duomo.

The Duomo, or cathedral, dates from the 1100s.

Like many buildings, the cathedral was built on the site of earlier religious buildings - I think these remains dated from around the 5th century AD.

There are also several smaller chapels in the cathedral complex.

Lunchtime. Pizza in Cafe Ebrius (photo again in May Scavenger Hunt) followed by a gelato. well, you can't come to Italy and not have a gelato!

Refreshed we headed on to the church of St Anastasia which we'd seen from the other side of the river earlier.

Like many of the churches we saw, it's relatively plain on the outside. But don't let that fool you, wait until you get inside...

This was by far my favourite of the churches we visited. The ceilings and frescoes were just stunning.

The most famous of the frescoes is this one, St George and the Princess, by Pisanello which dates from c.1436. It was high up above a side chapel but a video underneath showed you the details.

Before leaving we rubbed the back of the hunchback as touching one is supposed to bring you luck.

Last on our itinerary for the day was a visit to la Casa di Giulietta, Juliet's house. We'd actually been before as we'd passed by several times. The walls in the entrance are covered in lovelorn graffiti.

Inside there's a small courtyard which you can visit at most times of the day: it's only the house itself which has timed entry. We did go inside this time and had fun posing on the balcony with one of us hanging out of the window on the right to get a good shot. There's very little to see in the house otherwise.

Most people come to have their photo taken holding the right breast of Juliet. There is such an orderly queue you'd think we were in England!

Everywhere is covered in chewing gum which had been used to stick letters to the wall, though some people have also written on the gum!

The other love tokens are these coloured padlocks. We saw them attached to fences and railings all over Verona.

And so ended day 2. We had absolutely walked our legs off so we went back to the hotel to rest for a while before venturing out to eat pizza. It was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel to the centre of town but we took the bus! This is piazza Bra at about 10pm.

See you next time for our final day. x