Ferrara

 The last day trip was to the small town of Ferrara, which is incredibly cute.

I had read that, like many small towns in the area, Ferrara is a bicycle town. This is the "parking lot" just outside the train station.




I hope I can still ride a bike when I'm that old!


Not wanting to stand out we decided to rent bikes ourselves! There was a rental place just outside the train station and we each got a bike for a few hours for only a couple of euro. I don't remember the last time I rode a bike, but it was so much fun!! A little wobbly at first (okay, a lot wobbly), but like they say, you never really forget how. Unfortunately I didn't realize I had a bell on my bike until we were heading back to the train station. Don't worry though, I more than made up for this by ringing it the entire way back. I'm sure the town loved me.


Typical of Italy, many of the streets are cobblestone, which doesn't make the ride so comfortable. These don't look so bad you say??


Here's a close up view. I'm not even sure you could call them proper cobblestones but rather rocks on the ground. Needless to say we were very sore the next few days.


The medieval Castello Estense.




The original moat still survives! How cool is that? This picture was taken from the drawbridge. THE DRAWBRIDGE! God I love what I do.




The Renaissance Palazzo dei Diamanti, so named because of the diamond-shaped stones on the exterior.


My hand is on the middle section of the exterior, where the points stick straight out. See the ones below? Those are on the bottom of the palace and angle down. The ones above (not shown) angle up. It creates a really cool and imposing surface.