Did you know "ciao" meant hello and goodbye? It was one of the many things Copeland and I learned while in Bologna, Italy this weekend! We had an amazing time. The food, the history, and the experience made Bologna one trip I will never forget (and one trip I will have to take again)!
I have to say, at first I was a little worried because we almost missed the bus to the airport, which would have been the perfect start to our first solo trip. Luckily we ran after the bus and the rest of our weekend was smooth sailing. We arrived in Bologna a little after 8 on Friday and arrived at Arcoveggio Hotel after realizing we probably should have brushed up on our Italian. It was so funny how we resorted to Spanish so much! I kept catching myself saying "hola," "gracias," and "perdón," instead of "ciao," "grazie," and "scusi," and even before "hello," "thank you," and "excuse me." I made me realize how much I am actually getting used to being in Spain.
We went to a popular wine bar and restaurant with live jazz called Cantina Bentivoglio. It was something I will remember FOREVER! When we walked in it looked like a cozy restaurant with tons of old and dusty wine bottles lining all of the walls. The hostess asked if we were interested in the jazz show, which we were, of course. When she opened the big wooden door in the back of the restaurant Copeland and I instantly smiled at each other with excitement- the jazz bar was tucked underground, lit by candles stuck in top of wine bottles, and filled with locals enjoying the music. The band, The Larry Willis Trio, was fantastic, and I felt like I could appreciate it so much after taking a jazz class at UNC last year. We ordered traditional tagliatelle al ragu' bolognese for me, insalata mista for Copeland, and bruschetta and a bottle of prosecco to share :) For dessert we ordered coppa al mascarpone con cacao e cioccolato and mousse al cioccolato con biscotto alle mandorle (mascarpone and chocolate and coco powder and chocolate mousse with an almond cookie). Every. Single. Bite. Was. AMAZING! We sat and drank and eat and listened until about 1:15 when we walked back to the hotel, reviewing every detail.
On Saturday we got an early start with a delicious and fresh breakfast buffet at the hotel. We walked into town to do a little sightseeing: Piazza Maggiore, Fontana di Nettuno, San Petronio Basilica, The Two Towers, and The University of Bologna. It was all beautiful. The Basilica is the 5th largest in the world; I would have taken pictures but it was not allowed. I guess you all will have to go and see it for yourself! There are tons of towers in Bologna and the two most famous are right beside each other. One is called Garisenda and it is leaning pretty badly so its just to look at :) The other is called Asinelli and you climb to the top, which we did. It was a 98 meter hike up the most narrow staircases you can imagine. We definitely had to take a couple breathers but we made it to the top (where it was freeeeezing!) and got a great view of Bologna. We were a little frightened on the way up because the stairs were so steep and narrow; the way down is a lot worse. We held on the railing for dear life and made it back to solid, but still very cold, ground. We got lunch at a little place Copeland found in her Lets Go Europe travel guide called Osteria dell'Orsa. It was very authentic with the menu only in Italian and communal seating . We ordered what we thought would be good considering we couldn´t read the menu and were pleasantly surprised with a panini for me and basically a bruschetta salad for Copeland. Yum. Being in Italy we were looking forward to getting some gelato, of course, and we had done our homework. Il Gelatauro was a small and traditional cafe and gelateria known to have some of the best gelato in Italy. I couldn´t describe the texture and/or taste of the three flavors we ordered: dark chocolate, cannoli (with bits of the cannoli shell mixed in), and pumpkin spice! Ahhh it was amazing, but again you'll HAVE to go yourself to really understand. Oh, and don't worry I would love to go with you and show you all of these little gems ;) While exploring we came upon some really loud disco/rap music and decided to see what was going on. It turns out there was a character by the name of Beppe Maniglia (as we found out from the cards his minions passed out) who had a rather large stereo system connected to his motorcycle. He also had a microphone and seemed to know every beat to the tunes but never started rapping. He had two little sidekicks, who were extremely old to be hanging around a motorcycle rapping superstar. The card they gave us with Beppe's picture had to have been at least 30 years old considering in the photo Beppe was in his late 20's and the Beppe in front of our faces had to be 50-some. He did not age gracefully. After some more exploring we went back to the hotel to warm up and freshen up for dinner. We went to a place called Bravo Caffe, which also had live jazz. It was really modern and great change from the night before. When we sat down the waiter filled us up with some champagne, homemade meatballs, and freshly baked (in-house) bread--and that was before we ordered anything! Copeland and I both ordered tortellini because after staring at them all day we decided it was a must! We were right. The dinner was topped off with cappuccinos and dessert while the band played. We ordered an Italian Trifle and Chocolate Layer Cake with crushed coffee beans....wow! We savored every bite, knowing it would be our last italian meal before we headed home to Sevilla.
We got a great nights sleep after walking about 20 miles throughout the day and woke up to another wonderful breakfast. We wanted to make sure we got into town early to get a couple more things checked off of our to-do list: the Archeological Museum and MORE GELATO! We walked outside and it was SNOWING! It was so beautiful especially dusted on all of the statues and architecture. We stopped for some cappuccinos to warm up and then went on a tour of the Archeological Museum. Great thing about Bologna- almost every site is free- we only spent 3 euro and that was to climb the tower, which was well worth it. The museum was great with rooms containing Roman, Greek, Spanish, and Egyptian treasures. I definitely liked the Egyptian floor the best; it had mummies, tombs, caskets, and all kinds of jewelry. The only problem was EVERYTHING was in Italian...so we guessed what each little artifact was used for and what everything was exactly :) I think we were right but what we thought was a piece of jewelry could have very well been an ancient weapon! We had a great time anyway and when we were done we both knew the last thing we had to do before heading on the bus to the airport...GELATO! We had into another place on the internet the night before called Gelateria Gianni because it had won a lot of awards and supposedly had some pretty crazy flavors. Even though it was snowing we knew we couldn't leave Bologna without one more gelato excursion so we found Gelateria Gianna where we were the first and only customers (which may have been do to the fact that it was 11 am and snowing...not sure though). I ordered another dark chocolate (SO RICH AND DELICIOUS), mascarpone with cocoa, and inferno (this was one of their innovative flavors: white chocolate, dark cherries, chocolate chunks, and vanilla wafers!!!!) it was definitely the "icing on the cake." A perfect end to a perfect weekend.
We marched happily to the bus stop and headed toward the airport, but of course not without an extremely odd coincidence...while sitting on the bus I had my luggage in my lap and two girls (also speaking english) sat across from us. One saw my luggage tag and told me she too was from Raleigh! It doesn't end there- she asked me what high school I went to and I told her Millbrook and she exclaimed, "I graduated from Millbrook in 2000!!" So in the small city of Bologna on an airport bus thousands of miles from the United States, North Carolina, or Raleigh I found someone who graduated from the same high school as me! Small world. We chatted a little bit about old teachers and she told us that she now teaches english in Cadiz, Spain and has been for three years. She was traveling with another teachers (from Massachusetts), her spanish boyfriends, and a couple of his friends. Anyway we got to the airport and surprisingly, even though it was snowing our flight was not delayed and we made it back to Sevilla in time for a little rest before dinner.
It was definitely I weekend I will never forget from the friendly Italians we met (two gay guys-one was a waiter at Bravo Caffe and his husband/boyfriend befriended us after dancing to the live jazz in the middle of the restaurant) to the delectable Italian food and everything in between (the snow and sights). It definitely made me excited for the trips to come this semester and confident that I can travel around on the trips without tour groups, adults, or a travel agent. Can't wait for what's to come!
Arrivederci,
Amanda
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