About one third of William Shakespeare's plays were set in Verona, either fully or in part. Famously, "Romeo and Juliet", and "Two Gentlemen of Verona". Naturally we had to visit the houses where legend has it that Romeo's family and Juliet's family lived, and Juliet's balcony, made famous by the Hollywood film.
Verona is fairly typical of an old Italian city in many ways with the old architecture, several stately homes, parts of the city walls that still remain and, in the case of Verona, an ancient amphitheatre that is still in frequent use today. This one is in better condition than its more famous cousin, the Colloseum in Rome, although slightly smaller. Today is officially the first day of summer, which also means it is the start of the opera season, so we could not go inside the amphitheatre because it was being prepared for tonight's opening performance. We did meet up with a few Roman Soldiers outside it though. See the photos below. I'm not sure why they seemed to be a little more hostile towards me than Ann?
The weather was HOT, 34°C and the glare radiating off the stone and marble buildings was quite uncomfortable at times, but not enough to spoil a good day out. Needless to say we were happy to get back in the air conditioned bus for the return journey.
A quick swim in the pool was a welcome refresher before supper in the hotel restaurant, followed by another stroll beside the lake. Showers and into bed after a tiring but very enjoyable day.
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