Ah, Bologna.....Food, walks, shops

Well, we are almost at the end of week 3 in Italy and yesterday we spent the day at Bologna, an hour's from Reggio Emilia on the train. Train was an adventure in itself. Having felt really chuffed in paying 5 euros for the trip, we were then less than chuffed 1/2 an hour later, when the conductor told us we would have to pay another 28 euros because we got on the Euro Star..... Didn't make for a good start to the trip. Once we got there however and had a first glimpse of the city, all was forgotten...

Gorgeous place, has 38 kms of covered archways round the town, including the 2 miles covered archway all the way up the hill to the Monastery of S. Lucca. Knackering, but wonderful. Made me feel less guilty about the two course meal and wine at lunch time..

We also climbed 400+ steps of one of the Due Torri towers which provided a fab 360 view of the city and gave us a better idea of its geography. Photos on facebook.

The market is wonderful too, colourful and first class ingredients. I've died and gone to heaven.

Ah, found something very interesting regarding food and drink here. You go for an aperitiv pre dinner in any bar or cafe and a buffet is laid out with finger food for you to help yourself to as much as you want and as many times as you want. Drinks work at around 10 euros for 2, but, it makes for a cheap evening meal though.... and, the food in general is lovely. Had the best spinach pie ever. Wouldn't do for heavy drinkers though, far too expensive....