Due torri
- the two towers,
the cheese Parmigiano-Reggiano, Mortadella ham, the fountain of Neptune, Spritz,
long sections of porticoes, the city and region known as “la grassa”, Piazza Maggiore,
Mercato di Mezzo, Tamburini, fresh pasta such as tortellini for sale, covered canals,
expensive drops of aceto Balsamico traditionale, Sala Anatomica, Etruscan
artefacts, food tours – these are all elements of this trip report from Bologna and the
surrounding cities (Modena, Ferrara and Ravenna) in region of Emilia Romagna in Italy.
A short
summary
This trip report will focus on the trip that my wife, Nikki, and I took to
Bologna in Italy from July 21st to July 30th 2010. In Bologna we got a
chance to check out a walking tour, we went to the two towers, ate a lot of
good food, rented a car to visit Ravenna and Ferrara etc. The trip report is
split into section and this first page will focus on the stay in Bologna and
our sightseeing there. On the next pages you will find a page about
eating out in
Bologna, an interactive Google
map of Bologna, more photos from our stay in the city and reviews of the
hotels we used (Hotel Touring and Savhotel).
Please
get in touch if you have any questions or comments. All pictures are
taken by Nikki and Gard with our Canon EOS 450D and Canon IXUS.
Prelude and
planning
We have been to
Italy before and we have enjoyed out trips to
Florence,
Rome,
etc. So when we looked for a short summer vacation it was natural for us to
look at Italy again and this time we decided to go for Bologna and the area
as it has a reputation for good food and not that many tourists. I sorted
out the tickets and bought them online on the
Lufthansa homepage
and I had to pay about 5500 NOK (935 USD) for the tickets for both of us
(round trip from Stavanger in Norway). To plan the trip I bought the Insight
Pocket Guide for Bologna in order to get some information about history and
what to see/do in the city and the surrounding area. It did give use some
good information but it was not great in any way. I would have loved to see
an eyewitness guide book for Bologna.
We decided that
spending 9 days in just Bologna would be a bit much. Due to this we decided
to spend the first few days without a car in the middle of town (Hotel
Touring) to explore Bologna and after that we would move to
Savhotel to make it easier to explore the region by car but still being close enough
to Bologna to eat there at night. We booked a car from
Avis in advance and as we
didn’t get a convertible we went for a small car and had to pay about 140€
for 4 days.
The trip
begins
On July 21st we went to the airport outside Stavanger. For once the weather
was behaving and it was almost like summer had arrived in Norway. Check in
was pretty fast and as usual we had packed a bit too much – to start with
the guy who checked us in said that we had to pay a fee due to our heavy
suitcases as we were flying
economy but we told him that our Frequent Flyer gold card entitles us to a
bit more weight – it is a good thing that we know the rules ;-) Security
went fast and at about 7 PM we were on our way to Frankfurt in Germany in an
Airbus A319. There were not that many people on board so after we had gotten
a sandwich and some wine they took another round to ask if people wanted
refill of both food and drinks. The flight is only 2 hours and we only had
an hour in Frankfurt before we continued to Bologna in Italy – a flight that
only takes about 1 hour.
Arriving in
Bologna
We landed at Marconi airport at about 11.30 PM and we had to wait a
bit for the luggage even if the airport seemed to be quite small. But soon
we got the big suitcases and we grabbed a taxi outside and we were on our
way. The drivers have a reputation to live up to here – this is Italy and it
is even Ferrari territory and the driver made sure to live up to the
expectations that we had. He was speeding on cobblestone streets, almost
running over people on their bikes and scooters while gesticulating and at
the same time having a conversation with us. David (our driver) was very
friendly and he had even been to Norway a couple of times. The drive was
only about 15-20 minutes and we paid 20€ for the trip
Note:
The currency in Italy is Euro
and at the moment 100 Euro (code EUR or €) is about 138 USD. In Bologna
there are lots of ATM’s so getting a hold of cash was not a problem. |
The location of
Hotel Touring in Bologna is great – located just a few minutes’ walk away
from the Piazza Galvani and Piazza Maggiore. The city centre of Bologna is
small enough to be covered on foot.
Buon Giorno
Bologna
As we arrived late at night it was hard to get a proper impression of
Bologna. But when we woke up the next morning and walked out on our large
balcony we had an incredible view of the terracotta rooftops of Bologna. The
city centre is dominated by relative low building with a few towers still
remaining from the past and churches here and there. The hotel entrance is
located a few meters from the Via Giuseppe Garibaldi so after a quick
breakfast we were ready to start exploring Bologna. Walking out in the
streets of a new city is something I love –
all of a sudden you are in the
middle of a new town with lots of stuff to see and do.
And even if I had taken a virtual
walking tour before going by using Google StreetView, there is
nothing like actually stepping out into a busy street and seeing it with
your own eyes. On the street men and women were rushing to work and probably
found it annoying to have to deal with tourists walking slowly, taking
photos and blocking their way. As always in a busy Italian town there were
hundreds of scooters parked along the street and it didn’t take us long to
find the first coffee shop. Even if Italians rush to get to work they still
take their time to stop for an espresso. As Nikki said “There are no one
here with takeaway cups” :-).
The hotel was
only about 600 meters from the heart of Bologna, Piazza Maggiore so it
didn’t take us long to get there – well, actually we were a bit distracted
by shops as all had big signs announcing “Saldi” (sale). But we did try to
follow a route described in the guidebook. Due to that we soon walked past
the two towers, the market area, Piazza Maggiore, the piazza del Nettuno and
so on. One major difference compared to places like Rome and Florence was
the number of tourists – even at the major attractions there were hardly any
tourist. Another thing that we noticed right away was the porticoes.
Porticoes are roof structure over the pavements or walkways and there are
lots and lots of them – apparently someone has taken the time to measure as
it is claimed there
are 38 km (23 miles) of porticoes in Bologna – that means that you are
sheltered from the blazing sun in the summertime and from rain during
winter.
How to get
around Bologna
The city centre of Bologna is actually quite small so getting around
by walking
was not a problem. The city centre is only about 2 km in diameter (about 1,2 miles)
so walking from one end to the other doesn’t take more than 20 minutes if
you walk fast. If you have access to a bike even better – we had access to
bikes when we stayed at Savhotel and it was easy to get to the
restaurants at night on our bikes. Just make sure that you lock your bike
properly. There are also some city bikes located at various places around
town and I was trying to figure out how to “unlock” the bikes. When I asked
at one place I was told that it was only for the people living in Bologna
and not for tourists – hmmm, so do all inhabitants of Bologna get a key to
get access to the bikes? If you want to drive in Bologna...well, stay out of
the city centre. There are lots of one way streets, streets that are not
open to everyone (like one of the main streets called Via dell'Indipendenza)
- it seems to be mainly for taxis, buses, transportation of goods etc.
Food market
Right next to the Piazza Maggiore you can walk into alleys and find all
sorts great food. When walking in here it is not hard to understand why the
city has the nickname “la grassa” or "the fat one". One thing is for
sure...I would be seriously fat if I lived in Italy. Well, I would at least
have gotten a lot heavier during the first year as I would have to try
everything. Start by walking down Via Pescherie Vecchie and you’ll see what
I mean.
Here you will find little shops selling freshly made pasta such as
tortellini and tortelloni, the parma and Modena hams are hanging from the
ceiling, the large and typical Bolognese sausage Mortadella is on display
everywhere, large chunks of
Parmegiano Reggiano (parmesan cheese), large bags of dried porcini – well,
the list goes on forever. You can also eat in some of the shops like
Tamburini and La Vecchia Malga and we tried both of them of course and you
can read more about it in the “Eating and drinking
in Bologna” section of this trip
report.
Note:
Our experience was that prices
were considerably lower when buying various food products on a food
tour. |
The two
towers
No, we are not talking about Peter Jackson’s Lord of the rings movie based
on J. R. Tolkiens book but the two towers of Bologna. In the good old days
(we are talking 12th and 13th century) towers were erected and maybe it was
used for defensive reasons or maybe it was just a symbol of status. Building
towers is not unique to Bologna – you can find lots of towers in the small
city of San Gimignano in Tuscany too (see our
Tuscany trip report). The two towers of Bologna has become a bit of an
icon for the city as it is portrayed on lots of postcards and tourist
souvenirs. So what is so special about them? Well, both of them are leaning
and it is very obvious for the shorter one -
is tilting like the leaning
tower of Pisa. The highest tower is called Asinelli and it is 97 meter high
(about 320 feet). For three Euro you can actually climb the Asinelli tower
and you get a great view from the city from the top. We went there one
morning and it was getting hot outside – and it felt like it was even hotter
and more humid inside. The staircase of wood can be a bit narrow, steep and
slippery in some places but we didn’t have to many problems climbing the
stairs to the top –
both Nikki and I was breaking out in sweat but it was
30+ degrees that day ;-) So if you get a chance, visit the Due Torri and
climb to the top – the view is great. When we were going to climb the last
steps up to the top this girl came down and she was holding on to the rails like her life
depended on it – I asked her if she was OK and she said yes. So I said “I
guess you are just afraid of heights?” and she confirmed this by a nervous
nod. The tower is split into sections but note that in some places you get
an impression of the height ;-)
Note:
the smaller tower, torre della
Garisenda, is not open for climbing. |
We sat down
outside the two towers to have an ice cream and a guy was standing there
drinking white wine straight from a bottle. A woman that looked a bit tipsy
walked past and I guess she asked if she could get a sip and he handed over
the bottle. Obviously the lady was thirsty as she gulped down quite a lot of
wine and the guy actually had to grab the bottle from her eventually ;-)
Walking tour
– or personal guide
On the first day we walked past the tourist office located on Piazza
Maggiore and we stopped by to ask if they had a walking tour to offer - and
they sure did. At 4 PM they had scheduled a walk and we indicated that we
were interested. About 15-20 minutes late the guide came running in and it
was just Nikki and I that were going for the tour –
there is nothing like
having a personal guide :-). Our guide was knowledgeable and she wanted to show
it because when she first started, there was no stopping her. We didn’t have to
walk very far to get to her first stop: Piazza del Nettuno. This piazza
contains the fountain called Fontana di Nettuno, a bronze statue by
Giambologna from 1563! But is this the original? When we went to the Museo
Civico Archeologico there was a marble statue claiming to be the original
Neptune. Anyway, the statue on the piazza in beautiful but apparently it was
also a bit controversial back in the day – maybe due to the lactating
nereids (sea nymphs) at the base of the fountain squirting water from their
breasts.
Note:
have you ever noticed the
Maserati sports car logo? It looks a lot like Neptune’s trident doesn’t
it? Maserati was actually founded in Bologna and has it’s headquarter in
Modena right outside Bologna. |
Maybe you
haven’t been to Bologna but I have to tell you that today it is a typical
inland city. So does it make any sense having a statue of Neptune, the god
of the sea, in the middle of the city? It turns out that back in the days,
Bologna was actually filled with canals (and you can still find one or two
if you know where to look) and they had a port connecting them to Venice. It
is hard to imagine this when walking around in the streets on Bologna today.
We also walked
into the Sala Borsa now the Biblioteca Sala Borsa – a multimedia library
built on top of roman ruins. It is weird to think that this has been a stock
exchange, an arena for playing basketball and now a library. When you walk
on the glass floor you can look down on the roman pavement below. But
really, who came up with the idea of using glass that gets scratched up when
walking on it? It was hard to see through it due to all the scratches.
Note:
did you know that the calendar
that we follow today, the Gregorian calendar is named after Pope Gregory
XIII? He was born in 1470 in the city of Bologna. |
We also walked
into the Basilica of San Petronio located on Piazza Maggiore. The first
thing that I noticed when I came to Piazza Maggiore was this church as the
entire front was covered up due to maintenance. Well, this is nothing
new...I have experienced the same when coming to places like Milan,
Berlin,
Paris etc. In cities with lots of old building there will always be
refurbishing going on so we might as well accept it. The Basilica of San Petronio is impressive as it is the 5th largest church in the world and I
guess it could have been even grander. Some sources say that they ran out of
money and some say that the Vatican didn’t want this church to compete with
St. Peter’s basilica in Rome (see our
Rome trip
report) – whatever the reason was the construction was halted and hence
the church does not have the traditional shape of a cross. But the first
stone was laid down in 1390 so it is a church with quite a long history –
from an engineering point of view one of the fascinating items in the church
is the sundial designed by Cassini. The inlaid meridian line from 1655 is
supposed to be the longest sundial in the world.
Note:
you are not allowed to take
photos within the church and there is a dress code to get in. |
We also stopped
by the Sala Anatomica in Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio. This used to be one of
the buildings used by the university of Bologna and the Sala Anatomica was
used for training medical students I guess with a table in the centre for
dissections of bodies and seating all around it. The room is beautifully
decorated but if you look closer you will notice that they stick to the
theme of the room...hence the figures with no skin displaying the muscles
underneath. I think this room is a replica as the original one got damaged
during World War 2.
Note:
did you know that Bologna has
the oldest university in Europe, founded in 1088! |
After this we
took a walk through the food market and we got recommendations on where to go and which
places to avoid and our tour ended at the two towers of Bologna. All in all
I would say that the walking tour was very interesting and if you have time
it is well worth the 13€ per person at least when we were walking around
alone with our guide as it was very easy to ask questions along the
route.
Note:
it seems like it is common to
greet people that works in e.g. stores when entering. You can use
buongiorno or salve. |
I have already
mentioned the Italians love for coffee and one places to stop by is e.g.
Zanarini on Piazza Galvani. We stopped by there several times and as we have
short term memory, we went over to the counter and asked for the coffee. The
barista just looked at us and said “You have to pay at the cashier first”
while he was probably thinking “these ignorant tourists” ;-) But yes, if you
just want to enjoy the coffee Italian style (meaning just having at the
counter) you pay at the cashier first and then you get your coffee made
afterwards. Zanarini also has a great selection of small and sweet artworks
;-). I also stopped by the Nespresso store to buy some capsules to bring
back home – the store was basically empty but I guess it is no wonder when
they can get coffee everywhere.
Italians can be
quite lively when they speak – at least when they get into a heated discussion. We walked past one young woman one day and she was talking
loudly on her cell phone and it seemed like she was having some sort of
argument with her mum. We could hear long after we past her and I guess the
rest of the people waiting at the bus stop got the hear the whole argument
;-)
Going back
to Etruscan time - Museo Civico Archeologico
One day we decided to stop by the archaeological museum which is located on
Piazza Galvani. When we walked in we were the only ones there and the guy
behind the counter seemed less than interested by our visit. It turned out
that the entrance was free but you can pay 4€ to get an audioguide. The
museum turned out to be more extensive than expected and after passing by
the original Neptune statue (from Piazza di Nettuno) we walked in to
Etruscan times.
There were hardly any people in the museum apart from the
old museum guides situated in some of the rooms. They were busy reading a
book, newspaper or magazines and just nodded as we passed them. The
collection is quite amazing and I think some of the artefacts dates back to
9th century BC. In the museum you will find big vases, jewellery, burial
artefacts, artefacts from a typical home at the time etc etc. As usual the
information in English was limited (read nonexistent) and hence it was great
to have the audioguide to give us some information as we were walking around
in the museum.
Note:
if you need a toilet in Bologna
there is a public toilet on the south side of Palazzo Comunale close to
Piazza Maggiore. I think the charge was 0.2€. |
In the basement
of the museum there is an Egyptian department with mummies, mummified
animals, sarcophaguses, masks etc. The collection might not be as grand as the Egyptian
display at the British museum in London (or maybe the museum in Cairo) but
it was still
quite interesting. A visit the museum is well worth the money (well, it is for free ;-)
but do remember to invest in an audioguide unless you know your Italian and
can read the information in the museum. You can
find more information about the museum on their
homepage.
Go on a tour
with a Personal Food shopper!
Before we left home we used the internet to see if we could find some sort
of tour that could take us to factories and see how cheese, ham etc is made.
One of the companies that were recommended was Italian Days (see
www.italiandays.it
) featuring Alessandro. When reading the description on the websites, I had
a fear that Alessandro might be “too much” for me as a quiet and calm (and
stiff?) Norwegian. But we decided to sign up anyway and the tour description
was a visit to a cheese factory to see how Parmigiano Reggiano is made (also
known as parmesan cheese), a visit to see how Balsamic vinegar is made and a
visit to a local vineyard with lunch included. So one morning, bright and
early at 7.20 AM we were waiting in the hotel lobby when Alessandro came
running in. Even if it was early in the morning he was already bubbling of
energy and it was soon obvious that it is hard not to like Alessandro. After
picking up another couple we drove out of Bologna towards our first stop:
the cheese factory. Alessandro was speaking more or less non-stop and it was
great to get lots of info about food, traditions etc. We were driving a new
minibus and Alessandro had brought a driver which meant that he could focus
100% on providing us with information ;-)
Parmigiano-Reggiano is one of my favourite cheeses and when we went to Milan
years back (see the
Milan trip
report) we actually thought about taking a tour but we never got around
to it. So I was very excited to get to the factory and after getting into
our white robes we were allowed in to see them working on the cheese that
morning. I’m not go into detail when it comes to the process as Alessandro
will give you all the information. But basically the milk is heated, they
add whey and rennet (an enzyme from stomach of calves) and then the cheese
is lifted out and put into their forms and taken through a
salting/drying/aging process and after a minimum aging of 12 months it is
inspected to see if it qualifies to be a Parmigiano-Reggiano. The cheese has
long traditions and it seems like they have been making it since the 13th
century. What I’m wondering...who came up with the idea of putting an enzyme
from the stomach of calves to produce cheese?? ;-)
Anyway,
Alessandro let us from room to room and explained the process step by step
and we were also joined by Marko, one of the guys working at the factory. We
even got into the “cheese bank” where cheese is stored from floor to ceiling
and I guess there was cheese worth millions of Euros in
there. We also got
to tap the cheese to evaluate if it was of good quality or not. To round it
of we got to see a movie of the process and we got to taste
parmesan cheese,
fresh ricotta (made that morning) and we got to flush it down with Lambrusco
wine – the typical sparkling red wine that is typical for the region.
Breakfast of champions in other words ;-) Before we left we also had time to
stop at the “gift shop” – the shop selling cheese to the local farmers. And
for once in my life I was happy that there was a gift shop towards the end
of a stop. We didn’t really have any plans to buy anything but when we
looked at the prices it was hard to resist - 1st grade Parmigiano-Reggiano
was about 14€ pr. kg (about 8 USD per pound) which is a lot cheaper than
back home of course. I think I can find cheese that is about 54€ per kg here
at home!! As you might guess – I came out of the store with 4 big chunks of
cheese :-).
Note:
Allesandro speaks Italian,
German and English! |
We got back in
the car and drove to a place called Villa San Donnino to look at how
balsamic vinegar is made. This is another fascinating product that I like
and I was looking forward to see how it was made. At the house we were met
by Davide (the owner) but he let Alessandro take us the attic to explain the
balsamic vinegar making process – we are not talking about any kind of
balsamic vinegar by the way. We are talking about Aceto Balsamico
Tradizionale di Modena... phew, quite a mouthful that name. As the Parmigiano-Reggiano, the balsamic vinegar is also a 100% natural product.
Basically to make the vinegar you just have to boil grape juice and put it
in barrels and store it. Sounds simple of course but the juice is put into a
series of different sized barrels (called a “batteria”). As one season
passes by some of the liquid has evaporated and they top up the barrels by
starting with the smallest one. This is topped up by using the next barrel
in line and so on. In the end you also have to add new boiled grape juice to
top up the largest barrel. And after 12 years you can take out 10% of the
smallest barrel and send it to the consortium for approval any maybe they
will accept it. So making balsamic vinegar the old fashioned way does not
seem to be a money making machine...more a hobby to keep traditions alive.
Once again we
got a detailed description from Alessandro and once again we got to visit
the gift shop to test out some products. And once again I was tempted to buy
of course ;-) We came out of the store with a 14 year old vinegar and 30€
per 100 ml (which is about 90 USD per cup) so this is not the kind of
vinegar you sprinkle generously over a salad. I was joking to Nikki when we
walked out that this bottle is going into the vault :-) The villa on the
estate is actually a bit famous as the movie “1900” by Bernardo Bertolucci
featuring Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu was filmed there. This is the
private home of Davide but we got to take a look at some of the rooms in the
house and it is quite stunning to see a private home with frescoes in the
hall! The only sad thing is that there is quite a busy road not far from the
house. You can find more information on
this
page.
Note:
want to know more about Aceto
Balsamico Tradizionale? Check out
www.balsamico.it |
We moved on
once again and the next and last stop was Corte d’Aibo vineyard and
agriturismo located outside Bologna. When driving up the vineyard we came
across a deer standing in the middle of the small road that we were driving
on. As we got out of the car we were met by a small, fat dog that seemed to
be thrilled to have guests. Alessandro just referred to the dog as
“mortadella” (referring to the thick sausage typical for Bologna). The land
around the farm reminded me a bit of the landscape in some places in Tuscany
and it was beautiful. We got a short tour of the vineyard and got some
information about the wine production there before we moved in to have
lunch. The lunch was simple yet delicious – we started with some pasta
in a tomato sauce and then we had cold cuts of ham (parma ham, coppa, salami
etc) and cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano, ricotta with honey (and pepper?) etc)
and it was rounded off with some sweet stuff. Along the way we also got to
taste a bit of the wines that the place can offer and we could buy wines as
well. See the
Corte
d'Aibo homepage for more info. After dessert and some grappa we were
slightly tipsy and moved to the car to drive back to Bologna. I think we
were back at the hotel about 3.30 PM.
Note:
normally there is a stop at a
prosciutto factory but on this day the stop was cancelled. Well,
hopefully we can visit that another time. |
The tour with
Alessandro turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of this trip. He has a lot
of passion and knowledge about the food and it was great fun being in his
company. It seems like he gives a lot of himself in this tour and hopefully
people appreciates this. If you are interested in food then the tour is highly
recommended! Send my regards to Alessandro if you take the tour ;-) The tour
was 95€ per person (about 120 USD). You can read more about the tour and
book your tour on
http://www.italiandays.it/
Pinacoteca
Nazionale di Bologna – National art gallery
One day we were out walking in the University district and we decided to
stop by the National Art Gallery as it was mentioned in the guidebook. When
we first walked in we were not sure if we had found the right place as there
was no one else there apart from an old couple behind a counter.
The couple
didn’t speak any English but with some body language we understood that we
had to leave the backpack there and that it was 4€ per person and cash only.
The museum is not that big but it contains works from the region from the
13th century to the 18th century. I don’t know much about art and painters
but it was amazing to see how the techniques improved from 1350 to 1550 –
well, at least by the end of this period it seemed like they were getting
perspective etc right. In the gallery you will find work by Giotto, Guido
Reni, Rapahel etc. Check out more information on the
museum homepage. Note that there is basically no information in English
at this gallery.
Italian
roadtrips – Modena, Ravenna, Ferrara
When planning the trip we decided that 9-10 days in Bologna would be a bit
much. Due to this we decided to rent a car so that we could explore the
region a bit on our own like we did when we explored
Florence and
Tuscany a
few years back. As it can be a bit tricky to drive inside Italian
cities (like Bologna) we also decided to move to a hotel a bit in the
outskirts of town. So on Monday 26th of July we checked out of
Hotel Touring, took a taxi to Bologna Marconi airport to pick up our rental car from Avis and we
drove to Savhotel to check in.
Note:
the Avis counter is inside the
airport terminal and you pick up the car yourself from the nearby
parking house. |
We did get a bit of panic when we started driving as the hotel street was
not in our GPS. But by checking the hotel website we found a street nearby
that we could use as a target destination. And in case you are wondering...having a
GPS is highly recommended when driving in Italy.
After dumping our bags at our new hotel we decided to visit Modena and we
plugged in a street in the GPS and drove out of Bologna. It didn’t take long
before we saw some ladies in challenging outfits along the road –
I had
heard that there are lots of “working girls” in this area but I guess I
didn’t expect to see it in broad daylight. We choose to take the scenic road
and not the toll road but the landscape was not as beautiful as in Tuscany
in my opinion. When getting closer to Modena I saw a big SUV in my rear view
mirror and he was driving in an “Italian way” if there is such a thing ;-) He
was overtaking lots of cars, squeezing in when he had to and he was smoking
and using his cell phone. When we stopped at a red light we all of a sudden
felt a bump in the car! It turned out the guy in the SUV had rear ended us
and we had only had the car for like 3 hours! But luckily there was not any
damage to our small Fiat Punto – I guess the guy just forgot that an
automatic rolls forward if you don’t step on the break.
Note:
Driving with a GPS can be
tricky. All of a sudden you have to listen to your better half, look at
signs, listen to the GPS and watch out for other cars. Practice before
you leave home if you can ;-) |
We only spent a few hours in Modena – after parking the car we walked to
Piazza Grande to check out the Duomo and the bell tower as these are on the
UNESCO World Heritage list. But once again we were met by a church that was
covered in scaffolding and it was not easy to get a proper impression of
this building dating back to 1099 AD. And the bell tower was completely
covered due to ongoing restoration I guess. We were in Modena on a Monday
and it seemed like a lot of things were closed – maybe the summer vacation
had started already for some ;-) So all in all, we didn’t get that much out
of the visit to Modena.
Ferrara on the other hand, had more to offer. Ferrara is about 50 km
northeast of Bologna and it didn’t take us long to drive there. Right by the
old city walls there was a huge parking place and it was great to not have
to drive around to find parking in the streets. It only took us a few
minutes to walk to Piazza Cattedrale but once again it was not as
picturesque as the portrayed by the guidebook. They were doing roadwork and
hence there were lots of fences. But we did stop by the church called
Cattedrale and the façade is quite detailed and beautiful. I’m not sure that
I agree with the guidebooks statement about the interior being
disappointing.
We also walked over to the d’Este Castle (Castello Estense). The castle has
been restored and after crossing the moat we paid the 10€ each for the
entrance. We walked from room to room and there was information in both
Italian and English. The only “problem” is that there was quite a lot of
information so it was hard to cover it all. In the old kitchen one of the
employees came over to me and started explaining the kitchen history...in
Italian of course.
Yet again it would have been great with a babel fish – in
the end I just had to say “Sorry, I don’t understand anything of what you
are saying” We also checked out the dungeons, the view from the orange tree
garden and the view from the torre dei Leoni (lions’ tower). Some of the
rooms had beautiful ceiling decorations and they had installed mirrors on
the floor at an angle to give you the opportunity to study the ceiling
without having to break the neck – that is quite brilliant and I think this
is the first time I see it. We (read Nikki) even had time for some shopping
in Ferrara before we had to get back to the car to drive back to Bologna.
The following day we decided to visit
Ravenna and this small town which in
renowned for mosaics, is located about 80 km (about 50 miles) south east of
Bologna. We took the scenic route once again but the landscape was not
really that exciting. When we came towards Ravenna we had plotted in a
parking place that look suitable – but when we reached our destination we
didn’t see any parking!
And if you have been driving in an Italian city you
know that it can be a bit stressful – all of a sudden the GPS was nagging
“Recalculating. Make a u-turn”, we were forced to drive one way streets and
it felt like we were driving right through the historic city centre of Ravenna. So
when we all of a sudden saw a garage with a parking sign, we stopped and
handed over our keys. I didn’t think they had valet parking in Italy ;-) All
this driving in circles and across town had left us totally dizzy and we had
major problems getting oriented to our whereabouts in this small town. But
after studying the map...well, actually I whipped out the GPS, we found our
way to San Vitale and Gallia Placida.
San Vitale is a 6th century basilica and we had to pay 8.50€ to get access
to both the basilica and the mausoleum Gallia Placida next door. When we
walked into the basilica I started looking at the artwork in the ceiling and
I was convinced for a while that it was painted – but look closely and you
will see that this is actually mosaics and it is beautiful. When we walked
out of the church to check out the Mausoleo de Gallia Placida I was stopped
by a young Italian guy and he wanted to see my ticket. He said something to
me in German and I replied that he had the wrong country. His face then lit
up and he asked “How do you say I love you in your language”. I could of
course not resist joking about this so I told him I was flattered but I was
not like that ;-). But I told him the line in Norwegian but then he seemed
very disappointed as he pointed out “but it is the same as in Danish”. So
you girls out there...beware of the young Italian Casanova outside the Gallia
Placida ;-). Outside the Gallia Placida I think it said that you were only allowed to be
in there for 5 minutes and no flash when taking photos. But it seemed like
people were ignoring both – so it is not exactly like visiting “Last supper”
in Milan ;-) According to the guidebook the mosaics in this tiny little
building is some of the finest ever made. I don’t have that much to compare
it to but the mosaics are spectacular.
It is only a short walk to another interesting place: Domus di Tappeti di
Pietra (carpet of stones). Under a 14th century church they have found a
mosaic floor of a classical Roman villa – how amazing is that? We paid 4€
each for the entrance and also took an audioguide to get some more info. It
is really quite spectacular. We also stopped by the Duomo before we had to
get into the car and start our journey back home – once again we had trouble
finding the way but after going a couple of circles around town we got onto
the highway ;-)
If you want to drive the main highway the speed limit seems to be 110 km/h
(about 70 mph)and there is a fee. We paid about 4€ driving from Ravenna to Bologna.
Time to go back home
All good things come to an end I guess and on Friday 30th of July it was
time for us to go home. As we had a rental car, we drove to
Bologna airport
(or Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi di Bologna) and returned our Avis rental
car. After a short flight we were back in Frankfurt and from there it was a
short trip back home to Stavanger.
Conclusion
We had a great time in Bologna – the city itself does not have that many
major attractions to show off I guess and maybe that is why there are so few
tourists there compared to
Florence,
Rome etc. But it is an ideal
destination if you just want to take a long-weekend away from home (at least
for us living in Europe) to escape the crowds and enjoy some food & wine.
Our plan of staying a bit in the city centre to start with and then moving
to a hotel a bit outside of Bologna worked out quite good in my opinion and
there are lots of places to check out if you have a car. Of the places that
we went to I would say that Ravenna was the city that has the most to offer
even if we had lots trouble finding parking there – there is even beaches
nearby if you want to bring your swimwear. During our stay there was a lot
of focus on food and I’ll get into that in the
next section of this trip
report. If you do get a chance, take the food tour with Alessandro
(Italian Days). It was lots of fun, we got to learn a lot from this
passionate guy and we got to shop excellent products and a very good price.
Highly recommended in other words.
Some “useful” tips
So what do you need to bring to Bologna? And how do you plan a trip? Here
are some useful tips:
-
Wondering about the weather in Bologna? Check out
weatherbase.com to get
some weather stats so you know what to expect.
-
A good guidebook: yes, you can find a lot of useful info on the internet.
But get a good guidebook with a comprehensive street map. Which one to buy
is up to you :-) We bought Insight Pocket Guide Bologna and we didn’t find
that to be great.
-
Which forums to ask questions: Try
TripAdvisor,
Fodor’s,
Frommer’s and
Travelers to Go!
-
Are you bringing a laptop? We did and it was great to use this to check
out attractions and opening times, maps, restaurant information etc. Just
make sure you find a hotel that offers internet...or even better: free
internet ;-)
-
Do you wonder how far it is from one place to another in Bologna? Why not
use Google Earth/Google Maps to measure? I find this to be a great tool.
-
Here is a
interactive Bologna Google map where I have highlighted some of
the places that we went to.
Feel free to
check out the next section: Eating and drinking in Bologna :-) |