If you would like to see details about our journey, check out our itinerary and our bike route.
We woke up in the middle of the night to thunder and lightning and rain pounding the roof above the heavy timbers of our top-floor loft bedroom. We knew this was coming. The forecast was for thunderstorms straight through to midnight Tuesday, with heavy rain and more storms continuing for the next week or 10 days.
No problem. We settled in with coffee and books for a morning of rest. About noon, we put on the raincoats and went out to explore the main piazze nearby and find a good pizza for lunch. On the way back, we stopped at the grocery store for dinner and breakfast supplies.
It kept raining. The skylight above our bed leaked a few drips onto the floor below. We found a pan to catch the drips. We did a load of laundry.
By evening, despite a day of rest, Ken was not feeling well again. We dosed him up with Tylenol and water, ate a light dinner, and went to bed early with a Netflix movie.
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| The museums in Bergamo are closed on Monday. The three churches are open. This is the inside of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. |
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| In the early 12th century, the people of Bergamo built the basilica to honor the Virgin Mary, whom they believed had saved them from a deadly plague. |
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| We were not the only people visiting the churches on this rainy Monday. |
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| The basilica and the Palazzo della Ragione (shown here) are located on the Piazza del Duomo. |
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| The Baptistry was built in 1340 inside the Santa Maria Maggiore Church. In 1661, it was disassembled and relocated. In 1898 and 1899, it was taken apart and reconstructed in a neo-Gothic style on the Piazza del Duomo, where it remains. The Baptistry is rarely open to the public, but it still serves as a baptistry for children in the congregation. |
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| Bergamo is surrounded by almost 5 miles of old stone walls. |
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| Modern cars barely make it through the narrow cobblestone streets. All streets are one way. Pedestrians plaster themselves up against doorways when cars go through. In general, cars are not allowed inside the walls, but there are all kinds of exceptions, and you have to be on the lookout for them. |
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| The Piazza Vecchia is a large square ringed by restaurants. |
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| The Cappella Colleoni is a Renaissance mausoleum, dedicated to Bartolomeo Colleoni. |
