Bologning (i.e. Rome-ing) around Bologna

We made it! After a delayed arrival to Frankfurt and barely making our plane, we arrived in Bologna, Italy!!! Again, we acted like we knew what we were doing and took the Marconi Train and then a bus to the center of town. Our air BNB, 051 Suites is adorable! Located right down the street from the famous Bologna towers (also leaning Italian towers), the common area is covered in all different types of teapots. Rooms are decent size and clean, that’s all I could ask for.

Then we ventured out!! We first stopped for a doppio since neither of us had coffee yet today and I ended up with some type of frozen espresso. It was delicious! Then we ventured to the Quadrilatero Market. This is Bologna’s biggest market and we stumbled upon a deli named Tamburini where they couldn’t have been nicer. We debated what sandwich to get and settled on 2 - one mortadella and one prosciutto sandwich. It may have just been the hunger but it was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Nothing more than a single kind of meat and bread but it was so amazing. Plus, we made a new friend in the deli guy who offered us some fresh parmesan as we were walking away - amazing!

We continued to walk around the city - seeing beautiful churches, the plaza maggiore and Bologna’s famous porticos. We stopped at the hidden window to see Bologna’s hidden canal, but unfortunately the water was all dried up. Let’s hope we don’t have that problem in Venice! We even stumbled into what seemed like the worlds largest clothing and purse knock-off market. Most of the stuff looked like it would fall apart after one or 2 wears so we exited empty-handed and much more quickly than we usually do at a market.

Our legs started getting tired so we found a nice little bar on a cute street and stopped for aperol spritz’s. In Italy, they come with appetizers (here it was olives, and two other unidentifiable items … possibly corn nuts and some cracker that google says is called Taralli) and the whole thing is called aperitivo. It’s a pretty sweet deal.

We finished the evening at La Taverna dei Peccati. Mixed local cheese, lasagna and tagliatelle Ragu (both originated in Bologna) were all a great introduction to Italian cuisine. We had to get the Tiramisu since it was our first night here. I (Carrie) have never been a tiramisu fan, but this was amazing! And because we were in Italy, we finished the evening with raspberry and stracciatella gelato. We ate in the plaza where they were showing some movie from 1945. There were easily a thousand people in that square. Now, off to bed to try to fight the jet lag as quickly as possible.

Day 1 complete - I would call this a great day!

Walking tally for the day: 17k steps, 6.86 miles.Read more