Daytrip to Bergamo

Going to Bergamo

Rather than fight with the hordes of tourists in Milan I thought I’d take an excursion to Bergamo.  I was on the train around 0800 and arrive an hour later.

Bergamo is a city in three tiers (for me), but often described as two tiers.  It has a lower city (citta bassa), an upper city (citta alta) and the ruins of a castle above the upper city.  There are two separate unconnected funicular railways that join the various parts.

I took a bus to the end of the route which was the start of the upper funicular.  Alighting from the bus I threw the ticket away tidily in the rubbish bin only to realise later that it was valid for use on the funicular within 75 mins of first use.

Peering into the rubbish bin, I could see the ticket sitting cleanly and I retrieved it.  It appeared I was too early and had to wait about half hour for the first funicular ride.  For some reason, that didn’t operate and I made it on to the second scheduled uphill ride within a minute of my ticket expiry.

Castle Ruins

The area had a number of posh mansions and a short walk took me to the ruins of the old castle.  Here I could see the snowy peaks of the surrounding area, the high city below and the low city way below.

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Upper city

I walked down to the upper city where I explored a little.  I was ready for lunch when I saw a place that did the most amazing sandwiches (and pizzas).  Unfortunately, the portion sizes were ginormous and half of it was going to be wasted.

So, I continued my exploration peckish.  The old town fairly typical but the Santa Maggiore church had a stunning interior, completely outshining the cathedral next door.

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Lower city

I continued to the lower city, which was fairly modern and uninteresting in comparison.  I grabbed a sandwich and made it to the train station.  After a much-needed visit to the toilet, I boarded the train with minutes to spare before the its departure to Milano Centrale.  Otherwise, it would be an hour’s wait till the next one.

Then I realised that these regional trains do have toilets and I had needlessly spent EUR1 for the station toilet.  I had known about the toilets but had forgotten.  I had never seen them but I have seen the on-screen indicators showing their occupancy or availability.

Despite having woken up earlier, I stayed up to attempt to secure a place in New Zealand’s managed isolation (hotel quarantine) system.  When it became obvious that I didn’t stand a chance, I powered off my computer and retired for the night.