Our Italian Holiday 2016 - Part 4

Day 7 - Friday 23rd September

And here we are with out last excursion day of the holiday and as it is Friday, then that must mean Verona. If Venice were a tad disappointing in reality, Verona made up for it in spades! It is a beautiful city, full of history and character. Narrow streets give way to large piazzas and city walls protect their contents.
We start by taking the coach to the highest point of the area, where our guide; Andrea - who we picked up on the way - talked us through the sights of the city. Sights that we will soon be visiting when we head down back to the historical centre of Verona. He also provides us with a potted history of his home town of Verona. He is a very knowledgeable chap and his English was superb, although he did sound a bit like an Italian Stephen Hawking.
We board the coach back down to the city and are dropped off, with Andrea, by the river where we continue our guided tour on foot.

"Andiamo!"

Is Andrea's favourite phrase, basically meaning "let's go!" - so he repeats it after every stop. We take in several points of interest on our way through the city, Andrea with his pointing stick and portable PA, leading then way and talking us through the sights and history as we go.

One popular highlight is the Casa di Giulietta - Juliet's House, where the balcony made famous by Shakespeare is on show. Obviously being a fictional character, then it's just a tourist trap, albeit quite an old one. It is set back in a little courtyard and is probably the most popular attraction in Verona, as it is packed with tourists! So although we saw the balcony, any chance of rubbing Juliet's boob (Google it!) was going to be a fruitless cause, as a myriad of selfie-sticks, cameras and tourists were gunning for the brassy boobs! Anyway, Andrea was shouting "Andiamo!" so we had to move on to the next attraction.

Our walking tour ended in Piazza Bra, next to the arena or ampitheatre. As we had a couple of hours to kill, we opted to place ourselves in a shady restaurant at the side of the piazza and enjoy some pizza and risotto - when in Rome! (Or Verona).

Far too soon it was time to board the coach to make our way back to the hotel for the last time. On the way we made a stop at a local wine shop who allow tasting, with the option to buy any you liked, should you want to - and who wouldn't at those prices? Bargains!


Day 8 & 9 - Saturday 234th & Sunday 25th September

We wake slightly later on Saturday and have a lazy breakfast, prior to packing the cases and checking out at 10am. The cases are taken to the coach and loaded for us and we stow any hand luggage that we don't need. We are not departing until 3:30pm so are free to stay around the hotel or wander around Arco, which is what we do - finding the supermarket to buy provisions for the long journey home. We also took full advantage of the little land train and had a 2 euros ride around Arco. What's not to like?

We're not looking forward to over 24 hours on a coach that's for sure - but here goes!

Arrivederci!

Ciao!



We hope you have enjoyed the holiday blog - it's something we do for us, just to collate our memories before they fade like a holiday sun tan. We know we have a laugh at the expense of the coach trips, but we do like them - all of the hassle is removed from the holiday, you don't have to worry about where to go or what to do, or how to get there, everything is laid on for you and we like that. A holiday should be for relaxing and although you can be on the go a lot of the time, there's no need to worry about it!

If we do have a tip for a coach trip, it is to go on one - they are not as cheesey as you might think and they are a great way to socialise if you want - or you can just do your own thing.

Thanks for reading and see you next year.