2018 - Four Weeks in Italy
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The Hendersons 2018 - Four Weeks in Italy - Bologna |
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2018 - Four Weeks in Italy |
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19 Maggio Time to leave Lecce, but what an ordeal. We were once again
plagued by inaccurate GPS trying to navigate an ancient city. After multiple
false attempts, I got out of the car and followed Google maps on foot to the
apartment, retrieved the luggage and made my way back to the spot we had started
from. There's no getting around these old towns with a car. We had a pleasant and for the most part, uneventful, drive to
Trani. This is a pleasant town on the Adriatic. We checked into our hotel and
had a nice stroll along the beach, although couldn't figure out how to get to
the Duomo, we could see it, but the road was obscure, we just couldn't find the
pathway. 20 Maggio We had a short drive to our next destination. so, decided to
drive along the coast of the Adriatic, through the national park Gargano, in the
'spur' on the east. The park doesn't seem like a park as there are no gates and
commercial establishments abound. The views are beautiful, often looking down on
beautiful beaches, but the motorcyclists are abundant and reckless, making for a
tense drive. We had a very pleasant lunch at a seaside trattoria, Trevele
(three sails) where we enjoyed pasta with shrimp and asparagus, with little bits
of tomato. We couldn't figure out the sauce, it wasn't thick by any means, but
had a wonderful mouth.
We didn't have any accidents with the crazy motorcyclists, but
once again our GPS mislead us at Francavilla al Mare, telling us to go up one
hill, when it should have been the next one over. We have learned that the
addresses given by the various booking agencies are often incomplete, such as
not having a house number. In the case of this town, the address was merely a
neighborhood. The hotel was very nice, although a bit in need of maintenance
here and there. It is largely a spa, which we took advantage of, needing to get
rid of kinks in our back or shoulders. The hotel is affiliated with Best
Western, named Villa Maria. 21 Maggio For many years I have wanted to see Assisi, so that was our
next stop. Once again, the GPS led us astray, taking us on tractor paths, but
eventually we found our way to our Agriturismo, checked in, left our luggage and
then went to the famous town. To their credit, the people who administer Assisi have been
thoughtful and taken into consideration the interest in St. Francis. We were
easily able to find a parking spot (pay) within a reasonable walking distance of
the Basilica. Quite a relief after so many false turns. The Basilica is two in one building, the lower, older portion,
being smaller. There are priceless works of art, sadly some of the frescos have
deteriorated over the years. The body of St. Francis is in a crypt below the
church. The upper portion is larger, more elaborate and thus able to absorb more
visitors and pilgrims. There are many frescos by Giotto as well as Cimabue.
Rain and a thunder storm came in as we were leaving Assisi, so
we got soaked as we made our way to the parking lot. I was a little afraid we
would catch a cold, but we must be heartier than that, as no ill effects except
we were cold when we got back to the agriturismo. The agriturismo is truly a working farm, which produces olive
oil, pork products and cheese. We had a decent meal (always more food offered
than we can eat, so we have to pick and choose carefully). We were disgusted to
find that the farm dogs have free access to the dining room, so wander in when
people are eating. I guess that is common, but I hate to have dogs in the room
when I am eating. 22 Maggio On to Bologna, known variously as The Fat because of the good
food and also as The Red because of the politics. We were grateful that we were
able to drive to our lodging without any problems, especially considering
traffic and the rainy weather. We had rented a one bedroom flat, which was fully
furnished and had parking. Anxious to get caught up on laundry, I made the terrible
mistake of putting the clothes in the washer, then threw in the detergent pod.
The result was badly discolored clothes, which may be permanent. Fortunately,
the victims were underwear and socks. We had dinner in the flat, purchased from Conad, the grocery
store nearby. 23 Maggio Amazingly, we drove straight to a lavandaria without any
problems. We got our laundry caught up, then had a brief lunch, then went back
to the flat. we decided to go to the Resistance Museum. on paper it seemed easy
enough, but in practice it was impossible. Seemingly miles later we returned to
the flat, sore afoot, hot and sweaty, this being a humid area. We had dinner at a Silician restaurant, it was really good.
See food details below. Bologna isn't a city we would choose to return to. There is an
excessive amount of graffiti. Bologna was an important transportation and
communication center in WWII, so it was heavily damaged. After the war there
were many buildings constructed in what we call “Soviet Era Ugly” – buildings
that are utilitarian, but have no style or grace.
24 Maggio A little bit of sightseeing in Bologna – in the morning we
went to the National Gallery (Pinoteca Nazionale di Bologna). One reviewer said
the art was a one-note samba, but that is harsh. There are many religious
paintings, but that is typical for the age. The gallery houses paintings
covering the renaissance and baroque periods. There are supposed to be ample
works by Giotto, but we didn’t see them. Our reason for coming to Bologna was Eataly World, where we
hoped to have some hands-on cooking experience. Eataly World is huge, and, it
turns out, there are many other campuses throughout the world. The experiment
started in Turin, now there are multiple locations in Italy, the US, Europe and
the Far East. There are vendors selling food preparation accessories,
restaurants and food vendors. While we had hoped for a cooking experience, what
we ended up with was a 90 minute conversation with an Italian teacher, which
gave us a good opportunity to brush up on our Italian. One of the problems with
Italian is that it isn’t widely spoken, so it is really difficult to have
conversational opportunities. 25 Maggio Time to venture out of Bologna. We first drove to Sant’Agata
Bolognese to see the Lamborghini Museum. It is a small museum and the primary
exhibit was Lamborghini in film. Neither of us particularly like the style of
the cars – they are just too ‘out there’. However, I suppose if you have a few
hundred thousand to put into a car they make a statement.
It is an interesting, albeit tragic, facet of the little town
that the Germans in WWII executed partisans at one point. There is supposed to
be a memorial, but we didn’t find it.
Next stop was Modena for La Casa di Luciano Pavarotti. We
parked the car next to the house and went for lunch in the adjacent restaurant.
What a pleasant experience. The waiter was very attentive, but not intrusive,
the food was excellent, the atmosphere enjoyable and restful. Maestro Pavarotti’s house is beautiful, but not ostentatious –
in the US it would be an upper middle-class home. But the memorabilia were what
made it so interesting – awards, recordings, fan mail, honors from all over the
world. We attended Pavarotti concerts twice in Seattle many years ago – the
first was in the Opera House, before he was world famous – I felt as if he was
singing to me. I’ve kept the program all these years even though I’m not a
collector of ‘stuff’, it meant that much to me.
We had a short drive after the Pavarotti
house to the Ferrari Museum. There were many beautiful cars on display and a lot
of space devoted to the Formula 1 race heritage of these cars.
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