Full of Bologna

We cleaned up the apartment and meet up with Giorgio at 11 am. He kindly called us a cab (no hailing in Italy!) and saw us off. We made it to the train station with time to spare, and soon found our platform.

The train ride was only 35 minutes and because we were on a high speed train, it mostly went through tunnels. This was a bit disappointing as we were hoping to see the view. Anyway, we arrived in Bologna at 12:35 and got a cab rather quickly. We were taken to our hotel, Porta San Mamolo and were, thankfully, allowed to check in early. Our hotel is quirky as it's a series of small buildings in one complex. Our room is very nice and had huge wood beams running through the ceiling.

After settling in, we walked to the central market, which is way smaller than the one in Florence. We ate at a small restaurant that specialized in tartare. I had a tuna tartare burger; Brad had a salad with anchovies; and Evan chose the make your own sandwich option. Then we toured around the town square for a bit. Bologna is much different than Rome and Florence, the buildings seem more medieval and less Renaissance. There are 40 km of porticos to protect people from the heat as well, which is helpful! Also they don't have the super narrow sidewalks, which we are pleased about!

We decided to book tickets to climb the 496 steps to the top of the Torre degli Asinelli. We could only get a 4:15 time slot, so we grabbed a quick coffee to pass 45 minutes. Then, it was climbing time! The Tower is 97.2 m high and that equals a lot of steps! We climbed and climbed and eventually reached the top platform where we had a lovely view of Bologna! It was pretty tight at the top, but we managed to see all the vantage points. Then we had to climb down, which was much more challenging than up because some of the staircases were so steep. Evan was not so keen on the heights and he said that his lunch might reach the bottom before he did! Hahaha! In the end, he was fine.

It was getting late and we had to head back to the hotel in order to get ready for dinner, so we made our way back along the winding roads.Read more