Bergamo: A Day Trip

This past weekend my roommates and I decided to take a day trip and not do a big production considering Prague was such a tiring, yet amazing, trip. As luck would have it our apartment is located extremely close to a large train station and we finally settled on visiting Bergamo, about an hour by train to the northeast of Milano. Some girls that I live with may or may not have googled “prettiest places outside Milan” while conducting our search… but that is neither here nor there. Also, the round trip ticket was only 7.20 Euros! Woo! Fun fact: Easy Jet, the low-cost airline, flies in and out of Bergamo… this may be part of the reason the trains run so frequently there.
We arrived in Bergamo and immediately headed to Città Alta, or the Upper City. This is the oldest and most historic part of Bergamo and was absolutely, without a doubt, breathtaking. I felt like we were walking through a movie set the entire time. More magical than Disney World I tell you! The highlight of the sightseeing was definitely seeing the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, a Catholic church that began construction in 1137. The wiki link is here.
Here is a picture of the afternoon light streaming in on the alter
Another thing in Bergamo I found charming was the random frescos that seemed to be everywhere! My 9th grade history teacher, Mr. Kenders, loved telling us about frescos… all the time. Consequently, when I see a real one, which is kind of hard to do in the US, I get oddly happy. Anyways, they were just chilling everywhere in Bergamo… inside AND outside of buildings. Here is one on a random beautiful building in an adorable square.

While there I also tried a local dish called Polenta e Osei. It doesn't actually have polenta in it, as I was sad to discover... but it looks like polenta! There is more info on the dish here. I actually really enjoyed the pastry and would definitely have it again... though they are usually too big for just one person to eat by themselves!

Before
After. Mmmm.
This weekend I'll be taking a trip to Lasize to spend some time with family on my grandma's side. I leave tomorrow afternoon via train right after I'm done with my Italian exam. Now I must go study! Look for a post on that trip to come!

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