After skiing in the Dolomites we planned to visit friends, so we booked our return flight out of Verona, one of the nearest airports to where they live.
In Innsbruck, the person who helped us with our rental car, saw that we were returning the car in Verona and immediately began raving about how wonderful it is. In fact, Verona is his favorite Italian city! Seriously…he went on-and-on about how much he loved it, while tapping away on the keyboard. We didn’t have the heart to tell him that we didn’t plan on spending any time in Verona; we were just going to drop off the car and fly out.
Thanks to that guy, we found a way to squeeze it in.
So, we went to Verona
I now know that Verona is thought to be one of the most romantic cities in the world, perhaps because of its main tourist draw: Juliet’s balcony, where the Capulet family is thought to have lived. Allegedly, this is where a young Juliet expressed her devotion to none other than… Romeo. Or at least it’s thought to have been the location of inspiration for the story…or maybe nobody really knows for sure…but still, lots of people come here to see the balcony and (inappropriately) touch this bronze statue of a young Juliet.
We aren’t really into these touristy things, but being in the thick of Shakespeare studies at school, this was interesting for the girls to see.
We strolled through Piazza Bra, where a Roman amphitheatre and gardens are surrounded by alfresco dining.
In all honesty, each piazza in Verona was more spectacular than the last and we could easily see how it could be someone’s favorite Italian city. The rich architecture and colors alone make you fall in love with it.
