Friday 22 September
Verona Day 1
So farewell Salzburg, home of the Von Trapps and Mozart. The Von Trapps were a real family choir, but there story was embroidered considerably. But I did find a lonely goat turd high on a hill.
I’m now on the train between Innsbruck and Brenner. It’s cool and rainy with very low cloud, which justifies us skipping Innsbruck and going straight to Verona.
The first leg of the journey was east to Innsbruck, then we changed trains and headed towards Verona through the Brenner Pass. This is a combination of river valleys and long tunnels through the Tyrol Alps, lands which are the border between the German and Italian speaking world and have been fought over for thousands of years. We were well into what is now Italy before the houses lost their alpine appearance, and cypress trees and vineyards appeared that gave the land an Italian look.
At Porto Nuovo station in Verona, Julie found our new accommodation on Google Maps, and we dragged our trolley bags through the city centre. Verona has existed for well over 2,000 years, and has buildings from every era. It was a 40 minute walk through the old city centre past the Roman arena.
Our accomodation was on the other side of the Adige river, which is the same raging torrent that goes through the Brenner pass.
After settling into our apartment on the second floor on a 16th century house, we walked back across Ponte Nuovo to find somewhere to eat at the nearest supermarket. Rounding a corner I heard someone shout
“Tim!”
It was my mate Steve Lenczner from Fulham. I knew he was going to be in Verona, and it was pure chance that he was standing on his balcony as we walked past.
So we all went to Piazza del Erbe around the corner from Steve’s flat and had Aperol Spritz, risotto and a little too much wine. A fantastic evening in a stunning location on a warm evening in Verona.
Saturday 23 September
Bloody hell I felt a bit rough in the morning, I think I have an overdose of fun (or red wine). Verona is all I had hoped it would be, a city that was one of the richest in Europe in the middle ages, that has mostly preserved its medieval city centre. The centre is made up of red brick palazzos and piazzas, and of course swarms of tourists. I wore shorts and a teeshirt and wore a cap to cover up my tender bonce, my appearance cried out TOURIST. I couldn’t compete with the local men in skinny legged suits, crisp white shirts and black ties. Even the coppers looked cool.
The Castellvecchio is a castle built by Cangrande della Scalla, the local warlord, in the 13th century. It was built next to the Adige river, and the bridge was also fortified to give him an escape route if the ungrateful locals rose up against him. The bridge stood for 600 years until retreating Nazis blew it up in 1945. A local architect Libero Cecchini masterminded the reconstruction which was completed in 1951, and it looks perfectly like the original.
I was fascinated (to a nerdy extent) by the construction of the walls of buildings, which were made of brick, old stone, rubble and river stones. But clearly they last longer than most modern buildings.
Crossing over the San Pietro bridge we could see that the Adige was in full turbulent flow beneath the bridge, no wonder there were no boats at all on the river.
Sunday 24 September
Close to where we were staying was a viewing sport called Castel San Pietro. The castel was an Austrian barracks from the first half of the 19th century when Austria ruled most of northern Italy. We walked up the steps rather than ride the funicular up the hill. I am a skiffer, not a softie! There was a fantastic view over old Verona, a vista of red brick, tiled roofs and bell towers. The Austrians chose a good spot to house their soldiers.
On almost every corner there is a lovely palazzo or basilica to look at. There are many churches that you can walk in to enjoy the Renaissance art that covers the walls, and of course, the cool shade and peace.
In the afternoon we visited the Giardino Giusti, a 16th century palazzo and its gardens. It is still owned by the Giusti family, but its open to the public. It had 7 or 8 rooms full of old furniture and paintings, some going back to when it was built in the 16th century when the Scaglia and Hapsburgs dripped by to visit. One of the pictures on the wall was an old print of a 19th century regatta in France. I was amazed to see that it had skiffers on it wearing hooped shirts, like the ones we wear today at the Skiff Club
It has its original gardens, which are quite rare in fortified cities, no doubt it was a lovely place for passing aristos to enjoy a spritz on a hot afternoon. The gardens rise above the house, a great spot for a selfie with the palazzo behind us.
I wanted to see the city walls, and Julie didn’t. So I hiked up behind Giardino to the massive Austrian fortifications that surround the city. Only when I got there I found there are two walls, and I was walking between them, so for most of my walk I just saw walls. Not so interesting, but a good walk.
In the evening we went to the Tosca Bistrot and I chose Pastisado de Caval, horse stew. Well you don’t see it in London do you? It was just like beef stew, on a slab of polenta, tasty but unremarkable. Luckily it didn’t give me the trots..
Monday 25th September
Verona is very close to Lake Garda, which has got to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the the world! We got the train to Peschiera del Garda, a former fortress town at the bottom of the lake with huge walls. Those Austrians loved a big wall.
The town itself was very busy, so we walked up the shore to find a shady bench and just chill and enjoy the views to the mountains and towns on the opposite shore. I was a bit tempted to have a swim, but the water was a bit murky, and the beach was stoney and hard to walk on.
The place was so exceptional, watching the lake was enough for most of the day. We did have a trip to Lidl to get lunch, boy do I love a good Lidl. Later on in the day we had a drink in a cafe and did more serious gazing over the lake.
In the evening we ate dinner in the flat, tuna salads feature regularly in our diet, followed by fruit and yoghurt and a bit of chocolate.
timharnesstravels 