Bergamo

The holiday rain is supposed to start in the afternoon, so we went for a long walk to the old city of Bergamo, starting early in the morning together with the rising sun. The old city goes by the name "cittá alta" or upper city, as it was built on a hilltop surrounded by 6km (and up to 50m height) of venetian walls (Unesco World Heritage site). What I love the most about Bergamo are the many walking paths that connect the lower more modern city to the upper, historical center. The paths are surrounded by stone walls and laid with cut stone or pebbles in concrete. Some are steep, other more gentle, they pass houses, vegetable gardens or old wash-houses as the wind up the hill, and their romantic atmosphere is simply contageous. I walk to the upper city every day during the week in my lunch break, but this morning we chose a longer way starting at the border of the city, enjoying the view of the old city coming closer with every step.