Bologna

By the time our train pulled into the station in Bologna, Andrea and I were famished. Thankfully, we came to the right place. Bologna is known for its rich and diverse cuisine, the perfect city for foodies like us. We immediately headed in the direction of a Libanese restaurant that Andrea knew had good reviews, a twenty minute walk away. All along the way, through narrow streets decorated with smooth tiles and more graffiti than I’d like, we passed restaurants that made our mouths water.

“Oh that pasta place looks good. Mmmm look at that! Whoa poke sounds amazing right now… Check out this little Chinese restaurant. Okay those hamburgers look kinda sad…” We had about five back-up plans by the time we made it to our destination. And a good thing too, because when we set eyes on the place, all we had to do was make eye-contact, nod and walk away.

We decided to go back to little shop with similar cuisine but much more color, a line of customers, and fresh hummus, eggplant, and kebab on display. It turned out to be a good catch.

As I took a bite into my toasted falafel wrap with warmed goat cheese, leafy greens, pickles, pickled beats, fried eggplant, garlic sauce, onion, and the surprising mint leaves that magically tied all the flavors together with an elegance that almost brought me to tears; I wasn’t shocked to look up and see a framed news paper claiming this spot to be the best in Bologna. I heartily agreed. The men working the place were kind and helpful, and the food was absolutely to die for and reasonably priced!

It might seem like a crime that I was in Italy and didn’t order an Italian dish, but I’m convinced that Maria’s pastas are probably better than anything I could order out anyway. The falafel was a nice change of pace for my taste palette.

Bologna, like every city here, had lots of personality and special touches. There is a canal street called La Piccola Venezia (Little Venice).

Andrea wanted to see the University in Bologna because she learned that it is the oldest university still functioning in the world! We happened upon the music district of the university and spent a bit listening to the students practice for an upcoming concert.

We walked into a building titled Anthropology, first just looking for more information on the college. We accidentally found a museum and spent some time looking at dead animals. The taxidermy wasn’t the best I’ve seen, and some of the animals looked a little too dead. But it was fascinating!

Unfortunately the animal exhibit temporarily desensitized me because when we walked out onto the street and saw run-over pigeon roadkill, I noted nonchalantly, “Look it’s another bird.”

The architecture of Bologna was impressive. The two tower must be very old because they were definitely leaning. The Duomo was the biggest one I’ve walked into yet.

You shouldn’t be surprised that my favorite part of the city was the gelato. We all saw this coming. But this gelato really was something else. Aside from the bold, salty pistachio flavor and creamy chocolate darker than a secret… the ambiance of the place was memorable. This gelateria is called La Vecchia Stalla (The Old Barn). I can attest that it was next-level.