Today would be a really tight schedule for me. I had allocated just about 3 hours per city, and am aiming to cover 3 cities in one day. Good luck to me.
I arrived in Verona last night and didn't try to explore the city anymore, knowing it would be too dark to capture anything on camera. Plus I was too tired to do anything, having had to walk about 500 meters (10 mins’ walk) with all my luggage with me – from the bus stop to the hotel. I hadn’t realized that the hotel I had booked was so far from the city center, plus the long walk from the nearest bus stop. But I had no other choice as it’s too late to book another hotel.
My train ticket from Verona to my next stop, which is Florence, was scheduled at 10:00am. So I had to be back at the hotel by 9:00am to give me enough time to check out and get back to the main train station, seeing as my hotel is sooo far from the station.
So I left the hotel early, about 6:00am, so I had at least 3 hours to explore the city. I only had 3 sights that I wanted to visit anyway. The 3 hours was just to give me enough time to look for those places.
First stop was the Arena. It was nice, though not as impressive as the Colosseo in Rome. It actually looked a bit like a smaller replica of the one in Rome. I didn't stay long there, just long enough to get some good photos of myself using the camera’s timer J
From the Arena, I started looking for one of the places that Verona is famous for – Juliet’s House. Juliet as in Romeo and Juliet. Im not really sure why there’s a house when the story was supposed to be fiction, but anyway, the house was there. It was called “Casa di Giullietta” and is now a museum.
Apparently, the family who lived there had the same last name as the one in the story (Capulet) and they had a daughter named Juliet. There was also supposedly a Romeo house, whose family had the same last name as the one in the story (Montague), but it was still a private property and was not open to public, so I was not able to go there.
Then lastly, I went to the Castelvecchio. I have not heard of it before, but I saw photos of the castle in one of the online forums that I visit. The photos looked fantastic, and so I was interested in visiting. And I wasn't disappointed. The castle looked medieval – as it really is, it was constructed in 1355 – and I LOVED IT! I felt like I was home. Hehe
Took some really great photos there then hurriedly went to the nearest but stop, which, as the receptionist told me the night before, would stop right in front of the hotel. It was already 8:45, so I had 15 minutes to get to the hotel. The bus number I was told to ride on arrived about 5 minutes later, so I thought I was pretty safe on the time.
Unfortunately, as I soon found out, the Italian public transport system was much, much worse than the Swiss system. The Swiss system, though confusing to a foreigner with its many lines and zones, is well-organized. Plus there’s a computer in every bus that would show you the next stops so you know early on if you’re on the right bus.
The Italian system, by itself already as confusing as the Swiss one, was disorganized. Most of the ticket machines in the buses don't work, so if you don't buy a ticket early on and hope to buy one in the bus, chances are you probably wont be able to buy one and would be fined if caught without a ticket.
The buses have LCD screens like the ones in the Swiss buses, but most of them don't work. there’s also no announcement of what the next stop would be, so if you’re not familiar with the route, you would most probably miss your stop.
To make it worse, you have to tell the driver in advance that you’re getting off at the next stop by pressing a buzzer. If the buzzer doesn't sound, and there’s no one waiting to get on at the next stop, the bus would just continue on. And if you do press a buzzer, you have to get off in 5 seconds. Otherwise, the bus will drive off with you still in it.
So in short, I got lost while attempting to go back to my hotel. I missed my stop and reached the end of the route before I realized what happened. The driver doesn't speak English, so he couldn't help me.
I decided to try walking, which gives me a better chance of finding my way than taking another bus. I asked several people along the way, who mostly couldn't speak English as well. I was staring to get frustrated - I knew I’d miss my train as it was 9:15 already – plus the situation was starting to look hopeless.
Fortunately, about the 5th person I asked – a girl in her late teens – spoke perfect English and was going the same way I had to go. She walked with me to the street across my hotel and I was finally able to get back.
It was already 9:30am when I reached the hotel so I decided not to rush anymore and just take my breakfast, which was free. I was thinking that at least the free breakfast would somehow offset the fees I would have to pay for having to rebook my train.
I reached the train station at around 10:30 and went to the ticket counters to rebook my ticket. The next train that goes directly to Florence was at 6:00 pm that day, so I had to take a longer route, which took me 3.5 hours to get to Florence, instead of just 1.5.
This has been a long day, so I’ll write about my Florence experience later, in another entry.
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