Bergamo

Last weekend we went on another long weekend trip to the location of a Ryanair airport. You know how Ryanair allegedly flies to all these cities but the airport really is miles away in a different town. We did the same thing at the beginning of the year when we flew to “Karlsruhe” (ha, ha…) and really stayed in Baden-Baden, where the airport is.

So this month we did it again. We flew to “Milan” – and really stayed in Bergamo and surroundings. And it was lovely!

We arrived on Thursday around lunch time and checked into our Airbnb. It was really close to a large supermarket (where I bought loads of Burrata…) and to Via Borgo Santa Caterina which had a few bars and a really good pizza restaurant called Vesuvio.

We had lunch at Vesuvio and then walked up to Bergamo’s famous old town: Città Alta. Our Airbnb host had recommended against walking up as it’s very steep but Matt insisted that it had to be done.

We were rewarded with great views along the walk.

There are also two funicular railways up to the old town. We took the upper one of the two.

There was a restaurant near the upper funicular station where we had a drink and enjoyed the view.

We then walked around further and found the more touristy area of Città Alta. We had ice-cream.

We didn’t eat here but this shop looked good.

I really like these newspaper and magazine stands they have in Italy. I wish I could read Italian so I could buy a magazine there.

Then we walked back down to the newer part of Bergamo. Our goal was to find some bars to have a drink. We weren’t hungry for dinner yet.

Some impressions from our walk down:

We saw several private gardens with trees bearing this fruit. I thought it looked like quince. Could that be right?

We also went into Bergamo Cathedral (Duomo di Bergamo) just before it closed at 6pm. It was very impressive both from the inside and outside – even for someone like me who is normally not really into cathedrals. We should have probably gone there a bit earlier to have had more time.

And that was pretty much our first day in Bergamo. I would say half a day is enough to see the most important things.

The next day we took a coach to San Pellegrino Spa, to go to the QC Terme. That was the main reason for us coming to Bergamo in the first place. It is a fantastic spa!

For only 45 Euros you can spend the whole day in the many indoor and outdoor jacuzzis, saunas, steam rooms and different themed resting areas. And you can enjoy an amazing aperitivo buffet including free flow prosecco from 6:30pm! Almost too good to be true but it was all true.

I didn’t take any photos inside but here are some from the outside.

I would highly recommend that spa! It was really good.