[travel] Couchsurfing Bergamo
May. 20th, 2009 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mattbellMy first couchsurfing.com stay was in Bergamo, a small city a little northeast of Milan. Bergamo isn't even mentioned by Lonely Planet Western Europe, so I was at the mercy of my excellent couchsurfing host. He gave me a thorough tour of the old city on the hill, including a fantastic church that's pure MC Escher on the outside and hardcore Roccoco on the inside. He also took me to a fantastic dinner, which is described in more detail in my lard entry.
Couchsurfing is hard work. You have to send out a lot of well-written and personalized requests to get a single positive response. Many hosts are inundated with several requests a day, so it's kind of like an online dating site – you have to stand out and catch them at the right time. However, when it works well, it's amazing. You're rewarded with the chance to deeply interact with a local and get an inside sense for the city they live in.
Go see Bergamo before too many people like me talk about it. As of now, it's a good place to have a chill and untouristy Italian experience. It isn't about the big monuments, it's about the atmosphere.
Couchsurfing is hard work. You have to send out a lot of well-written and personalized requests to get a single positive response. Many hosts are inundated with several requests a day, so it's kind of like an online dating site – you have to stand out and catch them at the right time. However, when it works well, it's amazing. You're rewarded with the chance to deeply interact with a local and get an inside sense for the city they live in.
Go see Bergamo before too many people like me talk about it. As of now, it's a good place to have a chill and untouristy Italian experience. It isn't about the big monuments, it's about the atmosphere.
