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Published: October 17th 2011
Note: All events mentioned in this entry occurred back in late February 2007. For more updated trips and entries, please refer back to this entry at a later date. An updated trip or entry will NOT include a note like this. Thanks and enjoy!
The next day, I check out of the hostel around 8 AM GMT and head to the train station, where I buy a train ticket from Florence to Bologna. My train finally arrives 30 minutes later, and is a fast train. About an hour and a half later I arrive in Bologna and take a taxi to my hotel, which is under heavy construction and renovation. By the time my room is ready and I put my luggage up it is 2 PM GMT, therefore all I have very limited amount of time for sightseeing and also to get lunch. I ask the concierge in Spanish how to get to downtown from the hotel and also for a map. She showed and told me which bus i needed to take, where to pick it up both outside of the hotel and downtown, and some of the major sites to see.
I then thank her and
head to the bus stop which is literally around the corner. The bus arrives 10 minutes later and takes me to downtown about 15-20 minutes later I think. I spend the rest of my afternoon touring downtown. First, I begin my tour on the University of Bologna campus, which is considered to be the oldest university in Europe. I also visit a church, the Plaza Maggoria (Principal Plaza) and walk along the city's ubiquitous colonnades and arcades. What makes this city unique is the fact that all the buildings were the same, fire-red color, so much so that I found the combination of the paint color and afternoon sun to be blinding. In comparison to the ornately decorated and multicolored and disparately shaped buildings of Florence, those of Bologna were all a very similar, rectangular/boxed shape and were normally only decorated with greyish-brownish columns. I have never been to a city that has looked like this, and in fact it was such a new experience for me that I had a hard time emotionally absorbing the idea that this city was indeed beautiful. I found the city to architecturally bland for my taste, however it was singular enough to the
point that I'll never forget it. Nonetheless, this perception has changed with age and I do regret the fact that I didn't give myself more of an opportunity to appreciate and explore this city beyond its aesthetics.
Apart from admiring the local architecture I eat a fried fritter with ground beef and rice from a pizzeria located across from the University of Bologna. I also grab a cup of coffee from a coffee bar (I want to say that I ordered an espresso or a macciato) and then I go to a local grocery store, where I purchase some parmagianno reggiano for myself to snack on later. I end my day going back to the hotel, watching tv and eating a simple dinner or parmagianno reggiano and tortellini in a proscutto/cream sauce, which was prepared by my hotel's restaurant.
For my second day, I decide to take a day trip to Parma because I feel that I have exhausted my visit to Bologna. I head to the train station and take the 30 minute trip from Bologna to Parma. Parma is renowned for its parmagianno reggiano and proscutto di Parma industry, however I also found its architecture to
be more fascinating and historically interesting. I spent most of my time at the Piazza del Duomo to visit the Battistero which is an octagonal, building in the shape of a tower and is brightly colored hue of grey and rose. Its colors match that of the cathedral. There were several other cathedrals that I encountered, which were a bright peach color in comparison to the small, fire red churches in Bologna. I end my trip by purchasing some proscutto di parma at a local deli and some more cheese. I then return back to Bologna and to my hotel, eat a dinner of lasagna bolognese and then finish packing for me trip to Venice the next day.
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