Opera in Verona
The main reason for our trip to Italy was because we had never been to an opera before, and somehow Jude had decided our first experience would be in Verona, Italy. They have a huge Roman amphitheatre, the Verona Arena, which in the summer months is used to host operas. Unfortunately, this meant we had to go to Italy in the high season as the opera only runs from the end of June, July, August into early September.
We had a chat to Andrea, Jon’s cousin who lives in Crete, as she enjoys going to the opera and had already been to Verona before. We decided on seeing Aida and with the help of Andrea who knew the best seats, we booked our tickets for a performance at the end of June.
Months later we arrived in Milan, picked up our rental car and drove to Verona. We explored the ancient town with its many beautiful historic buildings, and of course had a glance at Juliet’s balcony (from the famous Romeo and Juliet saga). On the night of the opera, we wandered around the large amphitheatre, bought some cushions to sit on and joined the queues to get inside. It’s an impressive building and we enjoyed the experience. All seats in the amphitheatre are pretty uncomfortable even with a cushion, but to see an opera in a setting like this was worth it.
Andrea and Jude ready for the opera in Verona
it was a modern interpretation of Aida, luckily it had some subtitles in English – see the screen on the right)
Jude in front of the Verona amphitheatre with her cushion
Over the next few days we visited wineries, enjoyed some good food together, and then it was already time to say goodbye as Andrea was flying back to Crete. We stayed in the area for another week or so, Jon working and Jude going for hikes in the surrounding hills, before moving on to the Po region. From there we took a boat cruise in the Po Delta wetlands where we enjoyed a swim in the sea and the wetlands, before venturing by ferry and bus to Venice.
exploring the Verona area with Andrea
Jude goes hiking when Jon is working
we go on a boat cruise in the Po Delta, for the wildlife and a swim
Jon had never been to Venice, so this was high on the list of places to see. The ferry and bus combo was excellent, and a stunning way to arrive right in the centre of Venice at the Piazza San Marco. As it was an incredibly hot day, we had waited until the late afternoon before arriving and that turned out to be a perfect idea. By the time we reached the Piazza, there were no crowds (or maybe everyone was staying away because of the heat?), and we wandered the canals in relative quiet.
Jon and Jude in Venice on a hot summer’s day, we ate many icecreams
We found a hidden café with excellent food and a courtyard where lots of locals seemed to congregate for a drink after work, rode the ferries through the many canals and meandered through the tiny alleys. As these ferries (and buses) run throughout the night, we only returned to our peaceful farm-stay after midnight.
This was turning into a holiday where we would visit lots of places one of us had already been to, and the other one hadn’t. This time it was Jon’s turn to show Jude a place she hadn’t been to yet – San Marino, as Jon had been there in 1995 when he was participating in the Mille Miglia rally. We had booked another AirBnB, this one was perfectly located at walking distance from the cable car to take you straight up to the capital of San Marino.
San Marino is the 5th smallest country in the world, is not part of the EU, but does use the Euro as its currency. Per capita it is one of the wealthiest nations on earth. The capital is located on top of Monte Titano, and the views over the surrounding countryside are stunning. We spent a full day exploring the ancient cobbled streets, having an early dinner with a view, before walking down the cliff path back to our temporary home.
Jude in San Marino, the 5th smallest nation on the planet
Jon really wanted to pop in at the Ferrari museum near Bologna. But we both felt it was a bit disappointing after the excellent Alfa Romeo museum we had visited earlier in the holiday in Milan.
Jon had many favourite cars in this excellent Alfa Romeo museum….
Jon outside the Ferrari factory which is right next to the mediocre museum
Then another last-minute detour was made, so Jude could see the leaning tower of Pisa, before we drove back to Milan to drop off the rental car. As it was a last-minute decision, we hadn’t booked a time slot for climbing the leaning tower. But as we reached the booking office, they had one slot available if we waited half an hour. Jon had already been to the top before, so Jude went up the winding stairs with the worn-out patches in different locations of the steps depending on where you were in relation to the way the tower was leaning.
Jon trying to stop the tower from falling
can you spot Jude?
Italy had been too hot for us, and way too busy. This was probably not helped by the fact we visited a few major tourist attractions. Accommodation without air conditioning was also a bit of a nasty surprise (we hadn’t thought of looking for it when booking the accommodation as it never occurred to us that places in Italy wouldn’t have it!). It hadn’t been the escape of the Abu Dhabi summer heat we had hoped for, but we had enjoyed exploring places we (or one of us) hadn’t been to before. Next time we will be planning our holidays a bit better according to the temperatures!
luckily our accommodation had a creek for swimming to cool off as the pool was too hot