Bergamo

After such a pleasant flight into Singapore, we were lulled into thinking that the flight from Singapore to Milan would be fine…….won’t bother with the details but suffice to say that the rather odd lad who was sitting next to me and managed to use half of my seat while he slept (with a jumper over his head) made things a little awkward.

Anyway, after 15 hours, we arrived in a cold and wet Milan and headed for Bergamo, a medieval town about 2 hours away. By this stage, we hadn’t slept for 26 hours, so driving down the autobahn in a left hand drive car was a tad stressful. Once off the autobahn, we then followed the Sat Nav blindly through the narrowest of streets (Kate and Brad’s ‘Spain Story’ often came to mind) as we entered the historic walled city – but once there, we knew that Bergama wasn’t going to disappoint.

First thing we saw as we entered the Italian gem, Bergamo.

Followed by this awesome sight of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

This town is stunning and seems to be a bit of a tourist secret. We could easily have spent 3 days here exploring the centuries old buildings, strolling through beautiful shops, eating delicious Italian food and drinking their fine wine. A bonus to all of this is where we stayed. It was a two room suite that was so ‘Italian’ and the girl who greeted us was just lovely….Really made us feel very welcome. The downside though was how cold it was as there was no heating and it was about 8 degrees outside but as our lack of sleep was taking its toll, we enjoyed a ‘Nana Nap’ before braving the cold to see more of Bergamo.

While the streets were cold and wet, they were wonderfully tourist free – well except for the one in the pink rain coat…….

It wasn’t just the beauty of the Basilica but the ‘feel’ of it that left you with that ‘Wow’ feeling when I left

The Piazza Vecchia is surrounded by wonderful cafes and wine bars and while it may look a little empty (8 degrees c tends to clear the crowds) we could well imagine how lively it must be with blue skies and warm temperatures. That pink coated tourist seems to be following us….!

I had my first hot chocolate in, of all places, in one of the many wine bars on the Piazza, only to discover that in Italy, hot chocolate is more or less just that – chocolate that has been melted. I’ve not had one since as I think it could be dangerously addictive.

The next day a blue sky let us see more of what Bergamo has to offer………..