Verona & Lake Garda

View the Verona & Lake Garda gallery here

Updated travel itinerary:
October 28-November 4: Verona, Lake Garda & Venice
November 4 - 9: Bologna, Italy
November 9 - 14: Florence, Italy
November 14 - 16: Perugia, Italy
November 16 - 21: Rome, Italy

Instantly in love with Italy. We arrived in Verona to drizzly weather and found our way to B&B Castel Vecchio, where the owner, Nicolo, greeted us and showed us to the apartment we'd be sharing with a few other people. Nicolo sat with us and outlined a walking tour of the city while making notes on our map of monuments to see, places to eat traditional food and the best gelato, and sights for beautiful views of the city. Nicolo left us to get settled, and we kicked our feet up for a bit while the rain wore off, then headed out to explore the city.

Home of Romeo and Juliet, Verona is one of Shakespeare's favorite cities (even though he never visited!), which he certainly should have because he would have loved it even more. Roman architecture, an arena older than the Colosseum, stone walls with big archways that used to contain the city, and marble sidewalks all make this city a step back in time. The old/ historic part of the city is closed off to motor vehicles, so it's walking or biking only, which makes for a very quiet and romantic setting. The marble walkways were glittering from the drying rain and the shop lights dazzling upon them. We found our way into Verona's main square with an outdoor market selling "chachkees," as Mike calls them- little pointless souvenirs like magnets, food, masquerade masks, hats, sweaters, etc. We had fun looking but nothing caught our eye.  

Hungry, per usual, we found Aquila Nera. Everyone around us was sipping on a lovely pinkish-orange colored drink, so we followed suit and ordered Spritz Aperols: Prosecco, Aperol, and seltzer with an orange wedge. So delicious and too easy to drink. As we sat enjoying our Italian drinks and some potato chips, olives, and peanuts (served everywhere with drinks) the waiter continued to bring us out plates of finger food. We questioned whether they were taking advantage of us Americans and serving us food that we'd be charged for if we ate it, but we obviously ate it anyways. We had mini quiche, pizza bites, tater tots, polenta nibbles, and sausage. How could we pass that up? Once we were done with that plate they served us another!  We had to be getting charged, this was too good to be true... But it wasn't! It's a typical Italian custom to have "aperitivo" around 7:00pm- drinks and snacks before you have dinner at 9:00 or 10:00pm. With your purchase of drinks you have limitless finger food (a fat american's dream!). 

DAY 2
The next day was another rainy day, so we lounged around the B&B, chatted with our British flat mates, worked on Levart for most of the morning, then in the afternoon went out to (unsuccessfully) look for Christmas gifts. We wanted to save our walking tour that Nicolo outlined for us for one of the upcoming gorgeous days in our forecast. We wandered around the city stopping into shops, got an espresso (our first in Italy, and damn, we were wired) and a Romeo & Juliette macaron. Nicolo mentioned a great sandwich spot to get cheap food, so we went there and grabbed a warm focaccia pizza slice and a warm prosciutto sandwich and scurried home through the rain to enjoy them at the apartment. Back on the grind working on the blog, then went out to find a new spritz Aperol spot. We went to a cool spot that caught our eye while we strolled the streets earlier called LaTradision.

When we walked in they had awesome throwback tunes playing, a deli section where they shaved fresh meat and cheese, lots of worn wood and hanging lightbulbs (classic us). We enjoyed a spritz or two, ordered a delicious meat and cheese plate and then headed out to another restaurant, Proscuitto & Co, which we noticed because the sounds of live music were echoing through the marble streets advertising their presence.  There was a three piece jazz band with a snare drum and cymbal, a cellist, and a guitarist. We stayed for over an hour happily enjoying the jazz. They even invited their friend up with them to sing a couple of songs, and she sounded like an Amy Winehouse/ rocker-Adele mix. She absolutely killed "Hit the Road Jack." Live music is always a satisfying way to end a day.

DAY 3
A gorgeous, sun-shiny day for a full day of truly touring the city! Mike made us eggs and toast to enjoy on the balcony overlooking an open air market on our street.

With Nicolo's map in hand, we went out to learn about the city we'd been waiting to explore in full. Our first stop was Anfiteatro Arena. This Roman amphitheater, like I mentioned earlier, was constructed around the middle of the 1st century A.D. (decades before the colosseum) and served as inspiration to many of the roman arenas of this type that were built around Italy. Later, in the middle ages, the outer protective wing of the arena was dismantled to use its stone for new city walls. Today only four of the original arches of the exterior ring still stand. 

It was so crazy to walk on the grounds where duals and slaughters took place, and through the hallways where gladiators and lions were held before matches. The ancient architecture is so expertly crafted. Today the arena is still used for shows, operas and festivals.

After the arena, we had hoped to climb the central tower, Torre dei Lamberti, but it was €8 each (rip-off)! Luckily, Casa di Giulietta (from Romeo and Juliet) was nearby, so we walked through the streets lined with shops until we saw a alley covered in initials and hearts and knew we had found it. Even though Romeo and Juliet is fictional, the courtyard and home of Juliet is one of Verona's greatest attractions. Women stand in line to perch themselves on the balcony (which is an old stone tomb) and pretend to look for their Romeo, while others stand with the bronze statue of Juliet and touch her breast which will bring them good luck in finding their true love.

The house was actually purchased from the Dal Capello family in the early 1900's, and because their name sounded like "Capuleti" this home was dubbed Casa di Guilietta for all the suckers like Mike and me who want to pretend its real. We wrote our initials on the wall of lovers and set out to find Romeo's house. "Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"- we couldn't find his house!

But as we wandered all along the streets we came to the river's edge which was stunning. The hill across the water had tall cypress trees, golden Italian homes, old falling stone walls, and the palace perched on top (which was unfortunately covered in restoration blankets). Up the road a bit, passing adorable little restaurants, gelato shops, and trinket stores we found ourselves standing on the oldest bridge in Verona, constructed in 33 b.c.! As the sun began to set, the hill across the river completely began to illuminate, so we found an awesome tiny restaurant called Al Ponte and sat on their back terrace covered in ivy with chirping birds and enjoyed wine and chips while watching the sun go down. 

It was a lovely night in Verona, so we walked along the cobblestone roads with the orange lamps lighting our way, until we were back in the center of town. We grabbed inexpensive sandwiches and ate them in the park by a fountain, watching youths gather for their Friday night shenanigans and couples stroll through on their way to have aperitifs. We joined the couples and went back to La Tradision for a meat and cheese plate and spritz Aperols and enjoyed a night of giggling over Mike's Italian language lessons and watching him try to order everything in Italian. Not bad! But as soon as the waiter asks a specifying question, the conversations go back to English. DuoLingo says that he's 1.5% fluent and can add it to his LinkedIn profile!

DAY 4
October 31st, Halloween back in the States, but no real signs of Halloween in Verona. We were hoping to find a masquerade party so that we could have an excuse to buy fun masks at the chachkee shops, but all we found were late night clubs advertising DJs and to "rock dark goth clothing," so we skipped All Hallows Eve festivities this year. 

The beautiful warm day was spent doing what we do best- aimlessly walking without a plan. We decided to check out the other side of the river and to walk up to where the (hidden) palace is. It was a lovely walk along the river, and then the steps up to the palace wound through a little alley next to quaint homes and a little restaurant. The view from the top of the hill was beautiful- looking out across all of Verona's terra-cotta  rooftops. We sat and enjoyed the view and warm sun, then went to the little restaurant with a patio that had an equally wonderful view and enjoyed a cappuccino while we brainstormed how to spend the rest of our day. 

We decided to work our way down the hill and towards Santa Anastasia church, the largest church in Verona. We always enjoy going into a city's churches because they are magnificently built and are also like a free art museum. This church was so beautiful. It initially began being built in 1290 AD and wasn't completed until the beginning of the 16th century. We were given a pamphlet that outlined all of the pieces of art, and enjoyed spending time walking the perimeter of the church admiring the different styles of design. 

After the church, we had fun stopping into stores and trying on sweaters (because we both really want a cool sweater). Mike found a very euro sweater at a shop called Woolen which we loved, but not €82 love. We made our way back to the B&B to change because the warm afternoon sun had shifted into a cool evening, then we headed out to find traditional food. We hiked back up to a restaurant recommended by Nicolo which was close to the palace on the hill, but we arrived too early (they had just opened) and decided we didn't want to be the only customers awkwardly eating in the quiet. So we went to another restaurant that Nicolo recommended, which we think was either in or close to Romeo's house (but we never found it, so we'll never know).

Traditional food in Verona is pasta with horse bolognese, so that's exactly what Mike ordered. I ordered a spicy chicken, which was a whole little chicken served on the bones with the remnants of chicken feathers still on the little guy. We both felt a little bit guilty (for eating horse and a freshly plucked chicken) but the food was incredible. We hate to love horse, but it was so yummy! We enjoyed our traditional, delicious food while  eavesdropping on a table of retired Americans talk about their winter generators and new committee head appointments. They all sounded so sarcastic interacting with one another, "Oh, Joyce! Isn't that WONNNNDERFUL!" You can't be that excited about an automated garage door button.. But it's the little things! Regardless, we enjoyed their conversation as much as they did.

As we made our way home for an early night, a crew of young witches and zombies made their way past us. In an effort to save or money for the next two upcoming days of day trips, we settled on watching a scary movie at home. Silent Hill isn't scary.

DAY 5
Officially one month into our travels! 1.75 months to go! We decided to celebrate by taking a bus to Garda, about an hour west of Verona. It took closer to two hours of driving due to All Saints Day holiday traffic. The drive along the coast of Lake Garda was beautiful- the sun shining down on the vast blue water and palm trees whizzing by.

When we arrived in Garda, the small town on the lake was very quiet, which we can only assume was due to the holiday. I imagined Garda looking like the photo that used to be my computer's wall paper; a large village with building built up along a hill. And while this town was really beautiful, it just wasn't what we were expecting. We were also  thinking there would be more to do and to explore, but Garda is really tiny! The town took about 10 minutes to explore- lots of little clothing boutiques, pastry shops and restaurants. Then we walked the coast line, enjoying the lake view that felt like an ocean and the large rock-faced hills shooting up from the water.

Since there wasn't much to do in this quiet town on a Sunday holiday, we decided to celebrate our one-month of traveling by having a bit of a "do-nothing" day, simply enjoying the view while we had drinks and lunch at various restaurants along the coastline. It really did feel like a vacation because it was warm, there were palm trees all around, and a gorgeous shimmering lake to gaze upon all day. We agreed it would be amazing to visit Garda in the summertime when we could play in the crystal blue waters all day.

After a wonderful day on the lake, we got back into Verona around 7:00 after a long and trafficky bus ride. We went to the grocery store and bought sandwich ingredients for a quick and cheap dinner, ate in the kitchen and chatted with our new flat mate Jess who also quit her job to travel. The evening was spent swapping travel plans and recommendations with her before having another early night to rest up for Venice!

DAY 6
Mike's blog about Venice coming soon!

DAY 7
Our last day in Verona was very low-key (as are most of our final days in a city). We had a leisurely morning making breakfast and enjoying it on the sunny patio, we worked on publishing the Innsbruck blog and gallery, and started some laundry. Except the housekeeper came in and needed the washer while our clothes were halfway through the cycle, so we took them out and dried them probably filled with suds. To get out of her hair we went into the piazza and enjoyed cafe americanos (I've run out of lactose enzymes to help our lactose-sensitive tummies digest milk) and we tried to tentatively map our our final six and a half weeks of travel. Crazy that we're nearly halfway through this adventure!

Verona is often overlooked as a destination in Italy because people are drawn to Venice (for good reason), but it is really a magical little city that we highly recommend. It's clean, it's beautiful, not packed with tourists, and thus way cheaper than Venice. Plus it's location is centrally located in Northern Italy, making it a quick and easy train ride into Venice to the east or Lake Garda to the west and Florence to the south. If questing whether to visit Verona or Venice don't overlook either, but rather make time for both!