Marostica and Verona

A few months ago I had a great day trip. Originally the plan was to go to Nove, home of many ceramic manufacturing companies, then on to Verona. While we were at Nove we spotted this gorgeous town off in the not so far distance. Being the adventurous gals we are, we decided to make a stop there too. Marostica was the town we saw. You may have actually heard of it since it is famous for it's human chess game it holds every few years, the next one is in 2010. The whole town square is a giant stone chess board.









This is the restaurant at the top of the castle wall.



The view behind me was incredible, and there is Dawn who is to thank for since it was her idea to go, and her camera taking all the pictures! Thanks Dawn, I had a blast!



At the center of this picture overlooking Marostica you can see a birds eye view of the giant chess board. After we got up to the castle, quite a long steep hike, we realized that we could have driven..but that would have taken all the fun out of it.





The hiking trail (and I use that term loosely) was surrounded by olive trees and farm areas on the slopes.





Even though this little guy tried to eat my hair, I really wanted to bring him home. He wouldn't fit in the car.



After Marostica we drove over to Verona.



As a tip making venture there are "gladiators" outside the Coliseum. I was swept off my feet by a giant of one (obviously since I'm not a "little" lady). It was fun, but alas, no picture.









Here is the tourist trap known as "Juliets Balcony". It was neat to see and is a very old building once owned by a family that may (cough cough) have been the basis for Shakespeares fueding family in Romeo and Juliet. The funny part is that I tried (many!!) times to get a picture of a Shakespeare statue only to have it go wrong. The first attempt (INSIDE JULIETS HOUSE) ended up being a Shakespeare look alike, but was actually a piece based on "Waiting for Godot", really people?! All my other attempts ended up basically the same. So, Shakespeare fans, you'll just have to come over here and get a picture yourself.



Verona is my favorite Italian city so far. It blended the best of everything and was a place I could say that I wouldn't mind living. I'll have to pack in a LOT of visits before we leave.