Italy - Bologna

Bologna is probably my favourite city so far. That's no Baloney HAAAAAAAA... no yeah. It's a smallish city that's located right in the heart of Italy. As such most trains pass through there on their transit so I decided to stop over for a few days while I plan from there. Didn't plan a thing and as it turns out ended up staying 3 nights instead.

(Projection on face. Reason enough to stay)

I guess if I had to say why it's my favourite city so far I'd have to say;

- It's small (everywhere is easily walkable)
- The hostel I was at was amazing. Very autonomous, central and had cool people.
- It's touristy but not very much so. Hardly so.
- Lots to do that ISN'T a cathedral or church.
- I had some sublime weather while I was there.

Let me elaborate. A long time ago (I learned, and subsequently forgot the year) Bologna had a massive wall around the outside which as a matter of principle kept it quite small. It's expanded a bit since then obviously but not very much so. A walk to the other side of town would take maybe 20 minutes?

(Unless you accidentally got caught up drinking here)

And it's because of the size that gives the city that kind of liveliness. Almost all streets will have something happening on them. Shops, people, plazas etc. It didn't have that kind of derelict feel some cities get when you walk into the wrong areas. It is essentially a university town (one of the first uni's in Europe) so there is a huge presence of young people and with that has come a lot of cheap shops and alternative bars and cafes.

Things I did in Bologna:

Climbed the super tall tower in the middle of town that's over 900 years old. It's really tall you guys. Really old too. Much older than I am. Much taller too.

(View from the top you guyzzzz)

Went to the anatomical wax museum. No Marilyn Monroe's here ... just wax models of conjoined twins, numerous (numerousss) birth defects, limbs without skin, organ structures and much more. I found myself talking to the nice man who curates it and as conversation dried up we found ourself looking at wax models of semi-hermaphroditic sexual organs. Awesome!

(deformed child skeleton BOY BAND)

Hauled ass up a butt load of steps to reach a cathedral on the hill. Had some friends for this challenge and we bought 3 bottles of red wine (Blood of Christ) to give us the energy we needed. A giant gate blocked us at the top. It was closed. I feel they should have a sign or something at the bottom to stop this exact scenario from playing out.

Went to the museum of the history of Bologna. There was like a 3D video, some cool imagery, splashes of modern art but it was essentially a history museum which was a bit of a massive drainer. I liked at the end though how they want to accumulate all the stories people have of Bologna. You can put a post-it note saying whatever you want onto a big map of Bologna. I won't tell you my contribution but it's up there.

(contributastic!)

They don't eat Spaghetti Bolognese here (a fact that they looooove to tell foreigners) instead it's tagliatelle al ragu. For me ragout is like a thick, rich, tomato-y sauce. I think in Italian it just means minced meat with a few spices which they plonk on pasta. It's good but I just wanted some more sauce. Something to really lube up the pasta. You know? yeah.

On top of all this they've got these really nifty porticos all throughout the city which are like undercover hallways running along every street. So if necessary you could walk all over the city while it's raining without getting wet. Fortunately for me though the weather was beautiful.

(Don't ask me why one is leaning. I didn't make it)

As it turns out, as soon as I left Bologna to go to Parma the weather turned crappy and I just got completely saturated on my way back from sight seeing in Parma. Let me just say my blog about Parma is going to be quite short. Look forward to it!


PS.
Now I'm actually off to do a kind of farm stay. I registered on a website but didn't want to pay the 20 euro membership fee to contact anyone but as luck would have it a man has approached me to help him fix his boat in return for a room and food. He lives by Lake Como if you want to research it. It'll be around two weeks then I'll be off to the UK to start working! Good job Italy! I've still got Parma and Cinque Terre so I'll space them out over the next two weeks. Good time management Kris!