in the north of italy

The City of Trento, view from Castle Buonconsiglio

On thursday night I took a night train (with 2 changes so not really the best conditions for sleeping...) to Trento, Italy. Little city nestled within the Dolomite Mountains to visit a friend of mine. I arrived Friday morning at 8am to sunshine and beautiful views! I walked around and explored the city (which is actually quite small and if you are in a hurry you could probably walk from one end of the main city to the other in about 15 minutes). It was rather surprising how quickly I would stumble upon some site that looked much further away on the map...for example the main castle (castello buonconsiglio). I saw castles, beautiful churches, plazas, fountains, little parks, cafes etc. It being such a beautiful day as well as being italy meant it was time to RELAX. I enjoyed reading in the gardens and eating a gelato by the duomo fountain. we went out with a couple people for coffee (at about 8pm) dinner (at about 10pm) and then another coffee (at about 12:30am) and then drinks after that (until about 4am) in true italian style, hopping from one eatery to the next.

The city of Verona (this same river flows through Trento as well)

Saturday we took the train to Verona, which is about an hour south of Trento and just beyond the mountain ranges. It was an absolutely beautiful city, filled with old buildings from almost every era of history, people enjoying the warm weather and strolling about. Naturally, yet again we also had a list of things to do that included coffee (and by coffee, if you order just a coffee you end up with an espresso that is about one sip size), followed by pizza on the piazzo, followed by gelato, a little bit of site seeing on route to another coffee place by the river with a gorgeous view of the roman theater, followed by wine and little edibles (a must try, verona wine), and then rounded out by a second of gelato. despite the fact that it seemed like all we did was eat our way through the city it was amazing. I really don't know how italians get anything done! as it was explained to me, there is no tipping in italy and as a result the waiters dont really care about speedy service and whether you want to or not you sit there for however long it takes, no rush. the atmosphere of verona was incredible. i did manage to find one souvenir from my time there which was a pillow case (to add to my collection :) made by a woman who specializes in repairing rugs of all kinds. It was really fun to watch her working in this little room filled with strings/threads/yarns of all kinds and working on carpet like items of all varieties.

Arco Castle

After the long day in verona and then enjoying the evening with people in trento we got up on sunday and took the bus to riva del garda which is a little town on the edge of Lake Garda, nestled in between the mountains. It was rather overcast but still beautiful and great because it was before the touristy season when apparently the area is packed! only about ~6km from Riva del Garda is Arco which has this really cool old castle on the top of a cliff/mountain. we walked up to it on this gorgeous path that sports lots of flowers and herbs and gives you a gorgeous view of the valley. Then we took the bus back to Trento. and i must say, it was really nice taking the bus because you wind up and down the mountain scaling roads and through valleys and vineyards and see all these rather isolated little towns surrounded by beauty in every direction.

Castle Toblino, Sarce, Italy

that is about it for the quick summary of italy. we had a quick beer/fries/gelato combo before i had to hop back on the train to the border followed by a sbahn to innsbruck followed by an absolutely PACKED night train to Graz that didn't allow for much sleep at all because there was hardly room to sit. I arrived back in Graz at 7am walked home and then got ready for work.

here are a few pics from my trip: TRENTO, VERONA, RIVA DEL GARDA, ARCO

i took a ton of pictures of balconies as well in the various cities in northern italy since they were everywhere and very different. might try to make an album out of those eventually too...