Jamikins and Bikerscott are off again! Off to Bologna, Le Marche & Lucca!
Jun 29th, 2013, 01:43 PM
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,321
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day One – Bologna
We arrived fairly late last night, with the flight landing in Bologna at nearly 11:30pm local time. I’ve managed to come on the trip with a bit of a sinus cold, so the flight was a bit painful, but I managed to sleep for most of it so didn’t suffer too much. The taxi queue was a bit long, but we made it to the B&B without much drama, which is good for midnight. A quick glass of wine and some Sudafed and we were asleep – well, I was, Jamie seems to think I was coughing all night which apparently kept her up. Not sure what she’s on about.
Morning dawned earlier than I would have liked, but we got up for showers and breakfast. We met a very nice couple from New Mexico, who were very nice. And we had breakfast. Then we went out.
It’s odd how familiar Bologna feels, seeing as we were only here for one night a year ago. We walked into the big central plaza and took a few photos before deciding that a coffee was in order. Coffee is good here…very good. Not much has changed since we were here last – the place is as lovely as we recalled, with street markets, shops, and cafes all over the place.
My cold seemed to be calling and I made my way through a few packets of tissues as we wandered around. I started to get a bit concerned about my supply –I’d brought a few from London but at the rate I was going, I wasn’t going to last the week.
We walked across town, down past the train station (which might be the most confusing train station in Italy, which means the most confusing train station in Europe) to find our restaurant for lunch. It was down a side-street in what appeared to be a residential area – our favourite kind of place – we were the only tourists there.
Lunch was HUGE but delicious – local favourites and a few things that weren’t on the menu but were fresh that day. The whole place only had 6 tables but they were all full for lunch and they seemed to be doing all right for themselves. I can’t remember a better lunch for a long time.
We stopped at the confusing train station to pick up tickets for our journey to Verona, stopping only briefly to buy a massive multi—pack of travel tissues for my cold issues – much cheaper than in London, but I would rather have not had to find that out.
We stopped at Bar Calise on the way back home for a bottle of wine or two – great place for sipping a beverage, chatting, and people watching which is one of our favourite pastimes. Several hours later…
We eventually decided that it was time to leave so we started walking back to the B&B to have a glass of wine and freshen up before dinner. We were distracted by a massive crowd and a live band playing some excellent rock tunes – turned out we’d wandered into the middle of Bologna Pride. We’ve been to the London Pride festival a few times, but it’s a bit crowded for our taste. The Bologna one is a bit more restrained, a bit less manic, and a bit more fun. We rocked out with the band until they finished their set and the speeches started – I’m sure they were good, but they were in Italian and I have no idea what they were talking about.
We went back to the room where I spilled a glass of red wine on myself before heading back down the street to Osteria la Traviata for a delicious dinner. The bill came to less than €100 for more food than we could eat and a few glasses of delicious wine. It was so much food that Jamie didn’t finish her fillet steak…fillet steak is her favourite thing, ahead of me I think, so you know she must’ve been full.
Back to the room for a final glass of wine and some photo editing before bed. I’ve developed a taste for both Country and Western music, as I’m now working for a company based in Georgia (the American one, not the Eastern European one), so a few tunes are playing on the radio while we relax. Doesn’t get m
We arrived fairly late last night, with the flight landing in Bologna at nearly 11:30pm local time. I’ve managed to come on the trip with a bit of a sinus cold, so the flight was a bit painful, but I managed to sleep for most of it so didn’t suffer too much. The taxi queue was a bit long, but we made it to the B&B without much drama, which is good for midnight. A quick glass of wine and some Sudafed and we were asleep – well, I was, Jamie seems to think I was coughing all night which apparently kept her up. Not sure what she’s on about.
Morning dawned earlier than I would have liked, but we got up for showers and breakfast. We met a very nice couple from New Mexico, who were very nice. And we had breakfast. Then we went out.
It’s odd how familiar Bologna feels, seeing as we were only here for one night a year ago. We walked into the big central plaza and took a few photos before deciding that a coffee was in order. Coffee is good here…very good. Not much has changed since we were here last – the place is as lovely as we recalled, with street markets, shops, and cafes all over the place.
My cold seemed to be calling and I made my way through a few packets of tissues as we wandered around. I started to get a bit concerned about my supply –I’d brought a few from London but at the rate I was going, I wasn’t going to last the week.
We walked across town, down past the train station (which might be the most confusing train station in Italy, which means the most confusing train station in Europe) to find our restaurant for lunch. It was down a side-street in what appeared to be a residential area – our favourite kind of place – we were the only tourists there.
Lunch was HUGE but delicious – local favourites and a few things that weren’t on the menu but were fresh that day. The whole place only had 6 tables but they were all full for lunch and they seemed to be doing all right for themselves. I can’t remember a better lunch for a long time.
We stopped at the confusing train station to pick up tickets for our journey to Verona, stopping only briefly to buy a massive multi—pack of travel tissues for my cold issues – much cheaper than in London, but I would rather have not had to find that out.
We stopped at Bar Calise on the way back home for a bottle of wine or two – great place for sipping a beverage, chatting, and people watching which is one of our favourite pastimes. Several hours later…
We eventually decided that it was time to leave so we started walking back to the B&B to have a glass of wine and freshen up before dinner. We were distracted by a massive crowd and a live band playing some excellent rock tunes – turned out we’d wandered into the middle of Bologna Pride. We’ve been to the London Pride festival a few times, but it’s a bit crowded for our taste. The Bologna one is a bit more restrained, a bit less manic, and a bit more fun. We rocked out with the band until they finished their set and the speeches started – I’m sure they were good, but they were in Italian and I have no idea what they were talking about.
We went back to the room where I spilled a glass of red wine on myself before heading back down the street to Osteria la Traviata for a delicious dinner. The bill came to less than €100 for more food than we could eat and a few glasses of delicious wine. It was so much food that Jamie didn’t finish her fillet steak…fillet steak is her favourite thing, ahead of me I think, so you know she must’ve been full.
Back to the room for a final glass of wine and some photo editing before bed. I’ve developed a taste for both Country and Western music, as I’m now working for a company based in Georgia (the American one, not the Eastern European one), so a few tunes are playing on the radio while we relax. Doesn’t get m
Jun 29th, 2013, 02:17 PM
#23
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 565
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you keep burning through tissues, there is a 99 centissimi store right near the due Torri on Via de'Giudei. If you are closer to the via A. Righi, there is one there as well.
"Coffee is good here…very good"
Really? Where did you have coffee? I'd love to know. With the exception of Terzi on via Oberdan, I generally find coffee in Bologna to be downright awful, including Zanarini and in places near the piazza Maggiore and the due Torri. Compared with the rest of Italy, it is generally tastes quite bitter and burnt.
"Coffee is good here…very good"
Really? Where did you have coffee? I'd love to know. With the exception of Terzi on via Oberdan, I generally find coffee in Bologna to be downright awful, including Zanarini and in places near the piazza Maggiore and the due Torri. Compared with the rest of Italy, it is generally tastes quite bitter and burnt.
Jun 29th, 2013, 10:20 PM
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,321
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
stevewith - yes, that is the bar!
As for the coffee, I will have to ask Scott because I dont drink the stuff...I'll get him to respond, but he is comparing it to coffee in Canada and the UK
And the pics from day 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7634399182853/
Off to Verona today!
As for the coffee, I will have to ask Scott because I dont drink the stuff...I'll get him to respond, but he is comparing it to coffee in Canada and the UK
And the pics from day 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7634399182853/
Off to Verona today!
Jun 30th, 2013, 12:30 PM
#34
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 541
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Glad everyone is enjoying out trip so far - apologies for the somewhat grocery-list-like report yesterday, I was exhausted, sick, and had had more than a little too much wine in the sun - not a great combination for quality prose.
Stevewith - not sure it was award-winning coffee, however in my books any coffee in the morning is pretty good, and any coffee in the sun in Italy while on holiday is fantastic.
Anhig - Jamie takes the photos so isn't in many of them - I tend to do my photo editing when we get home rather than as we go.
Onto the next installment...
Stevewith - not sure it was award-winning coffee, however in my books any coffee in the morning is pretty good, and any coffee in the sun in Italy while on holiday is fantastic.
Anhig - Jamie takes the photos so isn't in many of them - I tend to do my photo editing when we get home rather than as we go.
Onto the next installment...
Jun 30th, 2013, 12:31 PM
#35
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 541
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Day Two – What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks
Wow 8am feels early on holiday. We had bought tickets for the morning train to Verona last night, so needed to make a fairly early start to the day. I managed to sleep relatively well despite the cold, and only woke up a few times to cough – I think I managed to do it quietly enough to not wake up Jamie as well, so hopefully we would start the day with a non-grumpy wife.
Breakfast was a bit more of a subdued affair – we had to be quiet so as not to wake up the rest of the house, and I’m not so chipper before I've had a few cups of coffee. On the other hand, I had a doughnut for breakfast, and any day that starts off with a doughnut and a coffee can’t be all bad. I was also feeling much better – I think I’m about over this cold, and the plugged sinuses and headaches are starting to go away. Must be all the head and microbe-killer I’ve been drinking.
The walk to the train station didn’t seem as long this morning as it did yesterday. Bologna is pretty empty on a Sunday morning, although there were a few according players getting warmed up as we sauntered down the slight hill – for me, the sounds of Italy are Vespas blowing clouds of blue smoke, kids playing football in little piazzas, cicadas, and the ever-present accordions.
The Bologna train station is confusing. There are actually three of them in the same building (Centrale, Est, and Ouest), although there is very little to explain this. Fortunately our platform was platform two – this was fortunately because the Centrale part of the station doesn’t have a platform two, it seems to start at platform three, although there may be a platform one. We wandered around for a while until we noticed the sign for the Two Ouest platform and found our train – had it not been platform two oust, we would have probably missed it, waiting for the train at the wrong platform at the Centrale station.
I passed out almost immediately after getting on the train – a combination of not enough coffee and the mild-overdose of Sudafed creating a really powerful sleeping pill. Jamie said the journey was fine, but boring. I can’t comment, the whole thing seemed to take about 10 minutes as far as I was concerned, however I quite enjoyed it other than ending up with a very sore neck.
We got off the train in Verona and hit our first problem – we hadn’t looked at a map and had no idea how to get from the train station to the city centre. They were conveniently doing some construction in front of the station and so had erected a bunch of very tall blue hordings, which made using visual clues impossible. After wandering back and forth for a bit, we decided to take a taxi, discretion being the greater part of valour. We stopped to buy our return tickets, and then Jamie had a change of heart – she decided walking was a better idea. We picked a direction and started. For a change, it turned out to be the right one.
Verona is full of tourists. In fact, I think it only exists to service the tourist industry – it has the perfect storm of things that tourists would want to see – a Roman Arena, a Roman Theatre, a recreation of the famous balcony from Romeo and Juliette (which may or may not be the original home of the Capulets), more gelato shops than you could shake a stick at (please be aware that the shaking of sticks at gelato shops, or any other type of store is strictly frowned upon in Italy), restaurants by the dozen, and most importantly, a tourist train.
Please don’t get me wrong, Verona is a beautiful city, and all of the things mentioned above (with the exception of the tourist train, these are an abomination) combine to make a wonderful place to spend a day. We quite enjoyed our day wandering around, other than some of the crowds. Having said that, unlike London tourist crowds, everyone seemed to be fairly friendly and not as annoying as they could have been.
We had lunch at a little place called Osteria Del Bugiardo, the city location of an agriturismo near Verona. They specialize in serving their own wine and meats from their farm. For €35 we had two glasses of wine each, a GIANT plate of various cured pork products, a couple of pieces of melon to go with the pork, a fair few bruschetta, and a very enjoyable hour or so.
After lunch we walked around for a while, taking photos and generally baking in the Italian sun. For a couple of Londoners, this was pretty much heaven – I can feel the gills that were starting to develop after a solid two years of drizzle at home starting to recede. After the requisite number of photos had been taken, we found a bar at Piazza Erbe to rest our feet and marinate our livers.
Several glasses of prosecco and Campari sodas later (not in the same glass, that would be disgusting), we made our way back to the main square in town, taking a quick detour past Dante’s seventh level of hell, otherwise known as the bit of street outside the Romeo and Juliette balcony. All the people in the world were there, standing in a massive crowd that seemed to pass for a queue. I can’t see the attraction, especially as it isn’t the balcony from the play (which, of course, was a work of fiction – the balcony never existed – don’t tell that to the hordes though).
We were required to have another refreshing glass of prosecco and Campari soda (again, not in the same glass) to calm our nerves. The main square of town also provides much opportunity for people-watching. Verona is fantastic for this, and say what you like, a silly as people look wandering around with umbrellas up when it’s not raining, you can’t argue that they always have a bit of shade. I mean, I wouldn’t be caught dead like that, but they are in the shade…
The train ride back to Bologna turned out to be much more exciting that the one to Verona. We’d sprung for the more expensive fast train back, and had reserved seats and all! It was a packed service, however we found out seats quickly and settled in. A pair of American girls from Pittsburgh dragged their HUGE suitcases down the aisle and plopped down beside us, blocking most of the aisle with the cases. After everyone else got settled, they dragged them back down to the doors to leave them in the aisle there – it turns out there is no where to store large cases on the express train.
These two girls were on their way back to Rome after spending a few days in Munich on holiday – they had spent the last 6 weeks studying in Rome and were having a final holiday before flying back to the States. They were embarrassing to sit next to. It seems that in addition to not having volume control or a sense of appropriateness (being surrounded by Italians in Italy) they went on a rant about how much they hated Italy in general, Rome in particular, how all Italians would rob you as soon as look at you (one of them had had her ipod stolen to be fair), and the country was full of gypsies. It’s sad, to have the opportunity to spend a month and a half in a city like Rome and to come away with only negative memories. I felt bad for them.
We got lost the Bologna train station. Apparently, in addition to their being three different stations in one, it seems that there are three levels underground that we weren’t aware of. We found the nearest exit after getting off the train at level -3 and didn’t recognize anything at all on street level. We suspected that we were on the backside of the station, but weren’t really sure how to get around to the front side. We went back below ground and found another exit – success!
It had started to cool down and was pleasant, as opposed to freaking hot. We sauntered back up the hill into central Bologna (we feel that we are becoming champion saunterers, having spent quite a lot of time both practicing, as well as observing noted sauntering experts such as beat policemen) and found a random Trattoria down a side street where we could sit outside and soak of the last of the evening warmth.
Dinner was good, nothing exceptional, but exactly what we needed after the day – prosciutto and melon, some asparagus, veal alla Bolognese, wine, and a giant bottle of water. After the excess of yesterday, we decided to call it a night and walked back to the B&B for another glass of water (!), some writing, and moth moving (a huge moth, probably the size of a small helicopter decided that our chandelier looked good – took me 10 minutes of encouragement to get it back outside again). Sober, tired, and happy. Not such a bad way to end a day in Italy.
Wow 8am feels early on holiday. We had bought tickets for the morning train to Verona last night, so needed to make a fairly early start to the day. I managed to sleep relatively well despite the cold, and only woke up a few times to cough – I think I managed to do it quietly enough to not wake up Jamie as well, so hopefully we would start the day with a non-grumpy wife.
Breakfast was a bit more of a subdued affair – we had to be quiet so as not to wake up the rest of the house, and I’m not so chipper before I've had a few cups of coffee. On the other hand, I had a doughnut for breakfast, and any day that starts off with a doughnut and a coffee can’t be all bad. I was also feeling much better – I think I’m about over this cold, and the plugged sinuses and headaches are starting to go away. Must be all the head and microbe-killer I’ve been drinking.
The walk to the train station didn’t seem as long this morning as it did yesterday. Bologna is pretty empty on a Sunday morning, although there were a few according players getting warmed up as we sauntered down the slight hill – for me, the sounds of Italy are Vespas blowing clouds of blue smoke, kids playing football in little piazzas, cicadas, and the ever-present accordions.
The Bologna train station is confusing. There are actually three of them in the same building (Centrale, Est, and Ouest), although there is very little to explain this. Fortunately our platform was platform two – this was fortunately because the Centrale part of the station doesn’t have a platform two, it seems to start at platform three, although there may be a platform one. We wandered around for a while until we noticed the sign for the Two Ouest platform and found our train – had it not been platform two oust, we would have probably missed it, waiting for the train at the wrong platform at the Centrale station.
I passed out almost immediately after getting on the train – a combination of not enough coffee and the mild-overdose of Sudafed creating a really powerful sleeping pill. Jamie said the journey was fine, but boring. I can’t comment, the whole thing seemed to take about 10 minutes as far as I was concerned, however I quite enjoyed it other than ending up with a very sore neck.
We got off the train in Verona and hit our first problem – we hadn’t looked at a map and had no idea how to get from the train station to the city centre. They were conveniently doing some construction in front of the station and so had erected a bunch of very tall blue hordings, which made using visual clues impossible. After wandering back and forth for a bit, we decided to take a taxi, discretion being the greater part of valour. We stopped to buy our return tickets, and then Jamie had a change of heart – she decided walking was a better idea. We picked a direction and started. For a change, it turned out to be the right one.
Verona is full of tourists. In fact, I think it only exists to service the tourist industry – it has the perfect storm of things that tourists would want to see – a Roman Arena, a Roman Theatre, a recreation of the famous balcony from Romeo and Juliette (which may or may not be the original home of the Capulets), more gelato shops than you could shake a stick at (please be aware that the shaking of sticks at gelato shops, or any other type of store is strictly frowned upon in Italy), restaurants by the dozen, and most importantly, a tourist train.
Please don’t get me wrong, Verona is a beautiful city, and all of the things mentioned above (with the exception of the tourist train, these are an abomination) combine to make a wonderful place to spend a day. We quite enjoyed our day wandering around, other than some of the crowds. Having said that, unlike London tourist crowds, everyone seemed to be fairly friendly and not as annoying as they could have been.
We had lunch at a little place called Osteria Del Bugiardo, the city location of an agriturismo near Verona. They specialize in serving their own wine and meats from their farm. For €35 we had two glasses of wine each, a GIANT plate of various cured pork products, a couple of pieces of melon to go with the pork, a fair few bruschetta, and a very enjoyable hour or so.
After lunch we walked around for a while, taking photos and generally baking in the Italian sun. For a couple of Londoners, this was pretty much heaven – I can feel the gills that were starting to develop after a solid two years of drizzle at home starting to recede. After the requisite number of photos had been taken, we found a bar at Piazza Erbe to rest our feet and marinate our livers.
Several glasses of prosecco and Campari sodas later (not in the same glass, that would be disgusting), we made our way back to the main square in town, taking a quick detour past Dante’s seventh level of hell, otherwise known as the bit of street outside the Romeo and Juliette balcony. All the people in the world were there, standing in a massive crowd that seemed to pass for a queue. I can’t see the attraction, especially as it isn’t the balcony from the play (which, of course, was a work of fiction – the balcony never existed – don’t tell that to the hordes though).
We were required to have another refreshing glass of prosecco and Campari soda (again, not in the same glass) to calm our nerves. The main square of town also provides much opportunity for people-watching. Verona is fantastic for this, and say what you like, a silly as people look wandering around with umbrellas up when it’s not raining, you can’t argue that they always have a bit of shade. I mean, I wouldn’t be caught dead like that, but they are in the shade…
The train ride back to Bologna turned out to be much more exciting that the one to Verona. We’d sprung for the more expensive fast train back, and had reserved seats and all! It was a packed service, however we found out seats quickly and settled in. A pair of American girls from Pittsburgh dragged their HUGE suitcases down the aisle and plopped down beside us, blocking most of the aisle with the cases. After everyone else got settled, they dragged them back down to the doors to leave them in the aisle there – it turns out there is no where to store large cases on the express train.
These two girls were on their way back to Rome after spending a few days in Munich on holiday – they had spent the last 6 weeks studying in Rome and were having a final holiday before flying back to the States. They were embarrassing to sit next to. It seems that in addition to not having volume control or a sense of appropriateness (being surrounded by Italians in Italy) they went on a rant about how much they hated Italy in general, Rome in particular, how all Italians would rob you as soon as look at you (one of them had had her ipod stolen to be fair), and the country was full of gypsies. It’s sad, to have the opportunity to spend a month and a half in a city like Rome and to come away with only negative memories. I felt bad for them.
We got lost the Bologna train station. Apparently, in addition to their being three different stations in one, it seems that there are three levels underground that we weren’t aware of. We found the nearest exit after getting off the train at level -3 and didn’t recognize anything at all on street level. We suspected that we were on the backside of the station, but weren’t really sure how to get around to the front side. We went back below ground and found another exit – success!
It had started to cool down and was pleasant, as opposed to freaking hot. We sauntered back up the hill into central Bologna (we feel that we are becoming champion saunterers, having spent quite a lot of time both practicing, as well as observing noted sauntering experts such as beat policemen) and found a random Trattoria down a side street where we could sit outside and soak of the last of the evening warmth.
Dinner was good, nothing exceptional, but exactly what we needed after the day – prosciutto and melon, some asparagus, veal alla Bolognese, wine, and a giant bottle of water. After the excess of yesterday, we decided to call it a night and walked back to the B&B for another glass of water (!), some writing, and moth moving (a huge moth, probably the size of a small helicopter decided that our chandelier looked good – took me 10 minutes of encouragement to get it back outside again). Sober, tired, and happy. Not such a bad way to end a day in Italy.
Jun 30th, 2013, 12:39 PM
#36
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,321
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Another great day - Verona was lovely and the sun was amazing!!!
Here are the pics (still none of me because these are from my camera and I also sensor Scott's to make sure there are no triple chin pics if you know what I mean ha)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7634414899664/
Good night all!
Here are the pics (still none of me because these are from my camera and I also sensor Scott's to make sure there are no triple chin pics if you know what I mean ha)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gir...7634414899664/
Good night all!
Jun 30th, 2013, 02:18 PM
#39
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 565
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for the reply. If you would like to have some world-class coffee in Bologna -- still not quite up the exalted heights of Napoli, Torino, Venice or Trieste or Rome. but still a luscious cup of coffee, then head for Terzi on the via Oberdan. It is crowded to stand at the bar, but there are some seats in the back.
https://www.facebook.com/CaffeTerziBologna
If you enjoy dining outdoors, some nice places in Bologna for that are:
Bistrot 18 (via Clavature)
Il Tinello (via de'Giudei)
Pane e Panelle (Sicilian, garden in rear)
Teresina (pricey)
Nicola (pizza, in the piazza San Martino)
Trattoria Pizzeria Belle Arti (good for fish, salads or pizza -- noisy!)
Divinis (wine bar, nibbles and cheese plates, via Battabecco)
https://www.facebook.com/CaffeTerziBologna
If you enjoy dining outdoors, some nice places in Bologna for that are:
Bistrot 18 (via Clavature)
Il Tinello (via de'Giudei)
Pane e Panelle (Sicilian, garden in rear)
Teresina (pricey)
Nicola (pizza, in the piazza San Martino)
Trattoria Pizzeria Belle Arti (good for fish, salads or pizza -- noisy!)
Divinis (wine bar, nibbles and cheese plates, via Battabecco)
Jun 30th, 2013, 03:32 PM
#40
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,556
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
J&S, enjoying your report very much - you make me wish I was in Italy, and are the reason why I am now sipping a Campari and grapefruit juice with a splash of soda water on my deck as our Canadian sun sets low on a very beautiful warm day.
Your smile-inducing description of the umbrellas leads me to imagine there's a fortune waiting for someone in parasol sales in Verona, lol !
Thanks for such warm and comfy reading and Happy Canada Day in Bologna. Best excuse for more Camparis today, I say !
Your smile-inducing description of the umbrellas leads me to imagine there's a fortune waiting for someone in parasol sales in Verona, lol !
Thanks for such warm and comfy reading and Happy Canada Day in Bologna. Best excuse for more Camparis today, I say !
