Bologna -

Saturday, Sept 25th, 2015

Today we sadly left the incredible Venice.  Our next destination is Bologna, 94 miles away.

We arrived at the campsite a little before noon and after setting up and lunch; we set off on a bus to enjoy a tour of the city.

  Metropolitana di San Pietro or called the Bascilia of San Petronio
the interior was definitely Baroque style

I really don’t remember the specifics of the city other than it is the 7th most populated city in Italy, and that some parts of it were built around 1000 something B.C.  Wow!  Now that is REALLY old!

After the tour we were left to explore the city.  We were given bus passes and detailed instructions on pieces of paper ( smart people )how to find the bus stop to get back.

Outside the Cathedral.  You can see where the bottom part was finished by covering it with marble.  They ran out of money half way up.  Parts of this building date back to the 16th century, most was built in the 17th.

Ten of us stopped and had a cheese and meat platter and really good Italian wine at the neatest sidewalk café.  Norm and I paired up with another couple from California to find some true Italian cuisine, and the others were looking for a more economical fare.

Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, Italy

What do you think?  Shall we try this way this time?

Well, the tourist maps were horrific!  Most streets were not listed, it was not to scale, and the men did not want to listen to their wives!  What a recipe of getting lost!  We walked miles, and always ending up at the same English Pub!  What?  ? We also learned restaurants don’t even open their doors until 7:30 pm!  Are you Serious?


 We finally stumbled on a place that was open although it did not have the atmosphere we were looking for. The menus were Italian, and the waiters spoke very little English. What we were served was not what we expected at all, but was quite good nevertheless.  At that point,we were so tired, we really didn’t care.

We finally got home, and was surprised my pedometer only read 15,000 steps.  Don’t we get extra bonus points for walking on cobblestone?

One of the several streets we walked again and again.

It was so hard to pass all this up - but we didn't want to carry it around all day.

The fresh food markets were incredible.  Stores close for a period of time then open at 3:30.  Restaurants don't open until
7:30 PM!