Europe with Asmir and Miriam

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For the next hour or so, we simply wandered to and fro -- over to the Adige River, then over to the Duomo, then back across the Piazza delle Erbe, finally ending up at Juliet's House, of Romeo and Juliet Fame. We stopped and observed the famous balcony, and Miriam tucked a secret little love note into a wall plastered with the amorous thoughts of thousands.

Castel San Pietro

Elegant door and window

Approaching the Duomo

Duomo, Verona

Juliet's Balcony

Love note from Miriam

courtesy AArifovic

Shakespeare's words

Exposing ancient times

His-n-Her Internet

By this time we had walked about 5 kilometres, and were getting fairly hungry. We then wandered about for another few minutes, trying to locate what we thought would be a good restaurant, not too busy or touristy and which served traditional Veronese food. We settled on a restaurant somewhat tucked off the main streets - a spot called the Ristorante Greppia. We chose one of their street-side tables, and sat down to a good meal supplemented with local wine. I don't remember everything that everyone had, but I do recall having a very good version of Pasta e Fagioli (although different than my Mom's), followed by light filets of chicken breast covered in herbs and diced tomatoes. I recall Asmir having a main dish of braised horsemeat and polenta (which is definitely a traditional Veronese dish). I'm pretty sure Jenn had an enjoyable first plate of Caprese salad, and afterwards a simple dish of pasta. I can't recall anything Miriam had. Oh, and lots of those long Italian bread stick things. In any case -- very good!

courtesy AArifovic

Ristorante Greppia

Horsemeat and Polenta

Top staircase

After dinner, we decided to walk back to the Piazza delle Erbe and climb the Torre dei Lamberti. We had passed it earlier and mused about climbing it, and noting the closing time, thought it might be neat to do it after dark. So, with renewed energy in our bellies from our dinner, we paid the necessary Euros and started to climb the steps of the tower (opting to forego the easy choice of the elevator).

I find these towers are shorter than they appear -- at least that was the thought in my mind as we endlessly circled up flights and flights of stairs. Eventually we reached the first of two observation levels, which offered fantastic open-air views of the city below. Below one corner of the tower, down in a courtyard, music drifted up from a brightly lit Hebrew music fair.

Top of the Tower

Piazza delle Erbe at night

Tower Bells

We climbed up a final set of spiral stairs past large historic bells to the highest viewing platform. We had been warned by the watchman down below that the tower's bells were operational and that we should be mindful of the time, and we were - except that we did so holding our fingers in our ears as an electronic knocker sounded the main bell at 10pm (the original mechanical levers that operated the old bell hammers were still in place but are not currently used).

courtesy AArifovic

Cast Type

Festival down below

Obligatory Final Stop

Once back down in the Piazza, we started our walk back to the car, stopping part way for that most Italian of activites: the late-night stop at a gelateria.

Interactive Trackmap & Photo Points - Double-click map to expand

Interactive Trackmap & Photo Points - click to expand

Verona Walk

Start Time: 4:32p.m.

End Time: 10:41p.m.

Duration: 6h9m

Distance: 6.72 km (4.18 mi)

Average Speed: 1.1 km/hr (0.7 mph)

Start Elevation: 216ft (66m) *

Max Elevation: 497ft (152m) *

Min Elevation: 208ft (63m) *

End Elevation: 228ft (69m) *