Well it took a while but Bologna finally won us over. We were up bright and early so that we could take the 9am bus into town. The bus runs from the campground every two hours, and we thought 11 was a little too late to start the day. Also, we were nervous after the strike yesterday and wanted to make sure we had time to find an alternatvie way if the bus didn’t show.
After yesterdays drama with the transit strike we were relieved when the bus rolled up to the stop 10 minutes before nine. The campground is the beginning of the route so we knew we had 10 minutes to wait. 6 of us got on the bus and took out seats. Unfortunately, the drama with busses in Bologna wasn’t over. The busses in most of Europe work on an honor system, no one checks your ticket when you get on the bus, they do periodic sweeps where they get on a bus and check everyone’s ticket, the fine is substantial if you do not produce a ticket. On this trip we have only been checked once. One guy got on the bus with a dog and clearly didn’t have a ticket as you have to time stamp it when you get on. Then he sat down and immediately began to blast crappy techno music from his phone. Everyone was tolerating this behavior until he began to shout at the driver of the bus to get going even though it wasn’t 9am yet. The bus driver told him to shut up and turn his phone down, he then got in a shouting match with the driver until the driver opened the doors of the bus and told him to get off, he continued to shout at the driver and refused to get off. I then noticed the driver pushing a button on a computer panel in front of him, probably indicating he had a problem. 9am came and went and we were in a standoff between this jerk and the bus driver. He finally turned the music off on his phone, just as the bus driver got a radio call from dispatch, but while the driver spoke to dispatch and closed the doors in anticipation of leaving, the jerk got a call on his phone which resulted in him getting in a shouting match at the top of his lungs with whoever was on the other side of the call. This was too much for the driver who again opened the door, shut down the bus, and stood up and told the guy to get off the bus, this prompted another tirade from the jerk. I don’t speak Italian but I got the gist of the next part from the driver which was you don’t have a ticket, the dog doesn’t have a ticket and you are causing a disruption so if you don’t get off the bus I am calling the police. At this point the jerk got off and we began a tense drive into Bologna.
We got off at the train station and I went to the front of the bus and thanked the driver before heading into the city. Our first stop was the little Venice. Bologna used to have a series of canals that ran thru the city, most of them have been paved for roads, but one canal remains. We were told to get there early before the tours arrived which was part of the reason for our early start. We found it on a pretty nondescript street. You view the canal thru a window cut in a wall we probably would have missed it except there was a tour taking turns peering thru the window. When we looked thru we almost laughed, the canal was completely dry, talk about a tourist trap.
We found the main street and just before we got to the main square we saw a series of stalls for an agricultural cooperative near the city. We walked over to see what they were selling and it was a mix of different products the region was famous for. What we didn’t catch until the end was that these farmers were here as part of a campaign to help a bunch of farms that have been subject to two serious floods in the last year. One was about 9 months ago which was described as a 100 year flood, and just as they were recovering from that one, they were flooded out again 2 weeks ago. On our to do list today was to pick up some Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese that this region is famous for. Ton noticed that for a €15 donation you received a nice block of the cheese. When I asked the guy if they took a credit card he apologized but said no. We had a nice conversation with him and he explained about the floods. As the conversation wrapped up he asked if we would mind being interviewed for their website. A couple of minutes later their social media guy showed up and I did a couple of minute interview, though I doubt it made the cut on the final edition. While I was being interviewed Ton talked to a nice gentleman who worked for the Co-op who had visited Portland when he was in high school because Portland is a sister city of Bologna, something neither one of us knew. So now we know why Ton was drawn to Bologna it is our sister city.
The cathedral in Bologna is striking because it is unusual. The lower half is done in marble, but the upper half is done in brick. It makes for an interesting exterior that is to me more striking than the standard cathedral.
The interior of the cathedral is as rich in appearance as any we have seen, though it feels a little less ornate than many of the Italian cathedrals. It appears this was an artistic choice, not an economic one. The interior is huge, one of the biggest we have visited, the story is that the Pope demanded that the original plans be scaled down as it was going to be bigger than St. Peters in Rome. In fact I was startled to find they were having a mass at the front of the cathedral while visitors were still allowed to visit the back of the cathedral. It is big enough to allow that to happen as they are usually closed to the public during mass.
The cathedral has a large fresco depicting Dantes vision of heaven and hell. It is incredibly detailed and quite large and really stands out in the otherwise relatively sparsely decorated cathedral.
Bologna’s significant architectural feature is the Portico covered walkways of the city. They have the most covered streets in Europe and the Porticoes are now featured as a UNESCO site for the city. They are really nice, and practical as you are separated from vehicle traffic, you are covered from the rain and when it is hot you have a shaded place to walk. We really appreciated them as we navigated the town.
The other reason we were looking forward to Bologna was to try the pasta sauce they are world famous for Bolognese Sauce. Every American is familiar with this sauce as it is the most common Italian Pasta Sauce in the US. In Bologna this sauce is referred to as Ragu, which of course is the brand name of one of the biggest producers of Bolognese in the US. They are also famous for a green Lasangne. So we spent the better part of an hour wandering from restaurant to restaurant looking for the perfect one. We had several on the maybe list when we came across the one we wanted to try. Unfortunately, they required reservations.
So we decided to head back to the very first one we came across. After doubling back a good distance we had walked enough to allow us a good sized lunch.
By the time we returned the place was packed with customers, but we found a nice table on the inside where we could watch the food being prepared. Simoni is famous for its charcuterie plate so we ordered one intending it to be our appetizer. When the plate arrived we knew that we would not be ordering much more food.
The restaurant was a well oiled machine so in addition to enjoying our excellent plate of meat and cheese we got to watch an efficient kitchen and wait staff at work. Also our table was on the path to the bathroom so the people watching was quite fun. We did order a small bowl of meatballs with Ragu sauce so we did complete our quest. The green lasagne will have to wait for another day.
Our last stop for the day was the university. Bologna University is the oldest continuously operating University in the world dating back to 1088. The campus is located in the center of the city. The university district is full of charming Porticos and imposing buildings. We had hoped to visit the library as it is quite beautiful but it was closed on Sunday.
By now the town was really busy. It turns out this weekend is the Saint of the cities weekend so it is a local holiday, so the locals were out in force along with the tourists. It was getting a little too crowded for us so we headed back to the campground on a pleasantly unremarkable bus ride.
So Bologna won us over after a rough start. I can tell Ton likes a place by the volume of pictures she sends me to consider for the blog. She liked Bologna as I got a large number of pictures after she spent over an hour considering which ones to forward. It had everything we like in a city. Good food, interesting and unique buildings, a very walkable downtown core, and (mostly) good and charming people. On top of that it is the sister city of our hometown, a sister we didn’t know existed until today.