Transportation:
Your feet. Buses are aplenty, but honestly, the key places in Verona are pretty damn near. The city centre itself is not huge, save for a couple of places slightly off the normal track, everywhere else is within walking distance. One place I reckon you might need a bus to is if you stay near the city centre and need to get to the train station, as it can be quite some distance when you have luggage.
Base/Hostel: B&B Castelvecchio
Location: 3.5/5
Environment: 3/5
Dorm: 4/5
Really easy to find once you realise it's the tunnel next to McDonalds, which makes it super convenient if you are tired of Italian food, haha. It's private property so there is no obvious sign, but the lady host will meet you there at the time you agreed, and it's actually on the 2nd floor of a building. Location wise is not too bad though it's much nearer to the city centre than the train station, so it was a bit of a hassle to drag my luggage across the main motorways, especially in the rain. Environment can be quite dodgy at night because it is a small alley, but it's just a short walk so that should be fine. Being a B&B, it's pricier than hostels, but it was a lovely break from hostels because it felt like home and the host was really friendly. Everything was well-prepared from good shower amenities to awesome breakfast amenities like an espresso machine, juices, cheese milk bread etc.
Day 1
Morning arrival in Verona
Castel San Pietro
Scaligero Bridge
Verona Duomo
Church of St. Anastasia
San Zeno Church
Castelvecchio
Roman Amphitheater
Piazza Bra
My first thought arriving in Verona, "bluff people" - at least when I made the reference to the movie "Letters to Juliet" which was part of the reason why I chose to stop by Verona. Because if I remembered correctly, Verona was very classic when portrayed in the movie, but in real life it is so freaking modern with crazy branded shops. Along the piazzas you'll find tall buildings that contradict each other, you have the top floors with ancient designs (pretty!) and the ground floors are the trendiest high-end shops. Like woah. The other first thought was "Definitely a city of love", you can see love engravings EVERYWHERE. It's the Romeo & Juliet vibe perhaps.
Note the more classic architecture contrasted with the trendy glass-paned shops
So, my first stop was a place slightly out of the city centre, Castel San Pietro which I was told is a great viewpoint of Verona. Note that my sightseeing plans often begin with the furthest place since I assume it would take the most time. I enjoyed the climb up to the hill, and because it was away from the main areas, it was generally quiet, spent quite some time just enjoying the view, pretty darn good view I would say.
The Scaligero Bridge is the last standing Roman Bridge in Verona, so it was quite a gorgeous side especially with the Adige River rapids. Among all the bridges over rivers, I would say I like River Adige best.
Climb up to Castel San Pietro
View from Castel San Pietro
Rapids of Adige River
After that, I headed to the Duomo, which was gorgeous, though much more understated that Venice's basilica. With Verona's attractions, there are usually no audio guides. Entrance fees come with a flyer that explains the attraction and at some places, there are permanent guide machines where you put in a Euro and then listen to the explanation. The St Anastasia Church was gorgeous with its gold lining, and perhaps one of the busier ones compared to the Duomo or the San Zeno church I'm about to describe next.
The Duomo, don't you love the colours?
The gold linings of St Anastasia
I was told that San Zeno Church that lies slightly at the outskirts of the city centre is quite a nice sight and has a scenic route by the river. My advice, go there in the evening. It's quite a walk, and while scenic, the blazing sun was annoying more than warm. And having an umbrella out just makes you stand out more as a Chinese tourist. The church itself was alright, I did enjoy wandering around in the back because it was built upon an older structure, so you can see the archaeological remains; I have a penchant for churches like that. Oh, if you are in the area, look for the corner Gelato shop at the rows of shop opposite the church, the coffee & yoghurt combo was out of this world!
Another thing about the scenic route, it was pretty alright. But it was also the first time I've seen so many lizards since I've been to the Europe! Couldn't even walk by the river bank because they were jumping out of nowhere. I'm guessing I interrupted their sun-bathing.
Scenic route, that's another Roman-looking bridge
The structure underneath San Zeno, uber cool
After visiting churches, it's on to castles, Castelvecchio is an old castle transformed into a museum that shows exhibit of paintings (which was a large part of the collection) and some sculptures as well as visit to areas of the castle that were once functional (i.e. the towers). Again, climbing to the top makes it a good viewpoint, and it was out of the city centre so while there are people, it was not massively crowded.
Part of the walls of Castelvecchio, you can actually walk around half the perimetre of the walls
In the evening, I spend my time at Piazza Bra which is the main piazza you see once you enter the city centre of Verona, and it is massively packed, but Bra (which means wide) gave the impression of space, so it was not that suffocating. I finished my first day with a visit to the Roman Amphitheater which is basically a large space similar to the Colosseum. I would have loved to see the night performances they have, unfortunately for the night I was there, there were no performances.
The Roman Amphitheater
Day 2
Casa di Giulletta (Juliet's House)
Piazza di Erbe
Clock Tower
Woke up early in the morning, took a long time with breakfast - it's one of my favourite things to do. Then headed of to Juliet's House, and it's really less pretty than depicted by the movie. The gum covered walls, were seriously quite icky but well, all in the name of love ;) Other than the famous Juliet statue (whose right breast is faded because rubbing it is thought to bring good luck in love) and the balcony, basically it's just a really simple visit to the interior of the house where there are various Shakespearean quotes and some exhibitions of pottery from previous eras. Oh, there's also a room complete with computers for people to write emails to the secretaries of Juliet who supposedly will reply all the emails (I've yet to receive mine). Amazing what a movie can do to the tourism of a city.
Courtyard, and see the famous balcony?
Spent some time for coffee in Piazza di Erbe which is my favourite piazza because of the market stalls (good for souvenirs) and the general likeable atmosphere. Finished my time in Verona by climbing the clock tower, no taking the elevator, needed the exercise after all the carbs I have consumed, haha. It was raining the entire day, so that was a big of a bummer. My feet swelled really badly, and was itchy, might have been due to some form of allergy.
Piazza de Erbe market stalls
View from the clock tower
Do try:
- Visit Castel San Pietro: I don't think you can go in the castle itself, I tried but there didn't seem to be any entrance. The area surrounding it is a good enough reason and I enjoyed the half an hour walk from the city centre (Piazza Bra) across the other Piazzas and the Adige River
- Visit Scaligero Bridge & River Adige: Spend some time admiring the river, it's gorgeous.
- Eat gelato at corner shop near San Zeno: Coffee & Yoghurt, SO GOOD
- Visit Castelvecchio: It's varied with exhibitions and visiting different parts of the castle plus it's a different looking castle from the cities I visited
- Visit Casa di Giulletta: Because you can't deny the influence of Romeo and Juliet, it's nice to pay homage to the story that has lasted centuries (albeit the silliness of miscommunication between the lovers), and it's nice to be able to see for yourself the location of a movie you've watched
- Visit Piazza Erbe: Good for souvenirs, and probably a cup of coffee just to watch Verona go by
Tips:
- Buy the Verona Pass, 15 euros get you to almost all the places of attraction especially the churches
- You can actually finish Verona's centre in one day, so if you plan to stay for more days, it's a lovely base for visit to nearby cities like Siena. I would have loved to go on a winery tour!
- Check for performances at the Roman Amphitheater; it would be amazing to watch a play there at night
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