We arrived in Verona from Venice last Friday (I am writing this from Regensburg, where I may finally get caught up!). It was a long and tiring day but resulted in a lot of good photos - and ended with a seriously delicious Italian dinner.
The day began in Venice, where we enjoyed the Acqua Alta in the sunshine, re-visited the Basilica di San Marco inside and out, went up in the campanile for some aerial photos, retrieved our bags from the hotel, and caught the water bus to the train station. (See the previous post for photos.) We then took the train about an hour west to Verona.
When we got to our Verona hotel around 3:30, the sun was still shining but on its way down toward a bank of clouds, so we threw down our bags and immediately headed back out. (Sarah is amazingly game for this sort of thing - I never really expect her to join me!) My goal was the church of San Zeno Maggiore, the most important Romanesque church in Verona and one of the churches I was most excited to see in Italy. I really wanted to make it there with the evening sun on the facade, so we took an exceptionally brisk 15-minute walk across town.
The very best feature of the church, for me, was the bronze door. After the facade, it was the main reason I was so excited to see this church. (I would say, "Yes, I'm a nerd," but I think that is patently obvious by now.) Dating from the 12th century and consisting of 48 panels, they are one of the great artistic highlights of Verona and some of the first bronze castings made since Roman times. So they are really quite special. They were really a challenge to photograph, though, because they are so dark and are located in a small porch without a whole lot of room to get around. So I had to use all my best sniper skills (firm stance, controlled breathing, light touch on the shutter) to get non-blurry photos, but happily I was mostly successful. Here they are:
The Crucifixion
Abraham and Isaac
We had arrived at the church at 4:00 and I just barely finished by the time they closed and kicked us out at 5:00. By that time it was dark, but we did get to briefly tour the cloister under a full moon, which was pretty cool.
I had brought my tripod along for this outing, so was able to take some night photos on the way back to the hotel. Verona was quite lovely after dark (and in the daytime too).
Our hotel (Hotel Accademia) has a wonderful location only a couple blocks from the Arena in a really nice shopping district. The streets were extremely brightly lit and paved with the city's characteristic pink marble, which became very slippery when it rained! The hotel itself was nice but old, and I never got around to taking photos of it.
But the very best part of our hotel was its dinner recommendation! When we asked her opinion, the very friendly woman at the front desk recommended Ristorante Greppia, just a few blocks away. She described it as casual and simple and promised, "You will tell me tomorrow it is wonderful!"
And whoa, was she ever right. It was probably the best food we had in Italy - only the family restaurant in Florence with the boar sauce comes close. We ate there two nights in a row and, honestly, it hurts me a little to look at the photos and know we can't have it anymore!
In addition to all the deliciousness, the meal was fun because we sat in between two tables of other North Americans and chatted with them quite a bit. On one side was a guy of maybe 35-40 from Toronto, who was in Italy for about a week on business. He had just flown in that day and was treating himself to a jet-lag recovery Italian meal. He started with some red wine called Amarone, which the waiter poured in an entertainingly elaborate way (a little into a big beaker, swirled around, left to rest, repeat) and then served in a huge wine glass. The guy loved the wine, but really cracked up at all the apparatus and had me take a photo of him and his glass with his cell phone. He encouraged us to try it, so I poured a small amount from the big, strange beaker into my own normal-sized glass. I don't love red wine and I'm no expert, but it was strong and dry and seemed very good.
And on our right was a couple of about 45 from Washington, DC. They had already had lunch at the same restaurant that day. We paid close attention to what they ordered and what they thought of it, because we were already planning to return for dinner the following night!
The next day we visited the cathedral, which was similar architecturally to San Zeno but not quite as exciting inside; the church of Sant'Anastasia, which wasn't terribly interesting; the ancient Roman theater; and "Juliet's House," complete with balcony. And I did some night shots of an old bridge and the river. Here are a few quick highlights.
Verona Cathedral:
Cathedral Cloister and Museum:
Sant'Anastasia:
Roman Theater (1st century AD) and Museum:
Night photos:
After quittin' time, we returned to Ristorante Greppia for a second dinner! We were a little out of control this time, frankly. We each got two courses, which is very normal for Italy, but the general idea is to have a primo piatto, which is usually pasta, followed by a secundo piatto, which is usually a moderate portion of meat by itself. Well, those of you who know me may guess what's coming: I went ahead and ordered pasta for the first and second courses. Highly irregular, yes, but I just had to do it.
Sarah also mixed it up a bit, but on a meat theme: she ordered the green ravioli as well, but asked if they could add ragu to the sauce. (The waiter was very kind and humored both of our unusual orders.)
As you might imagine, we were seriously stuffed afterwards, but it was so worth it. We had eaten well throughout Italy, but it was nice to go out on this exceptionally high note. The next morning we said Ciao to Italy and crossed the Alps into Salzburg.