Monday night after returning from Venice, we couldn't be bothered cooking, so we went out for a quick aperitivo. We were hoping to sit on their rooftop terrace to enjoy the sunset, but unfortunately it doesn't open until the end of June. As we walked across Ponte Alle Grazie, we stopped to watch the sunset peer through the eyes of the Ponte Vecchio.
Venice had been an expensive weekend, so on Tuesday we went to the supermarket and bought up big for a few home cooked meals. That night we had steak and veg and a great gravy that Anna was able to whip up.
The next day after another great lunch at Pino's, we travelled an hour by train to the hilltop town of Montecatini Terme to watch the end of the 11th stage of the Giro d'Italia.
After a lot of anticipation, the riders finally came through and it was all over in about a minute! Amazing to see these athletes still going so fast after 255km, let alone the previous 10 stages.
Italian Roberto Ferrari was the winner of stage 11, much to the delight of the home crowd.
The sun decided to come out on Thursday so I found the nearest place that seemed viable to sunbake, got comfortable and got the kit off. After about 3 hours, Anna joined me, however the sun was really really hot and with no water in sight, Anna only lasted 30 minutes before going home for an unusual (haha) afternoon nap.
That night we met up with friends of Anna's Aunty Kaye (Anne and Grahame and their friends Anne and Allan). We took them to a cocktail bar on the rooftop of Hotel Continentale which we had been wanting to try for a while. It was pretty swanky, but really nice, with great views and the best mojito's in town!
We also took them to our favourite restaurant, Borgo Antico, which they were all very pleased with.
The next day after Anna finished school, we set off for Bologna. As it isn't that far from Florence, we chose the cheapo train that stops along the way which lengthened the trip from 30 mins to 100 mins, but these are the things you have to do when on a budget!
Our B&B was right in the heart of town, near the main street Via Independenza and main square Piazza Maggiore. We settled in and then set off for a walk around town.
That night we went out for aperitivo and cocktails at a nearby bar, but we weren't satisfied with the food war had, so we went to Trattoria Mariposa, a local favourite. It was a traditional family run restaurant and as we were in Bologna, we had to have the tortellini with bolognese sauce (Bologna is where the sauce originated from and was first published in a cookbook in 1891).
The next morning I was up early to listen to the Dees get smashed again and then we were treated to a fantastic breakfast by host Cristina. We were then out the door and headed straight for the Basilica di Santo Stefano, known as the 'sette chiese' (seven churches). It was an amazing complex of different churches all joined together by portico's and courtyards.
We then continued to walk around the streets, without any real destination in mind. One of the things that is most evident in Bologna is the amount of portico's that line almost every street, which was great on Sunday when it started raining!
Bologna is home to the oldest university in the world, opening its doors (or whatever they had back then) in 1088. Just over 100,000 students in 23 different schools are currently undertaking studies there
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| university district |
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| university rooms being advertised |
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| they even have bolognese flavoured ice-cream!! |
By this stage it was the early arvo and we were still hungry, so we found a great little French cafe and tucked in to some massive salads and then set off for the two towers that can be seen from many parts of the city.
Between the 12th and 13th centuries, Bologna had almost 180 towers, built by rich families not only to show off their wealth, but also for offensive and defensive purposes.
It was a bloody tough walk up, especially as the stairs were so narrow (hence there were no fat Americans around!), but it was a great view from the top.
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| a poster showing the major towers in Italy, Torre Asinelli in Bologna being the 2nd tallest |
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| passionfruit mojito - yumm |
The restaurant was in an underground cellar. The food was amazing, if only the bloke on the piano singing Elton John classics was better!
The next morning we were awoken around 4am by the whole room shaking and our beds jumping. It felt like we were in an aeroplane that was experiencing turbulence. Instead, it was an earthquake!
It lasted about a minute and then back to silence. We both took turns going to the toilet because we shat ourselves haha, not really, but it was a little scary, especially when a few aftershocks occurred an hour later!
I got straight onto the internet and read that a magnitude 5.9 quake hit the town of Modena about 15km north of Bologna - Thank god it didn't happen when we were climbing up the tower the day before!
Over the next few days, we learnt that 7 people died, many cultural buildings collapsed and more than 15,800 tones of parmesan cheese was ruined.
We went back to sleep and when we arrived at breakfast, everyone else in the B&B was talking about it. Although two Sth. American blokes had had a big night and slept right through it haha, I can understand that.
There wasn't a whole lot more of Bologna to see, apart from a few monuments and the huge Basilica di San Petronio, the worlds 5th largest Basilica.
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| the best fountain in Italy! |
We also visited the Museo Della Storia di Bologna at Palazzo Pepoli which traced the history of Bologna from the Etruscan era to present. It included many old paintings of what the city looked like back in the day which I find great to look at.
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