Juliet’s Verona
As we said good-bye to Varenna, we said hello to Stefano a.k.a. Bus Driver Extraordinaire and our big bus. One of many things I love about a Rick Steves tour is the size of group. Because Rick’s tours are half the size of the normal European tour companies, nearly half of the seats are empty. This allows travelers to spread out comfortably. Although it was a long day on the bus (6 hours), it wasn’t so bad with how the day was split up stops. In Verona we met our local guide Valera who gave us a great walking tour of her home town. At one point, Patricia passed around a box of colorful macaroons. Simply delicious. We visited the courtyard of “Juliet’s House” and saw the famed balcony and statue of Juliet or Giulietta. Legend says touching Juliet’s right breast will bring true and lasting love or great fertility. Either way, there was what seemed like hundreds of teenagers crammed into the courtyard for their chance to touch dear Giulietta. Valera took us to one of the stranger sites during our tour Arche Scaligere – sarcophagi of the Scaliger family who ruled in the 13th and 14th century. Verona reminded me of Gamla Stan or “Old Town” in Stockholm, Sweden with the cobbled streets, pastel colored buildings and narrow alleyways. |