|
From Benevello to Bologna
by road and high-speed train
|
|
|
|
| |
Sadly, it was time to
leave the lovely Piedmont countryside, but we were excited
too, thinking of our next destination, Bologna and more
culinary experiences in the Emilia Romagna region. Geoff
was also looking forward to travelling on an Italian high-speed
train. We had a leisurely last breakfast and a stroll around
the grounds before our driver picked us up at 11:15. |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
Our driver was the same
man who had sped us here on Friday evening and we braced
ourselves for another fast drive to Turin station. Fortunately,
the traffic was light and he seemed to sense that we were
apprehensive, so the journey wasn't as bad as we feared
and in just less than an hour and a half we had been dropped
off at Turin's Porta Nuova station. |
|
| |
With almost and hour
to kill, Geoff set off to do some train spotting. He found our train. |
|
| |
Italy has an extensive
network of high speed trains. Our route today is highlighted. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
For much of the journey,
we were travelling at 295 km/h. I hoped we might hit 300, but we
didn't. |
|
| |
Free snacks and prosecco! |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
We arrived on time
at 3:40 pm. Our driver was waiting for us and within ten minutes
we were at the hotel. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
The hotel seemed to
be a bit soulless and even though we like "minimalist",
it seemed a little too minimal! It was just as well that
we had a busy schedule and wouldn't need to spend too much
time here. We were also disappointed with our room, which
was very small and only had one standard double bed. There
wasn't even a wardrobe, just a hook on a wall with three
hangers for our clothing. Twenty minutes after arriving,
we headed back downstairs to the foyer to start our walking
tour of the city. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Our guide, Fabio, was
waiting for us in the foyer. He expressed surprise to learn
that we weren't American. When he heard that we came from
London, he was delighted and said how much he loved everything
British. He was quite a character and we knew that we were
going to get along well with him. |
|
| |
|
| |
Almost as soon as we
set off on our walking tour, it started to rain, but we
were not going to be deterred and Fabio had lots that he
wanted to show us! |
|
| |
Towers feature prominently
amongst Bologna's attractions. There are around 20 of them
still visible, but there may have been up to 180 in the
12th/13th centuries, according to one source I checked. |
|
|
|
| |
Piazza Maggiore |
|
| |
Neptune statue |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Palazzo d'Accursio
(town hall) |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Basilica di San Petronio |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Bologna University
- unfortunately, we were too late to visit the Anatomical Theatre. |
|
|
| |
The market quarter |
|
| |
|
| |
At the back of this
delicatessen was a restaurant, which we would come back to later. |
|
| |
Piazza San Stefano |
|
| |
Basilica di San Stefano |
|
| |
The "three arrows"
building |
|
| |
By 7:45pm, we had been on our feet for three
and a half hours (most of it in the rain) and not having
had much of a lunch on the train, we were really tired and
hungry. Our guide, on the other hand, still seemed to be
full of energy, despite this being his third tour of the
day! We suggested, quite strongly, that we had had enough.
"Oh, but you haven't had the local food tasting yet.
It is included in the tour", he said.
This is the local food "tasting"
platter. We decided that it would
be our dinner!
Tomorrow was going to be another full day
and we needed to get some rest, so after eating as much
as we could, we said goodbye to Fabio, walked back to our
hotel and went straight to sleep.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
