Verona

So Joanna decided it was her turn to drive, at least halfway. She got the exciting tunnels and bridges over the sea, that descended into dull motorway. Ben got the exciting back-roads. As we approached Verona the storm clouds gathered, and the winds picked up. It all looked very portentous... But we drove in anyway. It's an incredibly pretty city. We did our usual thing of going straight to the tourist office to get the city map and find out where the camping is, and after quickly posting you about San Remo we headed up a small hill to the campsite. There were some young hippy type folk running the joint (we're getting very jealous about how many languages everyone else seems to speak), and they were very helpful. A very cool campsite if one ever goes to Verona. Some what higgledy-piggledy, camp spots above each other, little terraces and wondrous views over the city:

We had a quick wander down into the old city and found some good city life for our dinner.
Next day we set off to explore Verona properly. We started at the Arena - the world's third biggest and possibly best preserved Roman Amphitheatre. We bought the "Verona Card" on the way in which means cheap entry into all the main attractions - be sure to investigate this if you are taking a trip here. Stage crews were setting up for the evening's performance of Aida - so we couldn't have a good dig around ... but we felt like proper Roman's sitting on the top seats watching the world go by.



Next to Juliet's house - it was owned by the Capello family who are thought to have been Shakespeare's Capulet clan. It's well preserved but really it's mainly good for the photo opportunities ...

Also hit the medieval castle (with 14th century art museum) and the Roman theatre close to our campsite. So we made good use of the Verona Card!

Meanwhile, back at the campsite the nice hippies had secured us tickets to the evening's performance of Aida. However, they neglected to tell us to take our own refreshments for the 4 hour show or pillows to sit on ... stone can be quite tough on the posterior after a while! Anyway, the show was spectacular and well worth the €50.


Around 22 thousand people squeezed into the arena for the performance ... most of them in the cheap seats with us!

After our late night at the Opera, the next day was spent lazily by Lake Garda, sunbathing and enjoying the views ... it's a tough life.