Verona stopover

Going to Verona

I took the vaporetto to Santa Lucia station where I boarded the train to Verona, departing at 0910.   We crossed the 3.85km railroad bridge, constructed in 1846 which connects Venice to mainland Italy.

The train reached a maximum speed of 162 km/h during the journey and about 1h30 later I was in Verona.  First up, I stored my luggage at the station so I could wander freely.

Exploring Verona

I had to take a short bus ride to the Arena (like Coliseum, built around 1AD) where it was a cold shaded walk between the buildings to get to the city’s historic square, Piazza della Erbe.  In need of a toilet but refusing to pay big bucks for a public one, I found a reasonable café to have lunch and use their facilities.

Verona’s Arena.

Cafes by the Arena.

I had found Romeo’s house by accident earlier and went in search of Juliet’s house after lunch.  There was a queue of people waiting to visit.  Suckers!  The couple are Shakespeare’s fictional character and I don’t know how these houses have come about, let alone Juliet’s tomb!

The first church I stumbled across was Basilica di Santa Anastasia.  I didn’t feel like paying but was able to sneakily take a picture from the entrance.  Next, I found the Cathedral of Santa Maria Matricolare.  I’ve seen a few too many churches already and am saving myself for Milan’s Duomo, so I didn’t go in either.

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I saw signs pointing to a stone bridge which I didn’t know about and followed the directions to a lovely old stone bridge, Ponte Pietra which took me across the river Adige.  This bridge was built around 100BC but blown up by the Germans in WWII, and rebuilt with the original materials in 1957.

Here, I saw an old castle/fort on the adjacent hill known as Castel San Pietro.  With barely enough time left before the train I wanted to take to Milan, I thought I’d take the short lift ride up and walk back down.  My foot was starting to hurt as if I had blister in one toe.  It proved to be a wise move as the view of Verona and its surroundings were good.

I walked to the railway station calling past the Castelvecchio.  The entry ticket at EUR10 was more than I was willing to spend with limited time to spend here.

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Continuing to Milan

My stopover in Verona had been adequately successful.  I had a taste of the city with some main sights without going into them.  The weather had been absolutely perfect with beautiful clear skies, cool comfortable walking temperatures.  Late autumn doesn’t seem like a bad time to visit Europe.

At the station, I got my ticket to Milan.  It got a little stressful as there was queue for the luggage storage office where I had stored my bag.  They were admitting one customer at a time to maintain distancing.

Fortunately, I made my train for the 1h50 ride to Milano Centrale.  It was a short 10 min walk to my apartment on Via Mercadante where I had to wait briefly for the owner to turn up.  I had organised my arrival by WhatsApp.

I didn’t like Milan when I visited 17 years ago due to graffiti and first impressions this time didn’t help.  Apart from the graffiti en route, my street was an absolute mess with litter from the fruit and vege market that had finished up earlier.

After a simple Bangladeshi dinner nearby, I settled in for the night to do my laundry and discover a glorious blister on my middle right toe.  OK, I’ve got to walk less for the next few days.