Reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, I always imagined Verona to be this beautiful small town with a romantic edge to it and it definitely exceeded my expectations! During spring break this year, I decided to take a quick day trip from Venice to Verona. I arrived to Verona on a Wednesday afternoon and walked about 20 minutes from the train station to my Airbnb. As I walked to my Airbnb, I passed by the center of Verona. I found myself in this huge plaza next to the Arena Amphitheater and many boutiques and restaurants. It was fairly clear that in this area there were not many tourists, which made it easier to get around unlike Venice. Once I arrived to my Airbnb, my host was there to great me. I stayed in a small studio complete with a kitchen, bathroom and small sitting area. It was perfect for someone stay there only one day! My Airbnb host was very kind and offered a few suggestions around the city that I should check out. After my host left, I first decided to take a small 30 minute rest and just cool down in the studio since it was about 85 degrees outside. Afterwards, I went to one of the places my host recommended, Ponte Pietra. Ponte Pietra is the oldest bridge in Verona and on the other side of the bridge there is a hill with a balcony at the very top that has the most magnificent view of Verona. It is truly an eye-opening area. The beauty of the city can all be captured in this small balcony and it is breath-taking! I spent about an hour on the balcony just admiring the view before I decided it was too hot for me to stay there any longer. Next, I headed to the only place that drew me to Verona, Juliet’s House. Ever since I saw the movie, Letters to Juliet, I have always wanted to visit Verona just to see this house. This was by far the most touristic area of all of Verona, with hundreds of people from all over the world, wanting to see the same thing. I can say that visiting Juliet’s House was a great experience but, I would not go back to see it again. As a student I received a reduced price of 4 euros to enter the house but there was not very much to see inside. There were a few paintings here and there of various artists that painted different scenes from the story. There was Juliet’s bed, which also housed a gown and a tradition costume for Romeo. Other than that, the best part of the whole place was the famous balcony and her statue downstairs by the entrance. I did not have high expectations of the house but I was looking forward to see the wall full of letters that women wrote to Juliet. Now you can no longer write a letter and leave it on the wall, instead you can write Juliet an email inside or you can bring your hand written letter and place it in her mailbox inside. Even though Juliet’s House was not exactly what I expected, it was still worth seeing. After visiting her home, I was in an area that had many souvenir shops (mostly dedicated to the star-crossed lovers) and many shopping stores. I entered a few of the clothes stores around the area and did a bit of shopping. I think Italian fashion was by far my favorite in all of the cities I have visited so far! Once I finished shopping, I headed back to the huge plaza I first encountered when I arrived to Verona. There I decided I should see the Arena Amphitheater. Seven euros later, I entered the Arena which was partially under construction but I was still able to access the seating area which was once able to hold about 30,000 people. Now, most of it looks to be in the process of being restored. Even though I was not able to see much of Verona during my short visit, I still feel like it is a charming city with much more to offer. I hope to be able to go back one day and see what else the beautiful city of Verona holds!
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