Had breakfast at the hotel then set out to explore the sights of Verona. We began by walking to Castel Veldicchio. The castle had been in militrary use until the 1920's when it was turned into a museum and nkw houses Verona's fine art collection. We didn't go into the museum but had a look around the courtyard which includes remains from an earlier building, possibily 4th, century. We then walked across the castle bridge to the other side of the river. We walked along the river bank to the roman theatre. Parts of the site were closed for earthquake protection work. However we were still able to see the amphitheatre and climb through the ruins to see the views from the top.
After we came down, we climbed back up even further to Castel San Pietro. The castel is shut to the public, but the views from the top were well worth the climb. Stopped on the way down at a bar for some much neeeded refreshment with a drink of very delicious lemon soda.
Back down at the bottom we crossed over the old bridge and made our way to the cathedral. The current cathedral is built on the site of previous churches, with some parts still well preserved. In one of the older parts is a 12th century baptismal fonr of carved wood. It is a suitable size for full imersion baptisms and looks much better than the paddling pools I've seen used.
Aftere the cathedral began a search for food. After much wandering of the streets we found a place called Cafe Monte Baldo. They offered two tasting menus, a valpolicella one and a soave one, with each course matched with a different valpolicella or soave wine. Andrew had the valpolicella one, whilst I tried the soave one. My first course was spaghetti with clams, whilst Andrew had papperdella with duck and both came with excellent wines. My second course was cuttle fish and prawns with polentra. It was the first time I had tried cuttle fish or polenta and I must admit I wasn't that keen on them. The prawns and the wine were very nice. Andrew had veal for his main course, along with another excellent wine. We then had an almond biscuity cake thing with delicious dessert wine and finished with coffee.
We began to amble back to the hotel and on the way came across Juliet's balcony. Quite how it can be hers when she didn't exist, except in Shakespere's imagination, I am not sure. However something in the story obbiously speaks to people given the crowd there and the amount of love graffiti on the surrounding walls.
Much later in the evening, when we finally began to feel hungary again we went for pizza and a bottle of wine in the warmth of a italian evening before we head north and over the alps to cooler weather tomorrow.
from my LiveJournal, Jane Williams - The Wombling World of Madness
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