Today, I ventured to Bergamo. I dragged myself out of bed at 7AM and took the bus into Brescia. I'm still a little jet lagged and there is a very hypnotic feeling to riding the bus and the train that makes me so sleepy one of these trips I'm going to fall asleep and miss my stop. There’s a really good bakery in the train station where I got an Italian cream horn. Definitely the best I’ve ever had (Mom, you would die for these they’re so good). The cream inside is slightly different than back home, but different in a very good way. I grabbed my pastry and ate it on the train into Bergamo.
Bergamo is a cool place because it’s actually two cities in one. There is Cittá Bassa (lower) and Cittá Alta (upper). Coming out of the train station, the first big street you come upon is the main street of Cittá Bassa. There is also a McDonald’s which is the coolest looking McDonald’s I’ve ever seen so I took a picture of it. It almost made me want to go in…almost.
I found my way into the tourism office to grab a map and start exploring. The coolest way to get to Cittá Alta is to take the funiculare, or a tram car. To get to the funiculare station I continued down the main street taking in all of the old buildings that now house banks. Everywhere I’ve been has a ton of banks and they’re all in these crazy extravagant buildings that look they used to be churches or pantheons or something crazy like that. This is a shot of part of my walk. I don’t think those two buildings are banks, but that’s what most of the bank buildings look like. It’s so much more exciting than the boring banks back in the states. We need to build some castle banks to keep up!
Just after that clock tower Cittá Alta comes into view. The picture doesn’t really do it justice because it’s truly stunning. This is also about the time that it—most unfortunately—started to rain.
I made it to the funiculare station and rode it up to the top. Today, my random conversation was actually with Americans. I met a lovely woman from Tennessee who was on vacation with her mother visiting family. They were very kind and it was nice to understand what someone was saying to me.
The streets of Italy have such a wonderfully old feel about them. Most of them are cobblestone or brick and so narrow it’s a tight squeeze with both cars and people on them. They’re lined with stores that have every kind of colorful piece of clothing, knick-knack, candy or food in the windows. Just walking the streets is such a wonderful experience I frequently find myself just smiling at the thought of being in such an amazing place.
The first main square I came upon is called Piazza Vecchia (Old Square). There’s another bell tower and a crumbly fountain in the middle.
Behind Piazza Vecchia is the Piazza Duomo which, as the name might suggest, contains the duomo for Bergamo. I’ve been inside churches in Italy before, but I’m still blown away by the art and intricate details on all of the walls and ceilings. It’s incredible how much work went into each one, and even that they’re all so magnificent. Once again, I find churches in the states come up a little short. We just don’t put in the effort. Unfortunately, my camera isn’t very good at taking pictures inside so you can’t really see all the details and it’s a little bit blurry, but here it is:
By this time I was getting hungry so I stopped in at a little café and had a four cheese panini. I don’t know what all the four cheeses were but there was mozzarella and brie and it was delicious. With a full stomach, I headed to the second funiculare station to see the Castello San Viglio, which is even higher up. The view from the top of the station is breathtaking. The rain made it difficult to get a good picture, but this one turned out alright:
To get to the castello, you have to walk up even higher, but it’s well worth it. Once I got to the top, I climbed more stairs to stand at the top of what I assume, was a watchtower of some sort. I could see all the grounds from there and another great view of the city below.
Heading back down I had planned to take the funiculare, but it seems that I am an expert at getting myself lost. I never really have a problem getting to where I’m trying to go, but when I attempt to retrace my steps, I always make a wrong turn. Fortunately for me, there are signs everywhere and the towns are usually pretty small. In any case, I completely missed the station and ended up walking down on my own. It turned out okay though because I stumbled across this really creepy fresco that was strangely fascinating to me:
Back in Cittá Bassa I stopped at Grom which is a gelateria Christine recommended. Today’s selections included torroncino (nougat) and crema de grom (still not sure what exactly it was, but there were chunks of biscotti in it and it tasted great). After gelato I headed back into the rain and to the train station to get home.
Christine got home around 7 and we had ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta for dinner with a salad. In Italy, the salad comes after the meal. Tea and oatmeal cookies for dessert while watching some Psych (Christine’s a huge fan too, yay!). Tomorrow, Milano!
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