No alarms today as it is our last full day in Italy and there is no where we need to be at any particular time. Of course I’m up first after a fitful night sleep where I had bad dreams all night about not having our boarding passes and having to pay Ryan Air 70 euros EACH to reprint them when the plane ticket cost that much. It didn’t help that I awoke to an email reminding me that we hadn’t yet checked in and, oh by the way, don’t forget about the outrageous fee if you don’t do it in time….
So the family slowly came to consciousness as I messed around on the computer trying to find somewhere to print the PDF of the boarding passes I created when I did the online check in. Frank and Gillian managed to use all the hot water – so Duncan and I claim first showers tomorrow! – and breakfast was an entertaining affair as people rotated between the shower and the table. Duncan even figured out how to work the electric cooktop that had no instructions and brewed some “coffee” in the weird Italian percolator. (He liked it but it was a tad to thick for my taste.) Eventually we were all bathed and fed and we headed out to enjoy our last full day of Italy.
Which started at the internet cafe around the corner from the apartment so I could print of the stupid boarding passes and be done with it! Now I’ll be able to sleep tonight! We walked downtown to catch the funicular railway to the old city. We then walked through the old town to get to the second funicular to get to the highest point in the city: the Castello de San Viglio. The castle itself isn’t much to speak of but the views were stunning! If it wasn’t so hazy, I would swear we could see from Venice to Milan. I know we could see the Swiss alps as they are big honking mountains and hard to hide even in the haze.
Once we’d had our fill of the view, we opted to walk back down to the old city and begin exploring in earnest. It was interesting being in yet another walled city after the day in San Gimignano so we could do a comparison between the two. Bergamo is larger and less quaint and seems to be more of a living city. There were plenty of shops and restaurants but it seemed like just as many of them catered to the locals as the tourists. The kitschy souvenir shops were few and far between and there were butchers and even a yarn store (which I kept myself from entering as I have to worry about suitcase space for the evil airline tomorrow!) After a fair amount of walking (we hit our 10K steps by 12:30 – a new record) and getting oriented in the town, we started to look for somewhere to lunch.
I had gotten several recommendations from folks but we found a funky little cafe (sculptures of hands holding tomatoes coming out of the walls) with GF items marked on the menu so we were set. I had a polenta cake stuffed with cheese and covered with crushed tomatoes and a truffle cream sauce. It was unlike anything I have ever had before and completely delicious. Gillian had grilled tuna and Duncan and Frank opted for the 2 course lunch special. Both had the zuchinni and salmon risotto for their secondi piatti but Duncan had chicken salad to start and Frank had the tomato soup. A bottle of lovely white wine went well with the entire meal and I even opted for desert since they had merengues with cream and passion fruit sauce. I even got to eat my first fresh passion fruit – heavenly!
Then to get some culture. We hiked around to the Rocca, an old fort and garden that, again, had spectacular views. We stopped at the Museo Storico, a local history museum that would probably have been spectacular if there was any other language posted but Italian! For each section of the museum, there was a separate paper flyer explaining the history and the artifacts for that section. In Italian. There was an English version available at the front desk but you’d need to get one of each of the 25 or so flyers to be able to follow along. Not a very green endeavor and we were not impressed.
Then off to the Ex Convento di San Francesco – no nuns but supposedly now a museum. But not really. There was one corridor and a room of paintings (all explained in Italian only) and then what looked like a bar or function room. That was it. Thumbs down there as well.
So we started on the churches. There are ten within the walls of the old city alone and my family isn’t that patient! I think we covered 3 or 4. One, dedicated to Saint Agnes, was under restoration and they had an excellent display explaining what the issues were, how they were being fixed and how the funds for it were being raised. In multiple languages. Very interesting and very well done. We made a small donation to the cause.
We also visited the Cathedral which was very impressive. The foundation dates back to the 5th century with more building in the early 9th and most of the current structure from the 13th century. The paintings were very impressive, as was the dome, and the bishops crypt was incredible: constructed in the early 20th century in a very plain style and every bishop since 1900 is entombed there including the most recently deceased who passed away in 2009. The best part of the tour, IMHO, was the archeological museum underneath the cathedral which showed what they found during some of the restoration work including parts of the original foundation, some of a Roman road, and artifacts from the 12th and 13th centuries. Really interesting stuff!
And last but not least, en route to our daily gelato, we stumbled into the Basilica di Sana Maria Maggiore which looks like a big stone lump with some lions outside and is incredibly beautiful with gilt trim and ancient tapestries inside. The lady chapel was particularly spectacular so that’s where mom’s candle for today got lit.
By now we were starting to drag so we found the chosen frozen food and then started walking down to the new town. We were supposed to meet our landlady at 7 to make payment and such since we were heading out early – earlier than I expected too! I thought our flight left at noon. It *lands* at noon and leaves here at 10:45 so it will be an early start for everyone tomorrow.
We spent some time letting the legs recuperate – and lightening the wine load for the evil baggage Nazis of Ryan Air tomorrow – before ignoring, yet again, everyone’s recommendations and setting out for a place that has a 3 page menu of gluten free pizza options. Yes, my family loves me.
We got to Byron’s restaurant
a little early (just before 8) and thank goodness we did. It filled up quickly and, yet again, we were the only people of the 50+ in the place who were speaking English. So, yet again, we got the only English speaking waiter even though the menu was only in Italian. For me, the “senza glutine” customer, I got my cutlery delivered in a paper bag, a separate plate of GF bread and a GF beer. Then, the pizzas. Yum! Mine had mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, zucchini and shrimp. Gillian opted for the basic margherita, Frank’s was ham and mushrooms, and Duncan still isn’t sure what he ordered but he says it was awesome. He thinks there was speck (type of meat), mozzarella, red cabbage, tomatoes and Gorgonzola. None of us needed to finish our pizzas yet we did anyway!
Then came the interesting walk home. We had seen signs for some summer festival in the old town earlier and later on it looked like some stands were being set up but we were completely unprepared for the street party we stumbled into! Every major street in the 
downtown area was shut off and there were picnic tables and bars set up in the streets. Every third or fourth shop had a DJ out front – the streets were closed, but the shops were open. We got some microbrews and sangria and wandered the streets dancing to covers of 80’s music and watching Italian’s line dancing in the street. This was no tourist attraction: the city of Bergamo has about 120,000 residents and they were all in the streets tonight and they brought their friends. It was an amazing thing to be part of. I’d like to think they were sending us off in style, so I’ll stick to that story and try not to complain when my alarm goes off at zero dark thirty in the morning.
Steps: 30,700 (most of them walking downhill or dancing in the street) or 13.25 miles
Nuns: 1 (which is odd given the number of churches we were in today)
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