Thanks ANUJ, twk, and Karen

Karen, Wrocław gave me an opportunity to explore a city without the crowds.
The Rynek (square) is incredibly beautiful, and the nearby sights are so impressive, but it is not nearly as busy.
I could not have a city centric holiday, but I also don’t drive in Europe, so have to choose bases with good transport and mix up the busier places with my preferred quiet ones.

Verona is so beautiful. As a Pink Floyd fan mysef, a David Gilmour concert at the Arena sounds divine - when was this ?

ANUJ, this was in 2016

some pics from the concert

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A very nice excursion to Verona. Good for you that you had already been there and could escape the crowds to explore some nice neighbourhoods off the beaten path. We did a day trip from Lake Garda to Verona many years ago, but unfortunately this was with my tennis buddies who had close to zero interest for historic sights :( I still managed to drag them to some of the main sights like Casa di Giulia, Arena, Scaligeri tombs, San Zeno church, Porta Borsari ...

Wonderful memories of opera in the Arena brought back by your photos. (Not to mention great meals al fresco in Verona too.). What a beautiful city. And I love the photos of the greenery on the terraces and balconies. Super!!

I admire your tenacity and bravery in traveling solo. You have such diverse experiences as you move from place to place. It is a wonderful journey you have been on. I salute you!

Day 32: Rovereto (daytrip to Brentonico)

A frustrating start to the day as long delays on the train line, so abandoned my original plan and swapped to a bus ride to Brentonico, up in the nearby hills.

It’s a 50 minute ride, and a huge bus with just myself and an elderly Italian lady who promptly sat at the front and chatted to the driver the whole journey (directly under the sign that said in Italian - don’t disturb the driver, lol).

Hairpin curves as we headed high up into the hills, and some single lane access between a few buildings, and sweeping valley views made for an exciting journey.


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Leaving the valley

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Heading uphill

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Lots of hairpins

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Beautiful views


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Photo from the bus ride ..vineyards endless vineyards

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Heading in to Castione

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Castione - Tiny place on a narrow road


Brentonico was on my list for the Palazzo Eccheli-Baisi and garden
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which turned out to be locked at 11:30 am (online opening times differed from sign at the door).
In wandering around it I found an entrance to the attached homes, a local lady then tried to find out what was happening and calls out to the gardeners, but we can’t communicate.
She was quite animated, continued to speak in Italian and tried to explain the names of the surrounding mountains, maybe to compensate for not getting in to the Palazzo, haha, and then indicated that the gardeners would let me in, so I had a wander around. It’s a nicely tended, formal garden with lavender about to explode and wisteria recently finished.
There are walkways and beautiful trees. It’s really pretty. All labelled, QR coded, historical plantings.

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Brentonico main street

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Pretty village

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The Palazzo

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It looked like garden access from here… but it also leads to attached homes

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Shared access

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The lady that lives in one of these flats talked to the gardeners for me

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Then wandered the village and had lunch, which ended with a fabulous pistachio semifreddo.


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There are few busses, so made sure I didn’t miss mine.

Bus stop is on the main street with a public park adjoining and enormous trees, a very nice place to wait for a bus.



Took the long way back as it was such a nice day - the walk home

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Got off at a different bus stop for a longer walk back

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Went to the local Coop on the way back, and an elderly gentleman in store asks me something in Italian, I say I can’t speak Italian, I’m from Australia, so he pulls out his phone and shows me pictures of someone who lives in/ or holidayed in Australia (I think), and continues to speak in Italian; he seemed quite happy with the conversation anyway, lol.

Everyone seems to love Verona! Sure is a beautiful city.

Cherthor, I get exasperated and tired and indecisive and I’m not remotely brave - I try to choose journeys that aren’t too hard to cobble together and not too much can go wrong. I message my family every day and it looks more likely that my DH will be on board next year (for awhile he’d said, “no more long haul” )…