WHY BOLOGNA?

 This year, summer was good in England, not too hot, not too cold, sunny days outnumbering the cloudy ones. It did not feel sensible to go abroad and miss the expansive greenery and the exuberant kaleidoscopic blossom  here. But as the autumn started putting its foot in the door, it became suddenly cold and grey. My desire to catch a few more days of sunshine and warmth became intense like an alcoholic at the closing down time at the pub.  It seemed right to get away from our routine and familiar surroundings for a few days and charge our batteries in preparation to the coming winter.

Choosing the place to go was difficult when there were so many places to choose from. Bibha and I discussed for a few days to decide what we wanted. “Discussed” is a much milder version of what we actually did!

Anyway, we finally decided on what we wanted.

·       Short holiday, 4 to 7 days…. Bibha

·       Away from well-trodden tourist spots…. Prem

·       Warm but not too hot….Bibha

·       Not too far: within 3 hrs flight at most… Prem

·       Relaxing with sightseeing i.e. not a beach holiday but not a big city either... Bibha

·       Served by British airways so that we can use our Avios points (Air Miles).... Prem

It seemed like asking for too much.  But, thanks to the internet and a numerous cups of coffee I came up with two places, Porto and Bologna. Bologna felt much more exiting and less touristy. One other factor was in its favour; availability of good vegetarian food. I am a carnivore but Bibha is an unadulterated vegetarian. Therefore, Bologna it was.

It did not disappoint us. This little town is gem of a city. Bologna is described as la rossa, la grassa, la dotta : the red, the fat and the learned. 

The red, because most of the buildings have typical red tiled roofs and also  for the city's connection with leftist politics. 

The fat, because the city is culinary capital of Italy. The most famous Italian sauce that comes from Bologna is Ragu sauce. It is the life of Spaghetti Bolognese. Bologna is also famous for its meat filled Tortellini and vegetarian Tortelloni.

  

 The learned, because it has the oldest university in the western world, established in 1028 and still running. One of the famous names from Bologna University is Luigi Galvani (1737-1798), every doctor in the world who has ever dissected a frog knows his name.

 The weather in late October is great 16⁰C to 23⁰C, mostly sunny.

 What more does one want from a city!

We went by train to two nearby cities Parma and Modena. From the former come Parmesan cheese and Parma Ham. From the later comes Balsamic Vinegar. Modena is also the home town of Lamborghini and Ferrari

 One of the peculiarity of Bologna is its  porticos. These are 

  veranda like structures running all over the town almost 40 kilometres all together. The longest continuous one is 3.5 kilometres long! They were built in middle ages to enable students and their teachers to walk unhindered everywhere in all weathers. We just walked in the porticos for hours on end. In different areas, they have different architecture and different building materials. They are so fascinating.

We would love to go there again but there are so many other places where we have not yet been!