This was the most charming little town filled with romance
and history, but also lots of tourists! My roommate Hannah and I took the early
train out of the Santa Maria Novella station at 7:20. We got there in the
middle of the morning, took a picture (illegally) of a map at the station and started
wandering! It took a while, but we finally found our way to the cutest little
city center! There is a string of brightly colored buildings lining one side of
the center, which is a large circle. A green park, complete with gurgling fountain,
sits in the middle.
A historic arena and several other government and religious
buildings enclose the other side of the circle. We bought the Verona card,
which allows you to see a bunch of the most popular locations in the city at a
huge discount! You can buy one at any tourist point! We started our day at a
cute little café and had a midmorning snack of cappuccinos and cake. Hannah got
lemon and I got chocolate so we could sample each other’s.
Afterwards, Han and I visited the
old arena, which has gorgeous views of the circle. The arena itself has been
turned into a cool concert and event venue, but still retains all of the
historical stones and architecture. We walked up and down the stairs about 5 times before we found someone to take our picture! Next we went to the Castle Vecchio, which
means old castle. We spent a good amount of time exploring the castle and its
grounds.
The views were absolutely gorgeous! My favorite parts of the castle were the bridge and the cute well! The huge sword was pretty cool too. Seriously… who could carry that?
We spent the next hour or so wandering the gorgeous streets and taking in the baskets of flowers spilling off of terraces and little winding streets. We made our way to Verona’s Duomo, which was absolutely lovely. We ate pasta for lunch at a little caffe and enjoyed the people watching. We found the Lamberti Tower after lunch. It’s something like 400 stairs to the top and Hannah and I figured why not? We got our Verona cards checked off and were about to head up the stairs when the worker winked at us and handed us lift coins! So we got to take the elevator up for free and enjoy some AMAZING views of the city.
We went to Juliet’s balcony next. The courtyard
was packed with people but it was a really cool place to see! I love the movie
Letters to Juliet, and that was such an important place in the movie. Juliet’s
tomb was next on list, but it turned out to be really far out of the way and
rather underwhelming… nothing like the movies. We had a little time to kill and
so we grabbed a quick granita (kind of like a mix between ice cream gelato and
shaved ice) and sat in a sunny park for the rest of our time. We caught the
train back home and talked about Taylor Swift, autumn traditions and how much
we miss baking. It was the PERFECT day trip!
A historic arena and several other government and religious
buildings enclose the other side of the circle. We bought the Verona card,
which allows you to see a bunch of the most popular locations in the city at a
huge discount! You can buy one at any tourist point! We started our day at a
cute little café and had a midmorning snack of cappuccinos and cake. Hannah got
lemon and I got chocolate so we could sample each other’s. 
Afterwards, Han and I visited the
old arena, which has gorgeous views of the circle. The arena itself has been
turned into a cool concert and event venue, but still retains all of the
historical stones and architecture. We walked up and down the stairs about 5 times before we found someone to take our picture! Next we went to the Castle Vecchio, which
means old castle. We spent a good amount of time exploring the castle and its
grounds. 
The views were absolutely gorgeous! My favorite parts of the castle were the bridge and the cute well! The huge sword was pretty cool too. Seriously… who could carry that?
We spent the next hour or so wandering the gorgeous streets and taking in the baskets of flowers spilling off of terraces and little winding streets. We made our way to Verona’s Duomo, which was absolutely lovely. We ate pasta for lunch at a little caffe and enjoyed the people watching. We found the Lamberti Tower after lunch. It’s something like 400 stairs to the top and Hannah and I figured why not? We got our Verona cards checked off and were about to head up the stairs when the worker winked at us and handed us lift coins! So we got to take the elevator up for free and enjoy some AMAZING views of the city.
We went to Juliet’s balcony next. The courtyard
was packed with people but it was a really cool place to see! I love the movie
Letters to Juliet, and that was such an important place in the movie. Juliet’s
tomb was next on list, but it turned out to be really far out of the way and
rather underwhelming… nothing like the movies. We had a little time to kill and
so we grabbed a quick granita (kind of like a mix between ice cream gelato and
shaved ice) and sat in a sunny park for the rest of our time. We caught the
train back home and talked about Taylor Swift, autumn traditions and how much
we miss baking. It was the PERFECT day trip!
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