Tuesday 20th October

Up at 5.30 & off to return the car at 7.00. Finally arrived at Gatwick airport at 7.30 & the plane left at 10.15 for Verona. Arrived in 90 minutes & took the shuttle bus to the station & a taxi from there to our Residencia. It isan amazing place with beautiful old furniture, cooking facilities & a lounge area, about 3 times as big as we had envisaged.

Took a walk along the river bank towards the centre to the huge castello, which guarded the bridge across the river. The buildings are lovely with a mix of architectures from Roman to present day.
d*** was stuffed so we had coffee & moved on to the huge piazza on one face of which is the Roman theatre for which Verona is known for. Had a beer & walked slowly home for a rest.

Wednesday 21st October

Had breakfast in the basement & went off to find a laundrette to wash our clothes. Put them in & then ducked back to St Zeno's Basilica, a huge Romanesque Gothic church with an extremely tall bell tower.
The interior was largely empty but it had some wonderful 14th century frescoes & in the crypt the Saint’s clothed bones in a glass case. It is a magnificent example of the early architecture with a fine cloister beside the basilica. Put the clothes in the dryer & returned them to the Residencia before a well earned coffee.

Set off then for the river to the huge fortress complex as we wanted to use the free public wi fi next to it. After some trouble we managed to connect & send a couple of emails etc before wandering deeper into the old city where we passed several fine but closed, churches & a market. The buildings are wonderful & there are new views at each turn. We had lunch at a cafe & returned past the huge theatre where the lighting & seating were being dismantled but Dick’s legs were complaining loudly so we retreated to the residencia at about 4pm.

The locals eat dinner after 7.30 but we managed to find a place at 7 & had a good dinner before retiring at 9pm.

Thursday 22nd October

Up at 7 today as we wanted to see Lake Garda, at 370 sq km, the largest Italian lake, about 15k from Verona. We caught 2 busses & arrived at about 10.30 at Garda, a small town on the south eastern bank of the lake. It is quite spectacular as it has snow covered slopes in the background & the towns are quaint. The paved waterfront has many cafes & restaurants
along it whilst the roads & alleys behind are full of tourist shops catering largely to German tourists who dominate the place. We only heard English voices twice while we were there in contrast to other places we have been. he water is very clear & in the small fishing harbour we saw a few fish, some gulls, ducks & swans & a lone cormorant, so it must be reasonably healthy we assume. On the way to Garda we passed Lazise which still had quite a lot of its old wall intact so on our return journey we left the bus & walked around the little walled town. It appeared to be older than Garda, with another tiny fishing boat basin & a couple of lovely churches. The edge of the lake is ringed with holiday van parks, hotels & Pensiones & in summer it must be jammed full of visitors but it was quite comfortable for us with some German older visitors.

The return bus from Lazise, at 1.30, was nearly full of school kids returning home but they thinned out rapidly as we approached Verona. The countryside appears to be very fertile with many vineyards, olive groves, fruit trees, glass houses & some trained but unrecognizable trees/vines all under netting. Villages & towns abound & the background of the hills & the mountains is most impressive. Back in Verona the bus dropped us off fairly close to home & after a light lunch we returned at 2.30 to read & snooze.

Jane went for a walk whilst d*** slept and came across yet another church & cloisters nearby with a queue for confession which you don’t often see. Then braved the traffic to see the Porto Nuova one of the city gates built in the 1500’s.

At 7.30 we set off to a local restaurant that specialises in La Tigella comprises of small discs of bread looks like crispy pikelets served hot and with 10 little pots of delicious dips, some spicy some sweet. Maybe not a good choice of dish to have for a late evening meal, we both suffered badly with indigestion during the night. Be warned.

Friday 23rd October

With d*** still suffering, after breakfast Jane headed off to find the Cathedral, only to find
there was a big funeral in process and thought it would be best to press on to see St Anastasia’s church. But alas, another funeral. She then pushed on out of the city over the Roman Bridge to see the Teatro Romano & after a great deal of step climbing, she was rewarded with great views over the town and river. She thought by then that the funeral would be finished but no, so sat and had a coffee nearby and noticed people going in and out of a side door and did the same. The service was coming to an end, just in time to see the procession lead by approx 50 priests in their vestments followed by the Bishop holding his crook (stick) then the coffin. The deceased must have been one of them. By then it was getting close to siesta time so back to check on the patient and to put her feet up. A visit to the museum was on the afternoon agenda which is housed in the castle it was interesting how many paintings of Madonna & Child can be housed in one place. The most impressive parts were the original wall decorations and the walk around part of the castle walls with great views
of the town in the evening light. She was pleased to be back to check on the patient once more and put her feet up after so many stairs.