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Published: January 5th 2017
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While I was in Lisbon, my parents lost themselves (literally and figuratively) in Venice for a day. Then they drove to Bologna, which was our rendezvous point. My flight was from Lisbon to Pisa. It was my first time in Tuscany, and I’d really only spent a day in central Italy at all (Rome) before.
I had an hour before my train from Pisa to explore the city a little. I didn’t make it up to the leaning tower, but strolled around the city center south of the river and got a pizza. Despite the town being the home of one of the most famous landmarks in Italy (admittedly among many), it didn’t feel too touristy, just like your average mid-sized Italian city. I walked to the Arno River, which was about halfway between the train station and the leaning tower, but I couldn’t see the tower in the dark from that point. It was a scenic location to eat my not-great pizza, people watch, and see the lights reflected on the river.
It was quiet for being a nice evening. There were lots of people hanging out in the piazza near the train station,
seemingly African migrants or refugees with no place to go. This was a time of increased arrivals of migrants/refugees to Italy, and this would be reflected in the rest of our visit, much more in these areas than in the north where I’d spent the summer. It’s always a bit of a conundrum of how to help so many people who seem to need it. In the end we settled on handing out bananas to people who asked us for money.
My train to Bologna was uneventful, and then I successfully caught a city bus to the hotel, where my parents told me about their adventures of the day.
The next day, we walked around Bologna. Overall, the city had more tourists than I was used to in Italy. Its lack of big hills made it easy to walk around. We checked out the main piazzas, which to me weren’t that special. There was a good-vibe reggae band set up in the Piazza Maggiore. We wandered around the university area, which was busy because it was a day to register for classes.
After a coffee/pastry break (only natural with my dad
and me), my parents walked up a leaning tower (one of the Two Towers). I had had enough of walking up towers, and had no interest in a leaning one that could (unlikely) fall over at any minute.
While waiting for them, I watched a younger tourist couple taking pictures. The girl set her big purse down on the sidewalk so she could pose better. I was just dumbfounded. You’re traveling in a city, in a very touristy city, and you walk away from your bag in public? Luckily nothing happened, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been swiped. Reading multiple stories during winter vacation of fellow auxiliars who have had bags and wallets stolen while traveling reminds me yet again to be very observant with my things. Another tip—spread out your money and important IDs/cards between different bags/clothing items so that if a bag is stolen you don’t lose everything.
I was also sitting next to a group of seemingly new Erasmus students, with at least two different languages between them, speaking English as a common language. It brought me back to my time studying abroad, the novelty of traveling,
how cool it was that everyone could communicate with English, the expectation for an exciting semester in a new place, the luck you feel when you spend a fun afternoon chatting with new friends.
My parents made it out of the tower impressed and without having had heart attacks, so we wandered over to ‘Little Venice’. It was cute, and more like ‘miniature’. After that, we headed towards our car, and happened to pass by the Scalinata del Pincio, which was a neat area. You could see some excavated old city walls and aqueducts from long ago. We spent the next morning in a laundromat and felt like we’d seen most of Bologna. My dad only wished we’d gone to see the longest covered portico, San Luca. But we had other sights to see in Italy!
Overall, for me Bologna is one of those towns that could be good to live in, but I wasn’t thrilled about being a tourist there. To me, most of its sights weren’t that different from lots of other places in Italy. Then again, if it’s your first time in Italy, you’ll probably enjoy it.
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