Last week was Innovative Learning Week, or, as it has been renamed, the Festival of Creative Learning week or something similar. Needless to say, I decided to do my creative learning outside of Edinburgh. I went to visit my old friend in Bologna, Italy.
I arrived at around 9:30 on Friday night, we caught up for a while, then went to sleep. On Saturday morning we headed out at around 9am to catch a train bound for Venice. It was a weekend and also happened to be Carnival, a month long celebration kind of like Mardi Gras, so tons of people were going to Venice. The train was so crowded people were standing packed into the aisles, and for some reason the heat was blasting and even though it's February and was chilly out, we were roasting on the the train - all layers shed, sleeves rolled up, still sweating with the dog, Mia, and my friends' son spread out on our laps. We finally arrived in Venice and left the train with much relief.
Venice is almost just as I imagined it. It was extremely crowded in the main squares, but as soon as we left the popular areas it was easy to find small quiet streets and cobbled lanes leading to dead ends, half circle bridges or palazzos. There were people dressed in capes, masks and feathers strolling throughout the city, and confetti was strewn through the streets and in the air, thrown by carnival revellers. The weather was perfect, and the sun shone brightly against the vibrant yellow and orange of the buildings. Nearly every street is lined by a canal, and gondolas, motor boats, water ferries and more were everywhere. The motor boats and crowds filled the air with noise and fumes, and that was the only thing I wasn't expecting - this aspect of modernity in such a historic city. In hindsight, it seems obvious that there would be motor boats - taxis, ambulances, fire trucks...are all boats here, and they can't rush to an emergency very effectively on oar power.
Feathered and caped men walking down a narrow street.
As soon as we got off the hot train, we got some gelato. Delicious. Then we walked around, to the main square, to a fish market (where we bought some tasty fried seafood for lunch), into various little shops (in a glass figurine shop we watched the glassblower making tiny, delicate orchestra musicians with miniature flutes, pianos, cellos..very impressive), bakeries (we got some flat fried cookie things which are apparently a carnival special) and coffee shops (I had to try a Spritz, a classic Venetian drink made with champagne and aperol - pretty good!). We spent the entire day there, and it was wonderful.
Carving stone
This guy was cutting artichokes all day
The glassblower
Carnival costumes
We struggled to take this photo (Mia was pulling her leash and we were falling over) and the whole time some guy was trying to call Mia over to him so he could pet her - not helpful haha.
the Spritz
Sunday was a chill day. We took a walk with Mia in the park behind the flat, Parco Villa Ghigi, which is an old estate. The last heir died without any heirs of his own and so gave the property to the city for public enjoyment, and now anyone can walk through the orchards anytime. After walking in the park, we walked into town, into the Piazza Maggiore, past the towers, churches, a bunch of street performers...we also got more gelato 👌🏻 then returned to the flat.
the orchards
Monday was work and school for Kirsten and Matti so I set off for the city center on my own. I spent the morning rambling down the cobbled streets through the dozens of tall archways and narrow lanes. I decided to climb one of the two towers - one of them is open for climbing, the other leaned more than the leaning tower of Pisa and so was chopped in two for public safety. The climb-able straight one was like a giant square pillar with dozens of small flights of wooden stairs, each step about 1.5 feet across and bowed in the middle from the hundreds of people who have passed over them before me. Some of the flights are so steep they were more like ladders than staircases, and each flight was about the width of one person, so they could fit only one way traffic spiralling up and up. At the top, though, is a panoramic view of Bologna stretching out beneath in a sea of orange rooftops - definitely worth the climb.
The Towers:
Day four was much like day three, but instead of the tower I went to a museum in the university quarter of Bologna, the Museo di Palazzo Poggi. The university there is the oldest in the world still in use - it was founded in 1088. Amazing! The museum had a huge section on model ships from the crusades, Renaissance, and global explorations, as well as world maps from a variety of ages. Very cool. There was also an exhibit on anatomic models from medical schools of the 15th and 16th centuries - they were used in the university back then to teach medicine and obstetrics. I love seeing old things like that, it's so interesting, and I admit I had no idea they knew so much about the human body in the 15th century. After the museum, I finished off the day walking in the park with Mia.
A library in the museum
street scenes
The next day, I got the 9am train to Ravenna, a town famous for its mosaics. There are mosaics everywhere, even adorning the street names and flower pots.
I got a student ticket which covered admission to 5 big sites:
1. The Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
2. The Basilica di San Vitale
The ceiling. This basilica was amazing to see, partly because I was almost the only person in the building.
Amazing mosaics
The scale of the basilica is incredible - I felt dwarfed by the pillars. I suppose that is the point, and it is magnificent.
3. the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
This whole wall is made of mosaic above the pillars.
I was, once again, almost the only person in the basilica.
4&5. Battistero Neoniano and Museo Arcivescovile e Cappella di S. Andrea
And here are some scenes from Ravenna:
Once I got back to Bologna, we went out to a HUGE meal, starting with about 10 different starters: bread and cheese, potatoes, omelette, pumpkin fritter things, eggplant with cheese, sausage and beans, mortadella, salad...everything was a bolognese special, and it was all delicious. Then came the first courses - bolognese tortellini in broth (so good) and then lasagna made without cheese - just spinach pasta, ground beef, ragu and béchamel. Second courses followed soon after: steak in a balsamic dressing, and another bolognese special which was probably pork, but we couldn't tell. Finally, a vegetable plate and some tart slices. By the end we were so so full, but it was all SO good. The bread and pasta especially tasted so much fresher than American or British bread and pasta - like the doughs had been made right there just prior to cooking. The food in Italy is of superior quality.
The next day, I set out with Mia to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. To get there, you have to go up a long, long pillared, covered walkway, about half of which is stairs. It was an hours' walk from the flat to San Luca.
We took a break halfway up:
I made the trip inside the church quick, because it turns out that, though dogs are allowed most places in Italy, they aren't allowed in here. So I peeked in with Mia tucked away under my arm kind of out of sight, and then walked all the way back down and across town to Il Gelatauro, which, Kirsten says, is the best gelato in Bologna. She could be right, because it was delicious. I got chocolate orange and pistachio almond.
My last day in Bolonga, I started by going inside the Basilica di San Petronio. The basilica's funding was cut halfway through building because it was going to rival the one in Rome in grandeur, and the Pope didn't like that. So, while the bottom half of the outside is ornate and grand, the top half is bricks. The inside, however, is amazing all around. It has the highest ceilings of any building I have every seen, and the pillars seem as tall as redwood trees. I felt tiny walking in.
Then, I walked to the Archiginnasio, which was a very important building in the University and now has an Anatomy museum and library. The walls and ceilings are covered in some amazing artwork, and there is a section of the library, or maybe an old reserve section (I'm not entirely sure) which was about the coolest library I've seen.
look how far the bookshelves stretch!
My pictures don't do it justice.
After that I walked the streets of Bologna for a while, exploring on my last afternoon there. There were little crowded market streets with fresh fish, pasta, meat and vegetables everywhere, with red brick and orange cement walls lined with wooden shuttered windows rising on either side. I was walking down one of these streets and, as the street widened, suddenly there was the magnificent church of Santa Maria right there between a jewellery store and a cafe:
That's one of the things I love about Europe - in so many places, you find what you least expect.
I took Mia on another walk in the park, and she went crazy for a huge pile of dead leaves. Then, I spent my last evening in Bologna doing what I'd done just about every other night there: playing with Matti.
pogo stick
Can you spot Mia?
I got back to Edinburgh around midnight, and the next morning I set off on a 17 mile run. There was a glorious rainbow to welcome me back.