Cremona: a sleepy city with a lot of stairs
Italy has been a bumpy ride to be perfectly honestly. We decided a bit at the tail end of our planning to be adventurous and book so airbnb night in Milan and Cremona. Finding our flat or "guest house" in Milan was quite the production...to say the least. This morning we rallied and found the metro stop that was "close" according to the airbnb listing but with two 10kg packs in the hot Italian sun JRS and I were boiling after our 20 minute hike to the station. We got on a lovely coach train and headed out to Cremona. The city was about an hour away from Milan and Ida our host for the night met us at the station in Cremona with her 5 month old puppy. The "close to the station" disclaimed on Ida's part actually was truthful and within minutes we were in her adorable flat. The first stop we made was intended to be the largest stone tower in Europe with it's 502 steps but as we learned... everything in Italy is closed from 12:30-2:30pm for lunch. So, in our typical rolling-with-the-punches attitude we headed to a cafe to grab some lunch for ourselves. The city streets were so much quieter than the hustle and bustle of our previous city visits that it was kind of weird at first. Lunch was delightful and after being recharged with some risotto, grilled fish and a macchiato we were ready to climb the tower. Each of the 502 steps was precariously either too wide or warped or slippery but carefully and holding the railing the whole time we finally made it to the top. Though the city itself is small, we had a pretty clear day and we were able to see some of the delightful Italian countryside. The serenity and quiet of being high up is what I like most about bell towers. It's so incredible to get a 360 panorama of a city and be able to quietly absorb the beauty of a sleepy town like Cremona. After our climb we set out to find Museu del Violino which is the primary tourist attraction in the city. Cremona is famous for its world class violin makers, spanning from the 15th century to present day. Not being an avid musician or violin builder myself I was a bit skeptical about whether or not this would be a good €6 spent or not. But now I can confidently recommend this museum to all visitors of Cremona. The museum had interactive design that was responsive to movement and corresponded to our audio guide seamlessly. Maybe it's my inner design dorky-ness but I adored the way the story of violin making was told and then supplemented with violin music and artifacts from Cremona's history as well. After our evening at the museum we had the required serving of minimum one gelato per day in Italy and sat in a piazza. Our night ended with beers and pizza at a local establishment that boasted stellar tripadvisor reviews and only minorly impressed our refined palettes. Also, the puppy that greeted us with our host earlier in the day at the station is a demon and pissed on my bed. Since that occasion she/he/(has a name but its very Italian and sounds something like Whimsy) has been biting me and JRS's ankles and scratching our legs quite ferociously. Cremona was a pleasant change of pace and I think it was a true and authentic taste of what tourists can often miss I big city trips.