Day 18

Italy 2011

Day 18

We had another adventurous day when we took a train to the town of Ravenna, the town famous for its mosaics. It’s close to the coast. This town is a little smaller than Lucca, and it doesn’t have all the tour groups. It’s not a college town, so there are a lot of people our age….which means there is more of the traditional Italian food. When you are in a place like Bologna, a college town, you see a lot of fast food kinds of places. We have found that the food in Bologna is not as good as that in the surrounding smaller towns.

Bikes are a big thing in Ravenna, and we discovered that tourists (us!) can ride bikes for free, and they are good bikes. These bikes are parked in various racks throughout the town. All we had to do was go to the tourist information center, fill out a form, and get a key. Then we could choose any yellow bike from any one of the city racks and ride all day.

We bought tickets that would let us into five museums and churches. What’s really different about the churches, bapistries, and masoleums in Ravenna is that instead of the frescoes being painted, like most everywhere else, they are made with mosaics, little tiles put together to form a picture. Even the floors are mosaics.  We were looking at art from the 5^th century and it looked pretty darn good for being over 1500 years old.  

We went into one museum that is world-famous for its Ivory Throne (also 5^th century).  It was amazing and we wish we could share a picture, but picture taking was strictly forbidden at the museum.

Our lunch was at a place we researched, and we chose to sit outside, as usual. There was a regular menu, but we chose the menu of the day where we paid one low price for two courses. The first was wonderful homemade ravioli stuffed with spinach and rocotta, and the second course was a skewer of pork and peppers, which came with roasted potatoes. We added wine, of course, and ended with espresso drinks to keep us moving.

We felt very calm and peaceful in this town and would like to come back. We would also like to come back to Imola (see day 16) on the same trip.

After getting back to Bologna, we had to figure out another place for dinner.  Such problems we have! Our favorite desk person at our hotel suggested a place called Pizzeria La Mela, and it turned out to be our favorite place in Bologna….very inexpensive and fantastic food. Bob ordered a wonderful pizza while Shari ordered an arucola salad and a plate of grilled vegetables, because she couldn’t eat any more carbs. After we were finished eating and paying, we watch the pizza man making the crusts (including throwing them, topping them with all the various ingredients, and sliding them into the brick oven.   We was the best we’ve seen.  Roberto told him in Italian that he was a good man, and he appreciated it, but his wife working the register had a different take on his worthiness.

Tomorrow we will have a very long day ahead of us. We will take a train to Venice and a bus to Croatia. We were planning to take a fast boat from Venice, but it doesn’t operate on Monday! 

       

Day 17

Italy 2011

Day 17

We were planning to travel by train to the town of Ravenna, known for it’s dazzling mosaics. However, we woke up to a fairly hard rain. Since it was still raining after breakfast, we decided to stay in Bologna. We are both reading books we love, so we read contentedly in our room until the rain stopped.

When the skies cleared, we set out to visit the Basilica de San Domenico. Contrary to what you might be thinking, we don’t think of food ALL the time! We do try to fit in a little culture now and then. The Basilica was big and very beautiful. There were paintings and sculptures by Pisano, Lombardi, Michelangelo, and many others. One of Michelangelo’s sculptures, called San Procolo, is said to be the rehearsal for his later David.

We then had another food adventure. We went to a trattoria recommended by our hotel clerk. We chose a table outside. Immediately our waiter came over and poured us glasses of champagne without asking if we wanted any. We waited for a menu, but we never saw one. After a long time we were given more champagne and bread with meat and cheese.  We were patient, since we had nowhere we had to hurry off to. Eventually our waiter came to take out order, but we had to figure out what he was telling us in Italian because there was still no menu. We each ordered a small plate of some form of delicious homemade tortellini. The problem came when we got our bill. Nothing was itemized, and we were charged 40 euros. All we really ordered was the tortellini, a glass of wine, and two espressos. Evidently we were charged for all the other things that we didn’t order. One interesting thing, though, was that Arnold Schwarzenegger had been there. Here is a photo of the picture in the hall:

After lunch, we visited the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna (National Picture Gallery). Nothing was in English, all the pictures were from the Baroque period, so we had trouble understanding what we were looking at.

Coming home we discovered a street with the most wonderful food shop all in a row. There was a fish shop, one that sold only fruits and vegetables, and another that sold lots of interesting meats, cheeses, and olives.  There’s also a pasta shop, Roberto’s favorite.

After more reading in our hotel room, we ventured out again for dinner at Osteria dell’Orsa. There was lots of action out on the streets. The osteria proved to be excellent and cost about half of what our lunch cost. We both had tagliatelli with Bolognese sauce, and it was excellent.

Every since we got to Bologna, we've noticed that there is a more color here in the architecture which makes the city unique.  There is a phrase in one of language books that seems to fit Bologna which we've said a time or two.  For those that love Italian, the phrase is Que colore!  Here's a glimpse of what we mean by it:

       

Day 16

Italy 2011

Day 16

Our adventure today was so great that Shari said she could end our trip right now and be happy. We are calling it our 41^st wedding anniversary meal. Our Frommers’ guide, which we usually don’t listen to for places at which to dine, said this: “Foodies from all over travel to the unlikely village of Imola to savor the offerings of what some food critics, ourselves included, consider the best restaurant in Italy.” We made our required reservations weeks ago for a midday meal. We wore our best clothes and traveled by train to Imola late this morning. We went early to make sure we got there in time and could find the restaurant. We found it, and we had more than an hour to explore the small town. We absolutely loved it!!! It’s smaller than Lucca, but like Lucca, most everyone rides a bike for transportation….even old people. But the big difference is that this town has very few tourists and certainly no tour groups. In fact, our Frommers’ guide didn’t say a thing about the town except for the above about the restaurant, and Rick Steves doesn’t even mention the entire Bologna and Emilia-Romagna area. We suppose that’s a good thing, since we really dislike those big tour groups. We strolled around the town, and it was so beautiful and peaceful.  Here's the fort we found on our walk:

We arrived at our restaurant, San Domenico, at 12:30 when it opens. Here is a picture of it with the owner/world famous chef standing outside:

We were seated in a beautiful semi-private room. Right away we felt we were in Italian Food Heaven. We had two very friendly waiters giving us their full attention. They wore black pants, white shirts, black bow-ties, and black aprons. We chose the option where we paid one price for four courses that were pre-chosen and included all the wine and champagne that come match up with the various cour. They filled our glasses before they were even close to empty. Both waiters would come out at the same time….one carrying Shari’s plate and the other carrying Roberto’s.

The bread came with a covered dish of butter. When we took off the lid, we saw it had a coat of arms imbedded into the butter:

The first course was anchovies with green olive oil and a little ball of mashed potatoes with a delicious sauce.

The second course was risotto with lobster, scampi, and clams.

The third course, and this is when they switched us to red wine, was beef cheek, polenta, potato, and mushrooms with beans. Bob grew up with beef cheek, but Shari had never had it. It was so delicious! It was so tender it could be cut very easily with a fork.

For desert we had the most delicious pastries and something that is a cross between a mousse and a pudding. This was accompanied by a very smooth white dessert wine.  It’s hard to impress us with dessert as neither of us have a significant sweet tooth.

Even the bathrooms were the best we have ever been in. Everything was first class. This painting next to our table said it all.  (How much did I eat)

We agree this is the best food we have had in Italy, although the meal we had in Soriano on the first night of our cooking school last summer is almost equal.  

We took the 30-minute train ride back to Bologna and decided to climb the 500 steps to the top of the tallest tower in the city. There are actually two towers next to each other, but one was leaning so badly they had to cut off the top for safety reasons.

Inside Tower:

From Top of Tower:

The shorter tower is in lower left of picture above.

   

Day 15

Italy 2011

Day 15

Our first breakfast at our hotel (included in the price) was in the beautiful garden, and it was wonderful.  We then took a train to the walled town of Ferrara. We read that most of the residents own a bike, and half of them are joggers. We rented bikes at a place just outside the train station. We wanted to say, “Wait….don’t you have anything newer????” But we didn’t. Our bikes were covered with dust and dirt, and Bob’s bike made this terrible, and I mean TERRIBLE, grinding sound. He certainly didn’t need a bell on his bike. Everyone knew he was coming.

We thought it would be like Lucca, since there is a path along the top of the wall around the city. We didn’t have a map, and we found out the hard way that the city is four times the size of Lucca. We rode the wall for an hour, but then we decided to cut across the city to get back to the train station where we rented our bikes. It wasn’t the short ride we thought it would be. Once again, a friendly local resident, in the form of a college student, came to our rescue. We asked how to get to the train station, and she told us to follow her, because that was where she was going. Evidently most residents own these old rusty bikes, and when they want to take the train to another city, they ride the bikes and park and lock them outside the station where they will be waiting when they return. That’s what she was doing. There seemed to be hundreds of bikes parked outside the station.

We turned in our bikes and walked back to the city center where we looked at a few ancient sites. One was the Duomo (cathedral) and another was the Castello Estense, a moated four-towered castle. It was huge and beautiful.

 On our walk back to the train station, Bob wanted to try mortadella, this region’s incomparable sausage, and a very distant cousin to American-style bologna.

We took the train back to Bologna and rested for a few hours. For dinner, we went to a trattoria highly recommended by a worker at our hotel. It’s called Trattoria Anna Maria. Since it was back across town, we decided to use the bikes provided by our hotel. At times we were cruising down quiet streets, other times we were in crazy traffic of cars, busses, bikes, and pedestrians only inches from us and our bikes, and sometimes we found ourselves going the wrong way down a one-way street. Of course, helmets weren’t an option. No one wears them here, either. Bob thought it was great fun, while Shari thought it was harrowing….hoping she would live to tell about it.

Our dinner was wonderful….the best we’ve had in Bologna.  Shari had Roast Guinea Hen and Bob had Tortellini with Ragu Sauce.  

    

Day 14

Italy 2011

Day 14

It’s amazing how quickly you can move about Italy.  We took the fast train from Florence to Bologna this morning, and we spent less than 40 minutes on the train.  We spent a lot more time getting to our hotel, walking nearly an hour across the city.  We started without a decent map, so that made for a shaky start.  Along the way we got a taste of the architecture.  It’s very different here.  Porticos on buildings are extremely common such as this one. People can walk for many blocks under these porticos.

We did find our new temporary home, and it is very nice.  It doesn’t look like much from the street, but once inside, it is quite beautiful.  It has a beautiful courtyard filled with fragrant blooms of a wide variety.  Our building was built in the 15^th century but is quite comfortable.

We were shown our room, and it was very small.  Since we are here five nights, we decided to ask about an upgrade.  The people here are so great, and they gave us a new room that is double the size of the first room – at no additional cost! To get to it, we have to walk through the beautiful courtyard and up three flights of stairs. No problem for us!

The city center is Piazza Maggiore where many very old buildings and the Statue of Neptune resides.  This was once considered a risqué monument due to both Neptune and the four sirens beneath him.  Neptune is the Roman god of water and the sea, and while the picture poorly conveys the paths of the water in the fountain, we’re sure you can imagine. Actually, Shari just said it’s hard to tell from the picture. So in case you can’t imagine, the fountain water flows through the sirens’ breasts.

A very short distance from the Piazza is a special theatre.  The University of Bologna is the oldest in all of Europe.  It has been around since 1088 and supposedly has the best medical school in Italy.  We stumbled into the Teatro Anatomico, where in the late 1600’s they taught human anatomy with cadavers.  Back in the seventeenth century, this was a big deal.  Medicine was very primitive for a very long time. The table you see is where the dead body would go. You will also see a place where the professor would stand with the two skinless statues on either side of him. Robert’s replacement knee and hip replacement parts are based a little on the discovery of anatomy.

Our dining experiences for the day were less rewarding.  Lunch was good, as Shari had a risotto dish with primavera (spring) vegetables.

Our dinner was another story.  We used a Frommers’ recommendation for a pizzaria that turned out to be a bust.  The food was mediocre and worse yet, the service was very poor.  We’ve never had such an experience, but we normally don’t use the guide books to find places to eat.  If you have a good hotel with good staff, they are often the best source of information for eating.  Most of them eat out and know the current status of what’s good and what’s affordable.  Because we like what the locals like and don’t want any food modified to make it somewhat American, this formula works for us.

The city after hours is very alive, as the university students seem to be everywhere including a lot of bars that appear to be doing quite well.  We strolled the streets and eventually came across something that reminded us of Young Frankenstein -- very impressive knockers (only one shown).

Day 13

Italy 2011

Day 13

Our hotel has what we would consider the perfect breakfast (buffet style). There are boiled eggs, great bread, slices of various meats and cheeses, yogurt, healthy cereals, many different fresh fruits, including the best melon (cantalope) from Italy that we have ever had in our lives, and pastries. We could also order our macchiato and cappuccino drinks (two each this morning).

We decided to visit the huge central market. We first walked around looking at all the leather goods for sale in what seemed like hundreds of stalls. Bob bought a wallet. We then went into the huge building where they sell many different food items, including tripe, chickens with their heads still on their bodies, baby lambs (whole!), totally fresh fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, etc, etc., etc. We ate lunch where we’ve eaten every time we’ve been at the market, Nerbone. You order from the counter and eat at long tables with other people.    

Today we spent a lot of time riding the two different lines of the “City Sightseeing Firenze” double level open-top bus. It was very enjoyable cruising through Florence (top level, of course) listening to a little history interspersed with classical music. Our favorite area was across the river where the winding and hilly streets are lined with huge trees and large villas. It was in this area that leafy tree branches brushed peoples’ heads! Here are pictures from our bus ride:

At one point we got off the bus and walked along the route. After stopping in Piazza Michelangelo for  a glass of wine with a view overlooking the city, we decided to walk back across the river to our hotel…. stopping along the way for our first gelato (ice cream pictures can be bad for your health so they have been censored out). We were supposed to go to the Accademia, where Michelangelo’s David is housed, but a big storm struck, and we didn’t feel like walking the eight blocks to get there. At least we saw it last year.

Here are scenes from our walk back to our hotel:  

Now that's cramming hundreds of years of history into a thumbnail!!

Days 11 and 12

Italy 2011

Days 11 and 12

Day 11 There wasn’t a cloud in the sky when we awakened on our last morning in Lucca. We finished packing and walked one last time to our favorite place for caffe’. In a short time we were on the train headed for Florence. We were sad to leave Lucca, but once in Florence, we were excited to be there!

We checked into Hotel Centrale, where we stayed on our first trip in 2004, and Bob recognized the woman behind the desk.  Shari had no memory of her. Now if it had been a man…….

Our hotel is located in a quiet area close to the train station and only two blocks from the Duomo. This is such a magnificent structure! We are in awe every time we see it.

When we looked out our window, this is what we saw. It is Santa Lorenzo.

We had lunch at Cipolla Rossa (Red Onion) Osteria just down the block, and the food was unbelievably good. We had gnocchi in a spicy sauce with fresh pecorino (sheep cheese) and a huge salad with the freshest greens you can imagine and fresh buffalo cheese (a mozzarella cheese made from Water Buffalo milk - also note Shari's plate is wider than her!!).

We walked to the area where we stayed last year with Dan and Jan and found our favorite “haunts”. We had just gotten back to our hotel when a very big storm struck. It rained and hailed complete with thunder and lightening. Now this is was what it looked like outside our window.

We were planning to have dinner at our favorite pizza place across the river, but because it was still raining, we chose to eat at the same place we had lunch. I had a most delicious pasta dish with pork cheeks and goat cheese. Bob had pasta carbonara sauce and another amazingly fresh arugula salad with tomatoes.  If the pictures don’t show it, the portions are huge.

The rain stopped by the time we were finished eating, and it turned out to be a beautiful evening.

Day 12 We had an amazing adventure today, but first we will have to give you a little history. In 2004, on our first trip to Italy with Dan and Jan, we took a one-day guided bike tour into the Tuscan hills around Florence. Outside the small village of Fiesole, our bike group had lunch at a restaurant where only Italian was spoken. It seemed to be located in the middle of nowhere, but the food was so good that we never forgot it. Last year, when we met Dan and Jan in Florence, we set out to find that restaurant. Well, even though we didn’t forget the food, all four of us forgot where it was located! We took a bus to Fiesole and thought we could just walk to it, even though we didn’t even have the name of the restaurant. If you read our 2010 blog, you might remember that we walked and walked but never found it. So this year we were determined to find it, and we did our “homework”. Before leaving on the trip, we found the name of the restaurant….and even found a website. We wrote to them, and in Italian we were able to determine the days it is closed. We were planning to take a cab, but the owner of our hotel said that would be very expensive. She called the restaurant and found how to get there by bus. We took an open-top tour bus to Fiesole, and from there we took a small local bus. No one spoke English, but the few locals on the bus tried to be helpful. However, they ended up getting off before we did. When we finally showed the driver the name of the restaurant, he told us we missed the stop. The locals all talked at once (in Italian) trying to figure out what we should do. We ended up getting dropped off at a very small gravel/dirt road and told to follow it until we got to the main road and our restaurant. This is a picture of where we got dropped off and the road we were to follow.

We walked and walked until we saw a car driven by a farmer and showed him the name of the restaurant. Of course, he spoke only Italian, but we were able to understand that we had missed a turn. This is a picture of the turn we missed:

We took off up the steep hill through the trees, and eventually we made it back to the main road near the restaurant.

A little ways down this road we finally came to our beloved ristorante.

From the plain front, it would be difficult to tell the quality of the food, but that’s how most of the best places are where locals frequent. Once inside, no English was spoken. It was open for only two hours, and many locals arrived for their midday meal and wine.

Everything other people ordered looked so delicious that we wanted to taste all of it. Bob ordered Fettunta con Pomodoro, which is bread with garlic, olive oil, and chopped tomatoes. Shari had Crostini, which turned out to be bread slices with savory pate’s. which was ordered after seeing all the locals ordering it. It was so indescribably delicious. For our next course, Bob ordered tortellini with prosciutto filling topped with ragu sauce. Shari ordered penne with saffron, chopped eggplant, and ground sausage. This picture doesn’t do our food justice:

And that was our last course because we couldn’t eat any more food. However, for the third course we could have had raw beef, pigeon, lamb, etc. We did each end with an espresso so we could stay awake.

We went outside to wait for the bus that would take us to the village where we could catch our open-top bus, but after waiting 45 minutes, a woman worker from the restaurant, who lives in Florence, came out and offered to give us a ride directly to Florence. She spoke only Italian, but Bob was able to communicate a little with her, and she liked him because she is Croatian, too. She sped down the hill weaving around slow cars.

We ended our evening with salads at our new favorite restaurant, Cipolla Rossa, just down the block, because we were too full from lunch to go to the planned restaurant. Afterwards, we went for a walk because it was such a warm and calm evening. We walked into a beautiful church called Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore and for a short time listened to singers practicing.