May 17, 2013 Bologna, Italy

We caught a train to Bologna today and the weather was a bit better. Occasional rain, but it let up a bit in the afternoon. Another not so great experience with the HOHO bus here. It had one line and only ran once an hour. It didn’t automatically stop at the stops unless you rang a bell. The places where you were to meet it weren’t well marked either. Plus, in the middle of the day they took a couple hour break! They have a different company doing their HOHO buses here and the company is called City Red Bus.

Bologna boasts one of the country’s great medieval cityscapes with an eye catching ensemble of red-brick palazzi, Renaissance towers and 40km of arcaded porticoes. The covered walkways were nice with the rain.

We rode the bus all the way around before deciding where to stop off. Then, we got off at Piazza Maggiore to start our walk. We came across a large group of people dressed like they were doing some kind of historical reenactments and that was fun to see the costumes, though they were breaking up as we got there.

Flanked by the world's fifth-largest basilica and a series of impressive Renaissance palazzi, From Bologna's two leaning towers, head southeast along Via Santo Stefano for the Basilica di Santo Stefano, an atmospheric medieval religious complex. Originally there were seven churches – hence the basilica’s nickname Sette Chiese – but only four remain. Entry is via the 11th-century Chiesa del Crocefisso, which houses the bones of San Petronio and leads through to the Chiesa del Santo Sepolcro. This austere octagonal structure probably started life as a baptistry. Next door, the Cortile di Pilato is named after the central basin in which Pontius Pilate is said to have washed his hands after condemning Christ to death.

back in the olden days did they have selfies?

We had lunch of paninis and sat outside enjoying them. We waited and waited for a bus to come and it never did. I jokingly said, maybe they are on a lunch break. Greg checked the schedule and sure enough we have another hour to wait. We walked and walked trying to find gelato and finally found some!





Most of the sites were walkable, but again the weather wasn’t that great until late in the afternoon. We took the HOHO to the top and walked from San Michele in Bosco down the hill through the forest on the path to the next bus stop.

Dominating the piazza’s southern flank, the Gothic Basilica di San Petronio is Bologna’s greatest church. Dedicated to the city’s pat­ron saint and it’s the world’s fifth-largest basilica.

The Chiesa di San Francesco was one of the first churches in Italy to be built in the French Gothic style. Features include the tomb of Pope Alexander V and a remarkable 14th-century marble altarpiece depicting sundry saints and scenes from the life of St Francis.

 

 

We walked through a park that was quite nice and then had dinner of Tagliatelle Bolognese and Gnocchi with Ham, but they were just so so. It was a shame to come to the food capital of Italy and not find a good restaurant, but all my research was in Florida.





I hadn’t felt well all day and the gloomy weather made for a mediocre day. It is a beautiful city and would have been delightful if we could have walked about without rain.

We took the train back to Venice and went to our favorite place for gelato. We found one close to the hotel that had really dark chocolate with fresh orange and killer hazelnut flavor. Greg got a dark chocolate rum and tried a couple of others as well. I tried a Snickers one and it was just OK.

It was time to call it a night and get ready for our last day in Venice.