I traveled to Bologna since someone at work said it was nice and because it was easy to get to on the (high speed) train. My "Northern Italy" guidebook didn't include it, so I didn't have an at-hand method for planning my trip. I tried the "visitacity" app/website, which theoretically builds and adjusts itineraries for a variety of cities. This is the first time I've made such a "detailed" plan for a trip, but it was helpful for thinking about the locations of sights and their hours.
I loved taking the fast train (frecciarossa) - our trip paralleled an expressway, and it looked as if the cars were sitting the still. The max speed was near 200 mph! Departing the station, I found a lovely park and the remains of a castle - I wasn't even to the main/historic part of the city yet! On the other side of a park there was a market underway - mostly jewerly, clothes, etc. I didn't see signs to know whether the market was every Saturday, or if this was a special occasion. However, there was a stand with a variety of lovely bags. I bought a leather bag that is large enough to use as an overnight bag, but small enough to use as a purse - which I've been wanting since I arrived.
At this point, I had already abandoned my itinerary. As I walked into the city, I passed a beautiful church that wasn't even on the list - and there was a sign about a belltower tour later that day, so I decided to fully abandon my itinerary in order to return. I then ended up at the main square, where there is a very large church. I'm glad I chose to see it then, as it was still light on tourists in the morning. I knew that a number of churches were closed for an hour or two in the early afternoon, so I was trying to see as many as possible beforehand.
One of the itinerary items had been a library. I wasn't really sure why the library was a suggested sight, but I love books. The library was right in the main square (where there is a famous fountain, currently closed for repairs) and has two reasons for being famous. First, the building only recently became a library - and the building s gorgeous. Second, the location has housed a variety of buildings, going back 2000 years. In the basement they have a walkway through the ruins, with signs explaining the items (wells, roads, cistern) and which century they are from. The main lobby of the library has glass panels in the floor so you can look down into the ruins.
I had a quick lunch, saw another church, and then found my hotel. Just like Goa, I had booked a fairly fancy hotel right in the center of the tourist area. After dropping my things in my room and charging the electronics, I headed back out for the belltower tour. The church itself was beautiful, and I am very glad that I took the opportunity to go up to the bell tower.
This is the "official" church of the Bishop of Bologna, and has been for however-many hundreds of years. In that time the church was destroyed, rebuilt, etc. At one point, it was decided to build a new belltower. It was not explained why the decision was made to put the new belltower on top/around the old belltower. So, going up the belltower is actually climbing a ramp that spirals between the inner wall of the new tower and the outer wall of the old tower. The path was about as wide as my shoulders - I am very glad I had left my backpack at the hotel already.
The view from the top was amazing! I'll post pictures later, in a different post. This is the second tallest tower in Bologna, a city with a very large number of towers. The tower houses 4 bells, which are run in "Bolognese-style." This apparently involves the bells rotating a full 360 degrees one way, then returning 360 degrees back. Given that the largest bell is over 3000kg, rotating the bells around makes the entire tower sway. It also takes over 6+ people to ring it, since it is all done by hand.
After the bell tower, I headed to yet another church. This one seemed to have a religious service going on (maybe they were just practicing?) so I left and planned to come back later. However, every time I went back it was filled with people for mass, so I never saw that one. However, next to it there was Santa Caterina's Orataory - this is a small chapel, but most importantly, there are music performances there. I planned to come back for one at 6 PM.
After this, I grabbed a snack and saw more churches. One "church" is actually a rather old church complex, called "New Jerusalem". There was an antique market out front - I managed to not buy any of the antique books. The church complex itself does manage to look like things I saw in Jerusalem, and in the back there is a monastery shop. Here that involved a number of herbal products - unsurprisingly, I bought an herbal tea. I had been very proud of myself for passing a number of tea shops earlier in the day without buying tea, but monastic tea was too exciting to pass on.
I went back for the concert. I didn't know if it was possible to buy a ticket at the door, or how much tickets were. I knew I was running low on cash, but hoped they could take card if the tickets were pricey. At the door I successfully navigated the first part of the conversation in Italian - but then they told me 68. Wow, much more expensive than I expected! Seeing my confusion, they switched to English and said that was the seat number - the ticket price was by donation.
Music: The concert was amazing, and that wasn't the only music I enjoyed in Bologna. What I thought the advert for the concert said was that fugues by Bach were being performed. I hadn't quite understood the instrument - harpsichord! The harpsichord is one of my favorite instruments, and I love Bach's fugues, so this was absolutely a dream for me. I also see now why they are so hard for me to play on piano - this concert was two harpsichordists (both women!) playing together. Besides the concert, I also had heard the pipe organs played in two of the churches I had visited. In one case it appeared as if the normal organ player was practicing, but another time it seemed like a visitor (who was being shown the organ) played. In any case, it was amazing to hear. There was also some very excellent street music in the major squares in the city.
After the concert, I decided to have a proper dinner in a sit down restaurant. A colleague had recommended a specific trattoria - but they were a bit far away. This place appeared to be well-known as one of the best places in Bologna for local food, so I called to see if I could get a reservation. The person who answered the phone didn't speak English, but I managed the situation in Italian - nope, they were full. I asked my hotel front desk for a recommendation and they called and got me a table at the restaurant down the street. I enjoyed some local food and an excellent Italian wine (that I was not familiar with).
Part of why I saw so many churches is that I knew they would be closed to tourists on Sunday. My original itinerary had a variety of museums on the schedule, but I decided instead to focus on the University of Bologna - the oldest university in Europe. I went to their Art and Science museum, which was very interesting. They have a huge collection of model fetuses for teaching OB/GYN - so dozens of different positions, malformations, etc. On the whole, it was creepy!
I then wandered towards the part of the city where I hadn't been yet and where there were canals. I also decided to go to the Modern Art museum. The museum was very good - their permanent collection focused on Italian artists, but they had a special exhibit on a German artist that I was not familiar with. I would describe his work as the visual equivalent of a Philip K Dick novel: very good, disturbing, and it manages to jar your faith in reality.
A few miscellaneous thoughts:
Restaurants: This trip included my first meals at Italian restaurants in Italy, since I really needed to try the food of this region. Both meals were excellent - though I think I failed, both times, at picking two dishes that were allowed to serve as a primo/secondo pair. Other than those meals, I also ate a lot of sandwiches my first day - 3 different times, in fact. They were good, though I'm unsure if any of them were regional specialties. I don't know the names of things like that (and there are different size/types of sandwiches with different names), so ordering those at a bar usually involves me pointing and looking confused.
Italian: I think my Italian serves me fairly well this trip. At one point I saw a sign for an interesting looking "tower tour", and sent an email inquiring if there were spots available for that afternoon (in Italian). I'm sure my Italian wasn't great - and certainly wasn't polite enough - but they replied in Italian (saying the tour wasn't held over the winter). I was also proud of attempting to make a reservation, over the phone, in Italian.
Walking: Unlike Genoa (and Milan, etc), Bologna doesn't have a metro system and didn't seem to have an extensive bus system. Much of the historic district is completely closed to cars, in fact. However, it was very compact and easy to walk everywhere. Also, I wore my hiking shoes this time, rather than my heels.
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