On to Bergamo

 Wednesday

28 August

Day 59

37 to go

We were so glad to have a sleep in this morning, after a late night and very full days. My alarm went off at 8am but we were happy to be lazy for a little while.  Paul got up and sorted breakfast, while I continued to work in the backlog of the blog and photos, glad some had successfully downloaded through the night. 

Once up, we ate, showered and did a final pack. We then ventured out for a final wander of Lecco. We stopped at the train station first, to get our ticket to Bergamo and then went in search of the church clock tower we could see from our apartment. It was a lovely sunny day and a beautiful morning for a walk by the lake. Were sad to say goodbye.

We returned to the apartment at 10.20 am, gathered our bags, did a final check of the room and then began the hike up the hill of cobbles, to the train station. Unfortunately, we were leaving from platform 5, which meant stairs to climb.

We were there with plenty of time. The train was at the platform and as soon as we were allowed on, we boarded, using the wheelchair bay for easy storage of our bags. We were surprised when the train actually left at 11.13am, pretty much on time. 

We watched Lecco and the mountains disappear from view as the he train began the 30  journey to its stop in San Pietro. Unfortunately, due to train works, there were no direct trains and we had to swap to a large coach. It was a relatively easy process in the end and we were glad the coaches had under carriage storage bins for our bags. We then sat back in comfort, as the bus took us the remaining journey into Bergamo.

12.20pm and we were in central Bergamo and by 12.30pm, we were in the reception of the Mecure Hotel. Check in was from 2pm, so we dropped the bags and went in search of lunch. We found a piandina store, ordered a couple of toasted sandwiches and reflected on the ease of making it to Bergamo. 

We then wandered around for an hour. We worked out where the airport bus was going from and then wandered the wide boulevard, admiring the architecture of the old churches and city walls and the art that was dotted about. We found the crowded entrance to the Funicular station, taking passengers to the first level of the old town. We enjoyed a gelato and then located a bakery selling the local polenta cake delicacy.

At 2pm, we returned to the hotel and collected the key for room 213. We made our way to our room, threw back the curtains, taking in the view of the old town on the hill. We took time to just chill out in the aircon. 

At 4.30pm, we ventured out again. We had no particular destination, we were just happy to wander down different streets. We made our way down a shopping mall which lead to housing, so we needed to do some backtracking, eventually finding the Basilica di Sant'Alessandro in Colonna. We then returned to the mall and stopped for a afternoon drink. We were disappointed no food came out with it. We then continued our explore seeing the Torre dei caduti, Chiesa dei Santi Bartolomeo e Stefano and the Chiesa di San Marco. 

We stopped at a supermarket and grabbed some poke bowls for dinner before making our way back towards the hotel, passing the  Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata delle Grazie and the Porta Nuova. 

Once back at the room, we ate our dinner and enjoyed a quiet evening. We had intended to go out again, but after some very long days in Lecco, we opted for a quiet, early night instead.