Off my beaten track...

… in the fabulous city of Verona...

Ponte delle Navi, Verona

Some years ago a friend of mine - we'll call her C - suggested that we might make a trip to Italy and take in the opera festival.  I willingly agreed as it seemed like a great adventure and I knew I would enjoy the spectacle of a different kind of theatre in ancient surroundings.  I had no idea that I would be waiting more than a year for such an event to come off.  Apparently tickets for the festival are booked a year in advance - it was the only way we could get the seats that we really wanted - and we decided that for such a once-in-a lifetime event we were going to spoil ourselves.  And we did!

My journey overland was a very long and difficult drive.  A stop in Fusson to camp because it was the only site that could be found that took credit card payments - had no cash - and an evening's entertainment of Abba songs to the instruments and tempo of an 'Oompah' band was a distraction I didn't really need, but it was a happenstance I have never been able to forget!

Once we had met up in Verona C and I just had to explore.  Never mind the packed posh frock that I'd dragged halfway across Europe, or my champagne glasses that I hadn't checked to make sure they had survived the journey, our goal - well maybe mine more than C's - was to see the city.

The Arena and Juliet's balcony were a must.  There was no way that I was coming to Verona, a city that Shakespeare used for Romeo and Juliet - in my view the greatest romantic tragedy ever written - and Two Gentlemen of Verona without seeing the place through Shakespeare's eyes.

The modern city comprises about 260,000 inhabitants, but its ancient Roman military heart, which dates from around 500BC, is still intact.  The arena was completed about 30AD and, although now not totally complete in its original form, is still impressive.  Originally it would have held some 25,000 spectators on 40 or more tiers of seating.  The original Roman foundations in the area of the city surrounding the arena are the foundations that we 21^st century people are walking on about 6 meters beneath our feet.  The more modern buildings having maintained the original footings and cellars.

The square that houses Juliet's balcony was teaming with people when C and I got there.  Supposedly, the old house on the right was that belonging to the Capulet family of Shakespeare's play.  It's much smaller that I imagined, and the climb to the balcony for Romeo, not as death defying as I had believed when first read the play as a teenager.  As we wandered the streets I wondered if Shakespeare ever actually visited the city.  Probably not, but he must have known people who had, as the sense of the place is very evident in both plays, be it only briefly for Two Gentlemen.

At the arena we found a mish-mash of stage props and scenery encroaching onto the street.  I couldn't stop myself from having a closer look.  The colours were vibrant - as expected, stage lights bleach everything they touch - and the bits of scenery that created the pyramids may have been hollow but rough peppered paint on the surface meant that they would look solid and substantial under the lights.

... And the opera?  Aida, an utterly amazing experience.  And yes, I did wear the posh frock, and we did drink the champagne I'd carried all the way from France and my beautiful crystal flutes did survive the round trip!

I have also been #OffMyBeatenTrack in Sicily