Verona

False alarm those of you who thought the end of Venice meant the end of A Pound of Flesh. It's not over yet, although I can't say it's so easy to keep up when I'm not spending every day sitting in the internet-full pavilion. I've got a week's worth of catching up to do already, so here goes.

Setting off from Venice (well laden with luggage, and more than a little sad to say goodbye), we didn't venture too far, not even out of the Veneto. Our first stop - Verona. One of the places we never managed to tick off our Monday-visits lists.

We arrived in the late afternoon, just as the giant star outside the Roman arena was getting it's shoot.

First impressions - just as cold as Venice, but a whole lot friendlier. A kind woman helped direct us (around the corner) to our hotel before we could unfold our map.

A Christmas market-filled striped piazza.

Not sure if our timing was just exactly spot on (it being 1 December), or if they start their celebrations particularly early in Verona, but the Christmas markets were in full swing that evening, and they were grand. 

Another Christmas market-filled piazza.

Our tour of the city began somewhat late in the day. Now that it's winter, the light starts to fade not too long after 4pm and it's properly dark by 5.30. So, since we arrived late and were leaving early, at a cracking pace we set to seeing all the key sights. It was totally fun, a mostly pedestrian medieval city at evening passeggiata hour, it was buzzing compared to Venice, as the local population paraded themselves through the city centre. It felt like a real live, living, breathing, vibrant, small city, quite different to where we've been living. Not without similarities though of course - the pedestrian aspect, which we like, and the maze of narrow alleyways, which we also like. But Verona also had hills, and a lot of substantial Roman remains, quite a lot on the hill behind the city which we climbed and explored in total darkness. It felt like there was plenty more to see, another day, in the light.

Love graffiti plastering the walls by Juliet's house. 

A Roman toll gate within the old city walls.

We ate dinner that night in a festive crowd at the Christmas markets - our first burgers in over six months, since our desert adventure in California. Pretty exciting! And delicious with sauerkraut and mulled wine. We froze our butts off, but were very happy.

8 December 2011