"Another Funicolare"

Yesterday when we arrived in Verona we had our first hot day.  This morning was much the same, so we dressed light and enjoyed the hotel breakfast before going out to meet up with our tour guide, Morris. 

Our tour meets here.

First he took us into the Roman Verona Arena and gave us an overview of its history and construction - it is mostly made of marble which Verona is famous for, and it is the third largest Roman arena in Italy behind the colosseum in Rome and another arena in Naples. It  is the largest Roman amphitheater still in use (there is a performance in the arena tonight) and has 30,000 seats.  Morris gave us time to walk around and take pictures and Bill walked up to the top row of seats (101-feet up from the entry) and got some pictures for you to see. 


Readied for tonight's opera.

After leaving the arena we walked through the streets of Verona with Morris telling us about the architecture and history of each building.  





He then took us to see the Romeo and Juliet balcony after telling us that Shakespeare did not write Romeo and Juliet.  I think some literature experts doubt that Shakespeare wrote many of his plays, but who knows for sure.

After more walking (and we were getting hot!) and more buildings and more information from Morris  we came to the Fiume ( Italian for river) Adige which winds its way through Verona and we walked across the Ponte Pietra bridge. 

We sat on some steps while he spoke.


Morris took us to a funicolare (Italian spelling) and up the hill we went where we could enjoy some great views of the city.  




We also saw the ruins of a Roman theater which is still in use.

We then followed many steps down the hill and walked back across the bridge.  About this time our 3 hour tour was almost over and we had a long walk back to the arena while Morris filled us in on the high points of the Verona cuisine.  They have a special cheese and wine and someone many years ago made some Sopressa Salami which he said was really delicious.  I don't think we will go looking for any.

Since we were hot from walking around for 3 hours, we headed back to our hotel which is only a few hundred feet from the arena to cool off in our air conditioned room.  After a short rest we got hungry for lunch and decided we were in the mood for salad so found a place that had some good looking salads on the menu so we were happy for lunch.


Produce market on our walk.



Following lunch we walked around and before heading back, we looked into a church close to the Arena.

Chiesa di San Nicolo all Arena.

Next on our itinerary ora del pisolini (nap time) for us mature adults!  After some rest and working on the blog, it was time for dinner and of course gelato.


Eating like Italians.





C

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