what? No bolognaise?

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This is becoming a familiar story but yet another flight cock up and as a result I ended up flying to a different airport in Milan, but it worked out well as it was nearer the centre and meant I caught an earlier train down to Bologna. After getting to the hotel which was in the outskirts of the city I changed and headed back out for the afternoon. The heat in Bologna was stifling as there is obviously no sea breeze as we are no where near the coast. The adventure began with the issue of trying to get a bus back into the city… in August apparently this particular route didn’t have any buses after 1pm!!! So I had to walk down to a different junction and got lost on the way trying to follow a dumb map. The bus dropped me near the train station and luckily this was quite close to one of the main shopping areas that I was able to follow up to the main square, Piazza Maggorie. The traditional red brick buildings are all around and there were lots of lovely statues. The main statue is a glorious one of Neptune, very like the one in Florence. Typical that the most famous building, the baptistery was under scaffolding for renovations so I couldn’t see it clearly but from what I could see it was lovely. I walked around the city hall and the municipal buildings but by early evening was struggling with the heat and tiredness from a very early morning so headed back to the hotel.





Wednesday 11^th August



Finally able to negotiate the express bus to the city and it again dropped me near the main train station. I knew I could pick up the tourist bus near there but had time to kill so walked up to the raised gardens which surround the ancient city walls which re now in ruins. After looking around there I finally picked up the bus and did a full circuit of the tour which took in many of the main sites and went up into the hills surrounding the city and to the vantage point at the Church of St Michele in Bosco. The panoramic views of the city were stunning and well worth the trip. Heading back into the city centre I had a good walk through the streets, finding hidden parks and gardens as well as some beautiful churches and building with the famous porticos. Via Stefano was one of the prettiest areas as it was a square with 3 churches in it and 4 more surrounding the outer walls. All of the churches used to be connected by the porticos but many of them are no longer fully standing. The twin towers are rather amazing, so high and one actually is built on an angle which is very odd. BY early evening I had seen all of Bologna and was ready for a cool shower!

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