Bologna Day 1

I left a piece of my heart in Mantua. It's Mantova in Italian, but Mantua colloquially or in Latin. It has gorgeous buildings in interesting laneways, is not too busy, and we did not see a single monster tour bus for 4 days. I would happily trade places with Romeo and be banished to Mantua.

Most notable event was Grace fell in the bus this morning. One moment she was standing with the suitcase, next moment she was at the feet of an old lady, bum down legs and arms flailing with the purple suitcase and the older lady's handbag on top of her. Fortunately old lady and Grace were not hurt. There was much commotion on the bus, with many seats offered to her. I returned the handbag to the old lady, made sure she and Grace were fine, righted the suitcase, got off the bus and CRACKED UP LAUGHING ! Nothing was hurt, not even the crackers in her backpack that she landed on.

Our host in Bologna kindly allowed us to drop our bags of at the apartment, use the toilet and wifi. Of course we had a chat and found out that he manages 10 Airbnbs in Bologna. He personally checks every apartment after the cleaners and before check in.

Lunch was at I Matti Della Polenta, a small cafe serving polenta and piadine, flatbread sandwiches. You choose the polenta (fried, grilled or plain) the sauce, and cheese if you want. We were helped by Marco who explained the different cheeses and helped us match it to the topping. I had plain polenta with salciccia, which is crumbled sausage meat without the skin much like well seasoned minced meat, and gorgonzola cheese. Grace had just plain polenta and mushrooms. It was the best, smooth tastiest polenta. Like the best Italian food, it was simply prepared with good ingredients and just so tasty.

We decided that we were too tired, and headed back to the apartment but could not resist walking into a patisccheria. The enthusiastic young man recommended a large bun with cream, called Marotozzi. We succumbed, and were rewarded with another delight of our tastebuds. We came back to our apartment at 3.20pm to rest. No sightseeing today.

Dinner will be fresh handmade pasta and sauce we bought from a little shop on the way back, and spinach from COOP supermarket.

One of Bologna's many nicknames is la Grassa, The Fat One. We fear that may also apply to us when we leave this city after 4 nights.

Distance walked 6.4kmRead more