and im already halfway through the italian leg of my journey. Ive spent the last four days in Bologna. it was pretty much a last minute decision one day before i left Rome. i was caught between donig either perugia, ravenna, turin or bologna. and i finaly settled on Bologna and man am i glad i did. I love this city! esspecially after coming in from hustle bustle rome, this city seems so much more laid back and un-touristy. its still got the city life, but not in the crowded, jostling way that rome does. I spent by first day exploring just the smal area im staying in, mostly to look for food and i found the best paninis ever! ham, roket and copious amounts of oozing cheese! the next day i extended my explorations to the rest of the city, i walked around for hours, just going through streets and purposefully getting lost. Bologna is made up of red buildings and more red buildings. at one point i took the bus to the highest point in bologna, where a church was turned into a hospital by this guy during the outbreak, and from there the city just stretches out infront of you, an dyou see red for miles, slightly inturrupted in places by the odd and ugly morden building, but it looked almost mideval! that with the green of the trees, sight for sore eyes.
i managed to make it to florence the next day. the last time i was here, florence didnt treat so well. the weather was sour and gloomy, and my family was the same. but there were two reasons i wanted to return to Florence, one was to visit the Uffizi Museum, where the birth of venus by botticelli is housed. the birth of venus, another 'commercial' art piece, one of the prettiest i have seen, albiet much smaller than i had imagined, which took away a little from it. but i was glad i did stand in the two hour line in the italian heat to get in, because it was just enormously humbling to see so many great works by artists such as botticelli himself, da vinci, perugino and di cosimo. the one piece that grabbed me much more than even the birth of venus was another by Botticelli still, called the seven virtues. It is apparently one of his first works. very strong and beautiful pieces.
the second reason i HAD to go to florence, was to have the Florentine t bone steak. and so i kept myself at the brink of starvation the entire day, until 6 30 pm, after scouring the streets of florence to find what i thought would be the best restraunt i would find. and man did the steak live up to its reputation. it was cooked to perfection, properly charred on the outside, crunchy and crispy, and soft and red and bloody inside. so good, it was almost sexual. i put away the 0.5 kilo steak with a glass of wine and a small lemon gelato after, followed by the very necessary expresso, no? yes please!
today was Ravenna. it was the capital during the byzantine era (which was another name for the roman empire, buring the greako-roman era). Ravennas charm is its mosaics, done in true byzantine style. they are very attractive and appeal to me more than do paintings. i didnt get to see many, since i had only the day, but the 5 i did see were truely awe worthy. it would have been nice to spend maybe another day in Ravenna, but i dont think i missed out on too much by not.
now, in my 'hotel' room, since i was lucky enough to find one in my budget in bologna, im taking in the last few hours of having a room and bathroom to myself. im afraid that for the rest of my trip i revert back to living in hostels and dorms. the horror.
tomorrow i make my way to Riomaggiore, which is one of the villages in Cinque Terre, meaning five villages. i urge you to look up a picture of riomaggiore. it looks beautiful and i hope it is actually just like that when i go. its going to be a long day with a heavy bag, chnaging trains twice, first in florence and then in la spezia. im looking forward to it immensly!
i believe, to achive the most contentment one must have a gentle balance between travel, food and good coffee.
man am i content.
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