Bergamo

Rome

Polish christmas song Wśród Nocnej Ciszy by italian choir

My friend sings in the choir of Collegio Cairoli in Pavia and I went to see their christmas concert yesterday. It was better than I expected and I liked the polish song Wśród Nocnej Ciszy because italian singers had little difficulties with pronunciation of some polish words, watch the video:

Under the Juliet’s balcony in Verona

My girlfriend from Prague came to visit me in Italy. We decided to visit Verona to see the balcony of Juliet and the old town. The weather was really bad, however, the town was lovely.

When we got off the train, it was raining in Verona. Every Italian who got off that train waited for bus, however, we were walking under the umbrella into the town centre. After a while we saw Porta Nuova ("the new gate").



Afterwards we came to Verona's Roman Arena. In front of the ancient amphitheatre the guy in the costume of Roman soldier was waiting. I asked him for one photo because my girlfriend wanted it. Later on, he asked for "a small tip" for that photo :)





Verona is a small city (it has around 260000 inhabitants) which is the great advantage when someone likes to walk because everything is near. It took us not more than 10 minutes to go from Roman Arena to Piazza delle Erbe with the statue of Madonna Verona.





When we crossed very old gate (it dates to the 1st century AD) called Porta Borsari it was just another 5 minutes to reach the Adige river. We saw Castelvecchio bridge in the distance so we decided to look at it closer.



Castelvecchio bridge (Ponte di Castelvecchio) or Skaliger bridge (Ponte Scaligero) is fortified bridge which was built 1354-1356.





We crossed the bridge and entered the old town again and were quite tired because of walking in bad weather. It was still raining so that we wanted to see just two more things: the Verona's Cathedral and Juliet's balcony.



The entrance fee for the cathedral was something around 3 EURO which is not much, however, I think it is stupid to pay for the entering the church.



It was a little bit tricky to find Juliet's balcony. I didn't realise we'd passed it before. It is close to Piazza delle Erbe. Yes, we saw the Juliet's balcony, but to be honest, it wasn't anything special. I liked the spontaneous slips of paper with writings of lovers in the passageway leading to the balcony much more.

The first snow in Pavia!

When I got up in the morning I saw the snow. Of course, it is nothing unusual for someone from Slovakia. However, it was the first time when I saw the snow in Pavia and I was delighted.

During the day the temperature was around 3°C so that the most of the snow melted. I hope that there will be as much snow as in year 2006 in Pavia. Watch the next video from that year.

From Pavia to Binasco by bike

When I got up in the morning day was sunny so I decided to take my bike out again. I didn't know where to cycle. However, I remembered the way from Pavia to Certosa di Pavia and knew that cycle-way continue further. I just wanted to see what is at the end of the road. I feel tired now but I enjoyed it!

Only me and my bike, I can't see the end of the road. I am also not sure if my bike can go such a long way, because I have really an old one. I bought used bike for only 25 Euro but it was a bad deal :) I can hear strange noises when I ride.



The first stop was place called Borgarello. Actually, it was only one stone on which was written that name but I knew that I am on my 1/3 way to Certosa di Pavia so I was happy. I wasn't curious about Certosa, I wanted to see what is after that.



Cycle-way leads along small river canal. Some people catch fish and there are interesting steel bridges over the river.



I passed through Certosa di Pavia (you can see the monastery in the middle) and was very curious what will be next.



It was the half way to Milan from Pavia so something about 17 km when cyclo-way ended. I was thinking what to do, felt tired a little bit so I went into the town nearby. I didn't even know the name of that town but when I went inside, I was surprised. The town was small but there was nice castle in the middle and one church.



I found out later that I am in Binasco, castel is Castello Visconteo and square is called Beata Veronica. Lokal people knew immediately that I am stranger and they were staring at me a lot. It was funny thing to be there. I bought some biscuits in the shop and went back to Pavia.





I made this short video on my way back, sorry I don't know how to rotate it :)

Certosa di Pavia explored!

The famous monastery complex Certosa di Pavia (or Charterhouse of Pavia) is just 10 km far from Pavia. The weather was very nice so that I and my czech friend went to Certosa di Pavia by bike.

When we got there it was about 3 o'clock. Certosa di Pavia was opened from half past 4. To make our waiting shorter, we went for coffee and chocolate to the coffee-bar close to the entrance. The coffee wasn't bad, however, chocolate was much better!

Travel tip: Certosa di Pavia is closed on mondays so don't loose time and come other day than monday.



We walked on the path to the church. It's facade is decorated with small sculptures of great detail. We entered the churk and when we were inside, we heard monk talking about the history of Certosa di Pavia. Although it might be interesting to listen, non of us can understand italian and monk was talking only italian. Most of the time we were just looking around.





We went from church into Small Cloister (Chiostro Piccolo) with the small garden in the middle.





The last place of monastery was the Big Cloister (Chiostro Grande) with cells of the monks. There was a big garden inside which look like football pitch. Probably, if monks have some free time, they play football there (just kidding).