Verona and Venice

We haven't done much traveling lately, so Mic and I decided to go to Northern Italy for a long weekend.   While it was a very nice trip, it certainly turned out to be one of the most problematic of our getaways.  Our flight landed on time and we picked up the rental car without incident, but it went downhill from there.  We realized we would be checking into our hotel after hours so we called to arrange for pickup of the key. We were given brief instructions which were supposed to be followed up by a text message with more detail. Sadly, message was never received. We arrived at the office but could not find the key.  Not that we had much opportunity to look around as there was a security guard (who did not speak English) who clearly did not like us looking around the closed office perimeter. No keys, no cell phone number, no directions, no one to turn to for help.  With no other option, we found another hotel for the night - hoping we could get it sorted the next day. 

Verona was a lovely town, with very little available parking. Did I mention the majority of streets were one way? And that I'm trying to navigate, by myself, using Google Maps on my cell phone? After dropping Mic off at the convention center for work, I made my way down to the office.  After driving around and around for at least 30 min, I found a spot to park.  Sadly, that turned out to be the easy part. The parking spaces were metered, but I couldn't get the meter box to work.  I don't know if it was my card or if I was pushing the wrong button. I thought maybe the box was out of order so I drove around until I found another spot. This time either the box worked or my card worked or I was suddenly inspired to push the right combination of mystery buttons. Ultimately a card popped out. Okay I'm on my way now.

I arrived at the office and she showed me where the key had been left - right where the security guard had been standing.  OK I guess that's why we couldn't find it.  To be fair, she did send a text to both of our phones - we still haven't gotten them.  They were kind enough to not to charge us for the first night.  The hotel was Dimore Verona and it turned out to be a full blown (and very nice) apartment, not a hotel room.  http://www.dimoreverona.com/ 

 

While driving around I had noticed Piazza Delle Erbe, which the guide book said was originally a Roman forum in the heart of the historic center. As promised, it was surrounded by beautiful medieval buildings.  There was a huge tower in the center of the square and numerous cafes. I sat myself down for some lunch and some people watching, both of which turned out to be wonderful. Next stop was Lamberti Tower. Although it is said to have an excellent view of the city, I just couldn't muster the energy to climb the stairs to the top. More like, my arthritic knees may have taken me up, but would be screaming in protest all the way down.  This medieval bell tower was started in the 12th century. Over time it was raised to its final height of 84 meters. It's quite impressive even from the ground.
 
Of course no visit to Verona would be complete without seeing  the most popular site - the balcony said to be Juliet's in Romeo and Juliet.  I actually found this quite by accident. I was walking down a busy pedestrian street when I noticed a huge crowd in a very small square. You go through an archway which is lined with graffiti on the walls. It's not graffiti as you would expect. Instead, what's known as Juliet's Wall Graffiti is thousands upon thousands of declarations of love written in pen, pencil and color markers. 'Mike loves Cindy', 'Fred and Betty forever', B&A inside a heart.  There are also messages left by those who have had their hearts broken.  Maybe someone like Juliet and her unlucky love story can understand. There were also messages of peace and love, signs of all kinds, phrases written in every language and color. 

Further down the entrance were thousands and thousands of sticky notes on a wall.  They are the same type of messages, these people just needed more space - and perhaps less permanence? There were also quite a few padlocks attached to the window bars.  Through the archway you enter a beautiful courtyard. There's a very small 2nd floor balcony, nothing special but that's what everybody was looking at and taking pictures of, so I did the same. 

At the far end of the courtyard was bronze statue of Juliet. People stood in line to get a picture of themselves cupping her right boob. It's meant to bring good fortune if you're unlucky in love, but the statue looks decidedly worse for wear. In 2014 they had to make a bronze replica of her because there was a large hole in the breast, wrist, and right arm.

After walking around the city a little longer, it was time to go pick up Mic.  This should be interesting, since I'm not sure exactly where I left him.  Finding the car again was a good sign, so I was feeling hopeful.   Luckily it was a straight shot from the garage and I picked him up without issue.

Mic and I headed back to the city center.  We were hoping to check out a medieval castle called Castelvecchio. This Roman fortress was built between 1354 and 1376 by the Lord of Verona, Cangrande II della Scala. There was a fortified bridge that crosses the Adige River, which was intended to allow escape in the event of a rebellion or a coup d'etat.  The bridge is called Castelvecchio Bridge.  Cangrande was nicknamed Can Rabbioso (Raging Dog) because he ruled the city with an iron fist.  He amassed rich treasures for his illegitimate sons but plunged Verona into poverty. Obviously the citizens were quite unhappy with him. This led Cangrande to surround himself with mercenaries, in the event that his people rose up against him. It wasn't his people that he needed to worry about; he was assassinated by his own brother.  The castle itself was a beautiful red brick fortress. We couldn't get inside but were able to walk around to the bridge. The view of the city was quite lovely. 

Near the fortress stands the Verona Arena. It was built in AD 30 and is still in use today.  It looked quite a bit like the Colosseum in Rome, only on a smaller scale. When it was built, it could hold nearly 30,000 people. Today maximum attendance is limited to 15,000 , but it is internationally famous for large-scale performances including Opera, Paul McCartney and Kiss just to name a few.  As with the Colosseum in Rome, we were lucky enough to be there at night when there were few tourists. We got some great pictures of it in the moonlight.

The next morning we headed to the American Air Force Base in Aviano. This was the reason we rented a car instead of using buses as we normally do. Aviano is about two and a half hours from Verona.  I spent 28 years in the Air Force and I wanted to show Mic what an Air Force Base was like.  And I'm not going to lie, I wanted to shop at the commissary and get some Diet Mountain Dew as well as proper American biscuits and gravy. Once we got out of the city, we begin to enjoy the trip.  We were headed directly towards the Alps and the mountains were breathtaking. Most were topped with snow, and as we got closer, they became more and more beautiful. You could see small towns nestled in the foothills but they were too far away for us to visit.

Eventually we made our way to the base only to be told that I could not escort Mic, who is Danish, onto the base. This never occurred to me because I was able to get him on the Navy base in Naples. Well, we came too far not to make a quick run to the commissary, so we agreed that he would wait at McDonald's, which the sign said was 2 blocks away. That McDonald's prove to be quite elusive, in fact we never found it.  We never found any place for him to wait in the nearby town of Aviano because everything was closed. We decided to turn around and go back to the first town off the interstate and finally found a Burger King. What should have taken me 15 minutes to go back to the base, ended up taking closer to 45 because I got confused in the roundabouts.  Eventually I did my shopping, bought him some of his favorite black licorice and picked him up for the long ride back to Verona. While he was waiting for me, he did at least get to walk around the town and get some great pictures of the snow-capped Alps. While the day certainly didn't turn out as we expected, it was still a nice adventure and we got to see some of the countryside.

Our last day we decided to head to Venice. I had visions of a beautiful city, filled with picturesque canals. Instead the waterways were far more industrial than anticipated. We hopped on the public transport boat which we thought would go down the Grand Canal, but it apparently went around the outside of the city. Had we known that, we never would have taken it, but as it turns out, we got to see a part of the city we never would've seen. There is another island next to Venice, called Giudecca.  This boat went back and forth between the two, dropping off and picking up passengers. We were able to get some beautiful pictures of churches and the waterfront on both islands. At the end of the route we were dropped off at the end of the Grand Canal in the San Marco area. 

I collect face masks (that hang on the wall) and I was really looking forward to seeing what Venice had to offer. I was not disappointed! As soon as we got off the boat, we saw booth after booth after booth selling all different kinds of masks. I didn't really look at them because I thought they were cheap tourist traps. I wanted to look at shops off the beaten path, hoping they had better quality. As it turns out, they were the same masks but the booths had much more variety and were cheaper.  

Luckily, we found another area that had hundreds of vendors selling everything under the sun.

We started our tour in the San Marco area. This was our first look at the small canals and gondolas. There were Gondoliers in black and white striped shirts everywhere, all trying to get you in their boat. Sadly for them, we didn't want a boat ride, we just wanted pictures. I got the perfect shot of a gondola going up a really pretty small canal. I'm glad I got that one because nothing else was as pretty. After a quick lunch we decided to head to St. Mark's Basilica.

Nicknamed The Church of Gold, this Cathedral from the 11th century is an opulent symbol of Venetian wealth and power. It's the main Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Northern Italy and the most famous of the city. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful!  It's a massive structure with a huge dome and many pinnacles on top.  There were archways with beautiful detailed mosaics inlaid in them.

According to Wikipedia, it is decorated with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic art.  The west facade is composed of 5 recessed arches, supported by clusters and columns whose capitals were carved in the 12th and 13th centuries. The pentacles and other decorations at the top of the facade are Gothic editions of the 14th and 15th centuries.  Most of the mosaics depict Old Testament stories, preparing the visitor for the stories of the New Testament inside the church. Many date from the 13th century. 

St Mark's Cathedral is on the eastern end of The Piazza San Marco. As if the church wasn't enough of a draw, the square is surrounded by other beautiful buildings including the Clock Tower built in 1499.  Wikipedia says the tower was built so the clock would be visible from the lagoon, another display of wealth and the glory of Venice. The lower two floors of the tower make a Monumental Archway into the main street of the city.  It links the political and religious center with the commercial and financial center.   On a terrace at the top of the tower are two great bronze figures, hinged at the waist. These strike the hours on a bell. One is old and one is young; meant to show the passing of time.  They are said to represent either shepherds, because they are wearing sheepskin, or Giants, because they are huge figures and can be recognized at a distance.   They are always known as "the Moors" because of the dark bronze.

On the north side of the Piazza is a long arcade known as Procuratie Vecchie.   These are the former homes and offices of the Procurator's of Saint Mark, high officers of the state in the days of the Republic of Venice. They were built in the 16th century.

There are two other churches around the square as well as many shops and cafes. It's almost sensory overload with so many magnificent buildings, not to mention the throngs of people all trying to get that perfect picture.  Doge's Palace in on the square as well. It used to be the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the Former Republic of Venice.  After the square, we basically just wandered around all the side streets and canals. We ended up so lost that we needed to follow Google Maps on my phone. Most of the streets dead ended on a canal, but sometimes we found quaint little bridges crossing the water.  Either way, we were definitely off the main tourist area and we got to see a more residential side of Venice.

We were actually headed to the Rialto Market - a bustling street market selling fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood.   This market has been around for seven centuries, but sadly when we got there, there was nothing left but the smell of fish.  We pushed on to another market area called Mercatino dell'Antiquariato.  Here we found stalls selling everything from masks, to food, jewelry, crafts and antiques, just to name a few.

By this time the battery on my phone was dead and we were exhausted.  I had twice as many masks as I should have gotten and it was getting late.  Time to bail our car out of the €30 parking garage and be on our way back to Verona.  Note to self, park outside the city and take the train or ferry to the island.  I wish we had more than one day in Venice, as I would like to have seen more of the museum's, but overall we had a wonderful day. We got to see a lot of the city that we would not have seen had we stuck to the typical tourist route.

All too soon our trip to Italy was at an end and we flew home to Malta, where I began planning our next trip - to Crete

Link to pictures
https://goo.gl/photos/eYPYbjcdL24vE13v6