ibdsupport

After two days in Venice, we caught the train to Bologna. The railway system is fantastic…regular, punctual trains at about a third of the price we pay here. It was a lovely journey especially when we reached Tuscany which is so green, hilly and filled with all sorts of trees. The houses in Italy are also very beautiful with their pastel coloured exteriors. As the hotel was quite a distance from the station we hailed a taxi. My first impression of Bologna wasn’t good. It looked very industrial and not at all inviting. The taxi took us through streets which reminded me of London…not at all what we were expecting. On booking in I asked the lovely lady at Reception where we were and she told us that we were very close to the city centre. So not many minutes after checking in, we ventured out into the streets to find the other side of Bologna. And we were not disappointed! Just a few metres away we encountered the beginning of the inner ring of the city. Cars are banned between the hours of about 7am and 7pm and the city is surrounded by ancient porticoes.

Following a map we finally arrived at the city centre…Piazza Maggiore which is wonderfully well preserved in it’s medieval style. Bologna was to be our favourite city partly to do with it’s lack of tourists and partly to do with the totally unspoiled feel about it. Being the capital of Italy for food was also a contributory factor! We spent three days there and loved every minute.

Below is a photo of a tower which is more leaning than the leaning tower of Pisa. It was hard to take a picture which clearly defined just how leaning it was…look at two middle towers and remember that the right hand one is dead straight. For a better idea look here which also shows Neptune in all his glory. Can you see what the sea nymphs around the base of the statue are doing and why Dave wanted his photo taken there?!

We came across this orchestra playing in the main square one evening. We’d walked a good way away from the centre to search for a trattoria (family run restaurant) to sample home cooked Italian food and on our way back could hear beautiful music. Apparently it’s a common occurrence for free concerts to take place. We sat down and enjoyed the rest of our evening.

Aside from the food, the atmosphere and the lack of crowds, the shops are also another reason why we loved the place. Fabulous shops from Gucci to street markets which sell every meat there is, local specialities and a wondrous array of fruit and vegetables. And to add to this, everywhere had 50% off sales! I was in my element!