Bergamo Italy: A Special Destination

It was not a promising start.

it was raining, lightly but steadily, as our regional train arrived at the Bergamo Stazione. The station itself is in the midst of renovation.

The light rain obviously created chaos. We saw no sign of taxis, nor of anyone who spoke English. Brian tried two different Italian taxi apps with no success - they promised only long waits.

After several minutes of dithering, we called our hotel, the Gombit. They rescued us with a taxi that arrived almost as soon as we crossed the street from the station to a Best Western hotel, the designated pickup spot.

The friendly driver piled in us and our luggage and whisked us up ever higher on narrow streets that forced us to squeeze past pedestrians.

Almost before we knew it, we were being ushered into the Gombit, a boutique hotel that was the lodging highlights of this trip.

Our checkin was effortless, and before we were settled in our comfortable and spacious rooms, as the rain faded away.

P

We decided to explore our surroundings. We only realized later what a wise idea this was. The Old Town was fairly quiet this Thursday afternoon, but got busier and busier as the weekend progressed during our three-night stay.

Our hotel fortunately made us a last-minute dinner reservation in a nearby restaurant that provided excellent food and service.

Friday and Saturday we invested our time and effort to circumnavigate the walls, walking both clockwise and counterclockwise.

Both days we stumbled on charming restaurants as a bonus. The walls themselves are impressive, a World Heritage Site built circa 1561 by the Venetian Republic.

Peanuts of all garnishes!

The following day we discovered a thoroughly charming pizzeria, owned by a woman who takes great pride in her pies, the best of our trip.

And so we passed a glorious couple of days, walking and dining our way through Bergamo, a city to which we’d all enthusiastically return.