The Travels of Eric and Lorna

Our time in Bologna ended on Monday the 24th, sadly.  I must say that I really enjoyed Bologna, and would urge anyone interested in seeing a real Italian city to go there.  It might not have the historic sights of, say, a Rome (what city does?) but it's friendly and comfortable, and the food is amazing.  This is real life Italy. Other things we did there include the Archaeological Museum of Bologna (of course), and the Museum of Modern Art .  The archaeological museum was good, if a little old.  It lacked much English translations of things, but had a very nice collection of Egyptian and, particularly, Etruscan artifacts.  They also had the largest collection of Greek pottery I have ever seen.  There was literally room after room of it.  This is because the Etruscans traded widely with the Greek colonies in Magna Graecia (Greater Greece, now known as southern Italy.)  They also had a temporary exhibit of a reconstruction of the famous re...

One of the things we like to do is take food tours in the various cities we visit.  This time we took a food tour of Bologna with Catia of www.bolognatourguide.com.  She was a great guide, and we learned a lot from her, and ate a lot of great food on the tour. Bologna gets quite a few tourists from other parts of Italy, but not many from outside Italy, as it is surrounded by Florence, Milan, and Venice.  We loved Bologna, though.  It doesn't have the vast number of ancient sites of a Rome, or the charm and romance of a Venice, but it also doesn't have the gigantic crowds or high prices of either of those cities.  Don't get me wrong, Rome is still my favorite place I have ever visited, but Bologna has a charm and a vibe that really set its hooks into me.  We will definitely be going back. Random street in Bologna This store we visited on our tour was amazing.  I bought about 5 pounds of Parmesan Reggiano cheese to take back home. Totally wort...

In the next few series of posts, I will discuss our recent trip to Italy.  During this trip we stayed for five nights in Bologna, and five nights in Venice.  We also made a day trip to Bolzano to see Otzi the Iceman . We arrived on the afternoon of November 19th.  The weather was moderately cold, with highs in the 40s.  Not terrible, but not spring either.  We stayed at the Hotel Paradise , which I cannot recommend enough.  This was a great little hotel.  The room was clean and large (by Italy standards, mind you) and the free breakfast was great.  The location cannot be beat, in a quiet area but only a 10 minute walk from Piazza Maggiore, the main piazza in Bologna. Hotel Paradise Piazza Maggiore Statue of Neptune Basilica of San Petronio, the largest church in Bologna A view of Neptune through the arch I thought Bologna was a great city.  It is a real working city, with a large student population due to being th...