Another Saturday, another adventure… This time a group of us decided to take a day trip to Bologna, a charming Italian city known for its university and, of course, Bolognese sauce! Early Saturday morning we biked to the train station and jumped on the first train bound for Bologna. We were all busy admiring the cleanliness of the train when the controllare came over to collect our tickets. I handed him my ticket and was immediately told to fork over an extra 8 euro for getting on the wrong train. Apparently in all the excitement of the morning we had gotten on the wrong train (we can blame it partly on Joe… he has a bad track record with trains, just reread my Arezzo/Assisi post! 😉 haha just kidding, Joe)–still going in the right direction, but much more expensive. We’re getting better at making mistakes! Luckily the controllare’s payment machine broke so we were able to jump off the train at the next stop and get onto the train we were supposed to be on without paying the extra 8 euro!
Bologna was a beautiful city of arcade-lined streets and rich colors. Although Bologna is a big city by Italian standards, it still had the small town charm where you could see Italians and fewer tourists filling the streets. As we walked away from the train station we walked through a pretty park full of fall colors. I absolutely love autumn here. It’s just like autumn in New England except without the drastic temperature drop. Italian fall actually feels like fall! How crazy is that?!
the stereotypical Italian woman leaning on the windowsill to watch the people below
the turtle fountain in the park
the Saturday morning marketplace
This was the sight I saw most in Bologna…Cailin and the Joes were always stopping to consult the map!
so many arcades and they all looked different in color and style!
Neptune’s Fountain in Piazza Maggiore
part of Piazza Maggiore
As we neared Piazza Maggiore we started to notice large crowds of people and big charter buses with dozens of bikes piled up around them. Needless to say we were very confused… until we reached the piazza. At the “entrance” to the piazza stood a bright yellow arch and two fences running back into the piazza to form a pathway that cut underneath the arch. We had just stumbled upon an annual bike race that begins in Bologna! I don’t watch cycling regularly, but I’ve been told by my friend Charlotte (she’s at BC now but she saw pictures) that we saw some really big cycling teams… I didn’t even know and they were standing less than 10 feet from me!
watching the introduction of the racing teams!
Walking into festivals, races and other events accidentally is one of my favorite parts of traveling. It’s an unexpected chance to see the towns in all their glory, prepared for visitors and still authentic. Although this wasn’t as exciting as St. Andrew’s festival in Amalfi last summer, it was still fun to stop and watch for 15 minutes.
After watching the bikers get introduced and finally begin the race we walked through Bologna, making sure we saw the university and the two leaning towers…
one of the leaning towers (the other was covered by scaffolding–you can see part of it there on the right)… We didn’t climb either tower; according to local legend, if you climb the tower you won’t graduate!
I absolutely loved the colors of the buildings.
Piazza del Porta Ravegnana– the piazza that the two towers stand in
every day Italian life ❤
The University of Bologna is the oldest university in Europe so it was really cool to be there, even though we didn’t see any buildings that looked that old. Obviously they restore/update/rebuild the buildings of the school on a regular basis to give the students a nice school. Everything was beautiful, even the graffiti that covered the walls. Students definitely weren’t afraid to deface their campus with their political views or random thoughts. Yet the graffiti didn’t detract from the scholarly feel of the area… it almost seemed to add to it because the graffiti usually meant something (rather than just tagging the artist’s name). The University of Bologna and surrounding area reminded me so much of Yale and New Haven (the pretty parts, of course). I loved it. I got a taste of home without having to travel across the Atlantic. 🙂
BC kids take over Uni. Bologna!
(this picture could’ve been taken anywhere in New Haven)
Besides its homey feel, my favorite part of Bologna was the colors of the buildings!
When we were done walking through the university buildings (there’s no actual campus for most European universities), we headed to a restaurant called Cesari that Joe C. had found online. It definitely lived up to the reviews that he saw… it was so delicious!!!
the main attraction in Bologna… pasta with Bolognese sauce!!
the group from L to R: Phoebe, Cailin, Joe R., Patrice (my friend from BC who’s studying in Milan… I randomly bumped into her in the train station in Bologna and she tagged along with us for the day!), Joe C…. missing from the picture are Tommy and myself
Tommy’s so happy because he got the Grom gelato that he’d been bugging us for all day 🙂
my extra-dark chocolate and salty caramel gelato… yummmmmyyyy 😀
After our late lunch/dinner we took an earlier train back home to Parma because we had run out of (free) things to do. Most of our time in Bologna was spent just walking around and exploring, but we (or at least I) had so much fun doing it. Plus, it’s always nice to go somewhere with a different group of people and get to know them better!
one of the 12 ancient gates to the city (from the inside)
waving good bye to Bologna from outside the gate
Adventures with Alyssa 