Arriving to Bologna on a Whim

Whim: a sudden wish or idea, especially one that cannot be reasonably explained. — Cambridge dictionary 

If you know me or have read my blogs, then you know one thing about me for sure - nothing about my travels is done on a whim. Or is it? Looking at its definition, I'd argue that the very foundation of all my travels is based on a whim - a sudden wish. Dissecting the next part of the definition, "cannot be reasonably explained", I'd contrastingly argue could mean that no one travels on a whim. There are a million reasons why I can justify and reasonably explain the need to travel!

The whim that brought us to Bologna was the $500 airplane ticket. For that price, I knew there'd be no arm-twisting to get Greg's buy-in to come here, undoubtably his favorite country. Having been here five times before, I justified that the trip met my "easy planning" requirement - knowing my focus for the last several months would be on my son's wedding. However, that "ease" flew out the door when I upped the challenge and decided we would only visit regions and towns we've never been to!

Our itinerary for the next nine days is to use Bologna as a home base for the first four nights taking day trips to Parma and Verona, and then fly down to Puglia with some more day trips around that region. Additionally, I couldn't resist an excuse to visit one of my favorite places, Florence, so we are flying home from there.

My travel has two very distinct phases: planning and execution. (No room for "whim" there!). Arriving to Bologna's central train station, I melted comfortably into phase two. Even though I have never been here before, it was already familiar and I knew exactly what to do next.

I'm going to side-step for a second before I lose the opportunity to tell you a secret not readily available on the internet about arriving at Bologna's airport. The easiest and quickest way to the city center is the seven minute trip in the Marconi Express. It is incredibly convenient though not exactly cheap at 11 euros each. The secret is to not buy a ticket online or at the booth but simply tap your credit card at the turnstile. Then when we tap it again for our return to the airport, it will automatically apply the discounted round-trip fare! Why do they make that handy information so hard to find?!

Next up was the second - and surely last - whim of the trip.

On our way to grab a bite to eat before crashing from our long travel day, Greg asked why we weren't headed to a bar first. (He ate every bite of his plane food.) I'm not sure if I answered out loud but surely I was at least thinking it: I was starving and knew we could get a drink with food. Hardly a minute later and nowhere near our destination, we could hear the low hum of people enjoying themselves. Looking down the side street Via Belvedere, we discovered the magnetizing aperitivo scene. Its strong vibe gave us no choice but to detour to partake in the local culture.

Via Belvedere is a little lively hub of about five bars outside of Mercato delle Erbe.

Poor Kate didn't know where we were when I texted the kids to let them know we arrived. "Well I was confused why you said you landed in deli meat when we have that here, so I looked it up."

It's not fair for me to poke fun at her - when I saw the airfare, I too had to look up reasons for visiting Bologna - which is when I discovered that it is the gastronomical capital of Italy. Bologna is well know for having the country's best-loved food!

We pulled ourselves away from the hypnotic and buzzing bar scene and got ourselves back on track to stave off my starvation. We needed to find out for ourselves why this town is named after a famous deli meat!  On a small side street near the main plaza, Piazza Maggiore, are some very popular sandwich places. We bought a few to try (they are small) and washed them down with gelato from popular Cremeria Cavour.

Tigellino serves a variety of mini sandwiches on tigelle bread (the size of an English muffin). 

Bologna's most famous cured meat is Mortadella and is said to have been eaten here since Roman times. These yummy mini sandwiches from Tigellino are filled with mortadella.

Piadineria la Piadeina serves piadina sandwiches which look like a wrap. Piadina is a typical thin flatbread here usually filled with prosciutto, squacquerone (soft cheese similar to ricotta) and arugula (rucola).  

Having only been here two hours I'd say I'd be making a rash opinion if I declared Bologna an Italy favorite. I'll settle for it is pretty cool! We haven't even touched the tip of its iceberg but so far it's checking off all the boxes: history, old-world architecture, delicious cuisine, and best of all - none of the crowds (or tourists) typical of all the major-players: Rome, Venice, and Florence.

Street in Bologna near our apartment 

Come back tomorrow during the daylight to see more of Bologna!