Verona day 2

Woke up at stupid o’clock today dreaming that someone was banging on a door.
With the level of Rich’s snoring at that point reaching decibels on a par with a jackhammer I’m increasingly of the feeling that maybe someone WAS banging on the door. Nevertheless I was wide awake and ready for the day...which would not start for hours...
Breakfast in the hotel was pretty good. Apart from the range of food, you could serve yourself Prosecco?? For breakfast?! After yesterday’s champagneathon I thought I best leave that for now. Maybe tomorrow..
So our plan was to find the first stop of the open top bus tour and I got the big girl camera out ready. On the way we intended to drop in on Juliet’s balcony, but we couldn’t bloody find it, so gave up and went in the Arena instead, a massive Roman amphitheater where they hold the famous opera performances in summer (think Colosseum). Bonus- I got in free for international women’s day yay. Today’s picture is from the top of the arena overlooking Piazza Bra- Verona’s biggest Piazza.
After walking a full circumference (or circumcision as my phone is insisting it should be) of the arena, with Rich getting a bit wobbly from the heights, we found the bus stop in time for the first bus of the day. Rich and I LOVE open top buses, obviously better in some cities than others. Verona is small and probably not so much in need of a tour bus, but what the hell.

We rode round the whole of route A and got off on the other side of the river Adige to go in search of some gardens the hotel reception lady recommended. On the way we came across a church (Chiesa Santa Maria in Organo). We somehow ended up getting our own personal tour with a Dutch guy called Kees, who explained that 5 churches had only recently been opened up to the public run by an army of volunteers. The church was beautiful with much notable artwork by artists I am too ignorant to have heard of - and he even let us into the crypt :)

After the unplanned stop we found the Giardini Giusti - absolutely stunning gardens built into the hillside, with fountains, and a mini labyrinth and Roman statues dotted about. Climbing to the top there were more lovely vistas looking back over Verona, and a palazzo that was pretty stunning that appears to be being renovated.

We found a little backstreet restaurant for lunch where I had some regional wine (Valpolicella) and some rather nice food. I saved room for pudding so I could have tiramisu. This one was called ‘Bavarian Tiramisu’. Not sure what made it Bavarian, didn’t appear to be any lederhosen involved, but it was very yummy and had Grand Marnier poured all over it so will count myself a fan.

We walked back intending to find line B of the bus tour, but stopped off at the Duomo first. This one was was sadly lacking in personal Dutch tour guides, but did have an audio guide, and for €3 we were not complaining. More classic Italian art and decoration, most of it 16th century, with giant columns made of red marble and an original Roman basement, partially excavated, from whatever they built the cathedral on top of.

We eventually got on line B - this one is a little teeny bus, in order to navigate the more narrow streets. We rode the whole route on this one too, almost coming a cropper when coming across a large protest blocking the whole street, which we inexplicably got a police escort through, leaving all of the other traffic queuing. We could not tell what the demonstration was about apart from they looked quite happy and waved to all the bus passengers. Must learn more Italian. When I say ‘more’, I really mean ‘any’.

Off the bus again and to yet another supermarket to buy more snacks.

Back in the hotel now deciding whether we can be arsed to go out again! Big day!!