Today was one of those travel days best forgotten in some ways, but with some jewels as well.
We headed for the Train station to depart Milan for Bergamo enroute to Venice.
The forecast said 'Mainly Cloudy', but given our past experience we had our wet weather accessories at the ready ...and Ewan was clutching his orange umbrella, just in case.
Sparing no expense Ewan bought first class tickets on the train, which was very new and modern. It seemed to mean that we had twice as much leg room as needed, but it was a lovely thought....and, let's face it, it only cost about 4 euros extra in total!
Arriving in Bergamo the rain had started and basically has lasted the entire day: it is a heavy drizzle . It hasn't poured but is just wet enough to turn everything grey and colourless. The weather bureau finally updated its forecast to 'Rain' after a steady four hours of rain had fallen. Great work.
Despite the weather we trudged on to locate the B&B which turned out to be in a quaint rustic old building and a room with lots of space. It's name is L'Angolo del Poeto
After depositing the bags we decided to have a quick coffee at the Bar opposite before setting off. We spent an entertaining few minutes sipping our coffee and conversing with the woman who runs the Bar and a bloke , who was a regular there, neither of whom spoke a word of English. It's amazing how you can cover information about Australia, what we do there and the local politics and economy without having a word of language in common!
Fortified by caffeine we set off for the Accademia Carrara which is supposed to be 'one of Italy's greatest art repositories'. Well, it would be if it wasn't closed for renovations! Fortunately we realised before we had gone too far and changed direction heading for the Citta Alta: the old medieval city set high on a hill above the newer city. To get there we walked through the streets of the town to see some lovely stone buildings from the past few centuries, and of course lots of churches from various periods too. I think today definitely improved the average number of churches per day that we have seen.
To reach Citta Alta which is perched on a hill with very steep access, we went on the funicular which took about 3 minutes. It deposited us at the top where there were lots of lanes and alleyways leading in all directions, lined by stone or rock buildings. The lane ways were also made of rock so we had to watch our step in the rain.
There were some interesting little shops along the way. In particular some very nice bakeries, one selling pizza slices with every combination possible, another withe fig bread and siennese panaforte (both of which we had to buy of course!).
But I was intrigued by the Polenta cakes called polenta e osci. Polenta is the staple diet here apparently and we saw huge fields of corn from the train. I had to buy one and it was a surprise: they look like little pudding shaped mounds of polenta, but in fact they don't have any polenta in them at all. The sugar on the outside is coloured yellow to look as if it is made of polenta and the inside is jam, chocolate cream and sponge - nothing to do with corn at all ( very sweet but delicious!)
The shop that took the prize for 'weird' sold only headbands , and their window display was heads of animals with a headband on. Very odd! If I thought the girls would have worn one I would have bought some as they were really lovely styles and colours.
Anyway we trudged around to see all of the unique buildings here, only to discover that all of the Museums or buildings that we could have visited -and would have provided some respite from the incessant rain - are closed on Mondays. And today of course is a MONDAY! Tourist disaster!
We did see the outside of some remarkable old churches and buildings, but my photos will be splodged with rain I'm sure. Ah well, at least we tried. We deserve 10 out of 10 for persistence!
Finally we made our way back to the Funicular which carried us gracefully down the hill . After consoling ourselves with a hot chocolate, we headed back to the B&B to dry out. So Ewan is currently snoring (lies) having a siesta before our next attack on the town and a move to Verona tomorrow.
your slightly damp correspondent
Dianne
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