“To
fair Verona where we lay our scene”
I
arrived in Verona on a very hot evening (it's still around 30 C here
even though it's Autumn v soon) and managed the right bus and the
right stop for the hostel but after that managed to get lost several
times (i always seem to get lost when i'm carrying all my luggage and
it's a hot day! As i am woefully lacking in Italian this was a
terrifying experience but thanks to a very helpful guy (who could
speak some English) and lady (who spoke no english) i made it to my
accommodation (stayed at Uni halls – the students are still on
holiday for a couple of weeks).
The guy on reception was very nice
and only slightly sleazy (though he did get in quite early with
offering me wine and was very touchy-feely... i get the feeling
that's just an Italian guy thing). Didn't get round to a whole lot
except turning on my air-con, showering and getting some sleep.
The
next day i got up, grabbed the crappy free map at reception and
self-guided (to the best of me and my crappy map's abilities) myself
around Verona...on foot and in 30 degree sunshine.
I
am proud of myself for surviving the day and i have accumulated an
impressive enough hoard of pics and can check off of most of the
sights (it's a lot easier when it's Monday and most of them aren't
open).
Verona
is a gorgeous, very walkable, charismatically Italian city so it
actually made it easy for me. The streets, alleyways and all the
roman remains (theatre and arena) give it a really romantic ambiance.
Add to that the fact that Shakepeare's Romeo and Juliet is set here.
You
can visit Juliet's house, complete with balcony, a museum, a lover's
wall (people have sticky plastered the names of them and their
partners and/or graffitied them to the walls of the courtyard
archway....awwhhh), and tacky souvenir shops. Romeo's house is a
little more boring – just a plaque on the wall, and there is a
trendy bar on the ground floor (amazingly enough not called Romeo's
or anything remotely tacky). I actually missed it the first time i
went past (judging by the confusion on the faces of other tourists in
the area, i wasn't the only one).
Overall
– i was pleasantly surprised by Verona. I think it was a great
start to the Italian leg of my trip and would definately recommend
it.
