Today, we had a really nice (although very rainy) day in Bergamo. Our friend Mara lives really close to Bergamo, and we spent some time here, with Mara showing us all of the amazing sites.

Carrie and I agree that the cathedral in Bergamo was one of the nicest (if not the nicest) cathedral we have ever visited. Everything was guilded in gold, and being right next to a monastery, it was well cared for by the monks, and just had the feeling that there was a ton of history there. Plus, because there were so few people there, it gave a really cool and powerful ambiance to the place that really was very prayerful, like a church should be (but so often isn’t).

There was also all of this elaborate wood paneling and woodwork throughout the church. Here’s an example from one of the entrance doors.

We had a lot of fun just playing in the rain under our umbrellas as well.

The day was also filled with awesome food (how could a day in Italy not be, right?) Right after the cathedral, we went and had a hot chocolate at a café nearby the cathedral… what’s crazy about the hot chocolate in Italy is that you really can’t drink it because it’s too thick. It’s really like melted chocolate that’s been heated up.

From there, we walked up the hill in Bergamo to the castle at the top of the hill which is now a museum.

We would probably have some really awesome pictures from the castle in Bergamo, but being that it was such a rainy foggy day (and also because the castle was closing), we didn’t get such far ranging pictures, but still got some great foggy pictures. (We also had a great experience attempting to communicate with the curator of the museum (with Carrie’s limited Italian and the curator’s limited English.)

From there, we walked back down the hill, and had Apertif’s at a nice wine place. For those who don’t know (we didn’t) apertif’s in Italy are basically the equivalent of “Happy Hour” in the U.S.

We walked back down the hill, went shopping for some groceries, and then Carrie and I made one of our favorite meals for Mara. We really enjoy fondue, and it was made very yummy by the cheeses we used from the region we were in.

All part of a wonderful day in northern Italy!