A visit to Ferrara

After a leisurely breakfast at the station cafe we hopped on a local train to Ferrara. We have fond memories of doing this from Bologna 11 years ago in early February. It is a very nice town, but we were a bit disappointed that the beautiful pink and white striped marble cathedral is closed for renovation and even the facade all blocked off in the centre…I found the photo from 2011 and it looked so different on a winter afternoon, everyone rugged up (and no scaffolding) - very contrasting from the bright sunlight of today. Also today was market day and there were stalls along every street in the centre (these were clothes stalls, not fruit and veg) so hard to see any building properly. But lots of hustle and bustle and very pleasant.

We meandered round - there are lots of old old buildings - and when we decided to wander back to the station it was end of school time and happy chaos in the streets as they all headed to buses and trains….and quite a lot of people heading off for the weekend.

Now back relaxing …we have taken advantage of our spacious room here to do lots of washing - we can hang it invisibly in the open on our balcony, and it all dries very quickly. So a clean start tomorrow when we get the train back to Rome for 2 nights. We had hoped to stay in the same hotel Argentina in Rome once we discovered how handy and nice it was, but when we asked 2 weeks ago for the extra days they were booked out…so we have booked another place, also on via Cavour, just opposite Argentina. It is (dubiously) called Audrey’s Roman Holiday!!! But it sounded nice, so will report on that tomorrow. Tonight we have actually booked a restaurant called Diana where we have been many years ago, and being Friday, and judging by the many people eating out each night, we thought it wise to book. Will report on that too.

Just have to add that we are now back from Diana (where we had lunch in 1991 with Paul and Omnia) and what a great night! It is now quite a posh upmarket restaurant (maybe it was then, but we don’t remember it like that!)…anyway, it was wonderful. A change from the places we have dined in the last few days, which though fun, were not elegant. Tonight was relaxed enough, but a real restaurant, and the food was fab and it was fun watching the whole place throb! (And it wasn’t much more expensive than the other places, even including a Sangiovese riserva ….we were treated to a Prosecco and amuse bouche on arrival, and then Amr had a bollito misto with a salsa verde (a selection of boiled meat - divine for Amr!) and I had veal with porcini mushroom sauce, and we had grilled vegetables…SOOO good. We prolonged the experience as long as possible, with dessert and coffee (Amr)…an excellent night.Read more