City where Spag Bol was not originated

Chapter 1: Rookie error

Alright, so the time was ripe for us to make our first rookie error of the trip and it so happened that this one involved the loss of a precious 50 Euros. So here’s the story – in Italy, you have express trains that travel at 200+kmph that make long journeys look like a lap in the park, and then you have the good ol’ regional train that whilst taking you at 80+kmph…is still your next door suburban train.

Now the very smart Italian Railway corporation will not sell you tickets for the cheaper ride by default (of course not, why would they!). We learned it the tough way that to stop paying for the railway minister’s weekly pasta diet, we needed to hit a tiny red button that mutely said “View all solutions” to be able to avail of the cheaper option. Well the upside to all of this – we covered the 150km distance from Firenze to Bologna in just 30 minutes on a highly luxurious train that could barely be heard running; all because a red button had not conveniently chosen not to appear in our radar.

Chapter 2: Spag Bol – say whaa?

Now you think Bologna and think, well I must try the best ‘hangover cure’ I have ever known that you think originated in this city – Spag Bol or Spaghetti Bolognese as is less well known. Wrong. In fact, you mention it and all you get in return from the locals is a puzzled look and if you are lucky a shake of the head which has ‘Tourist’ written all over it. In fact, Spag Bol does not exist anywhere in Italy or in the Italian dictionary.

Dont’ despair just yet, ‘Ragù’ the traditional dish from Bologna is available aplenty. It is a meat sauce prepared from beef,pork mince and mixed with sauteed veggies is what the western world knows as Bolognese sauce. Traditionally served with long pasta such as Spaghetti or Tagliatelle, it’s a feast for your salivary glands

Chapter 3: Bologna and CS

As it happens on the traveling circuit, you always hear reviews, stories and judgement of places from travelers, and Bologna was a place which did not seem to rate very highly on list of places to see in Italy. From past experiences, we’ve learnt to not dwell much on people’s thoughts on cities till we’ve been to it ourselves and Bologna, home to the oldest university in the world (founded in 1088), turned out to be another such place.

I’ve always maintained that it’s the people of a place that either make it or break it, and we were lucky that ours was made thanks to Vedran or Veddu as people call him. Born in Croatia but having spent most of his time in Italy at Tries and Bologna, Vedran was not only knowledgeable about Bologna and it’s political history, but come dinner time, he also came armed with knowledge of Indian food and the spices that go with it. Ms Pai was mighty impressed with how he seemed to know what spice went with what dish. We also go to meet Vedran’s roomie – the very very happy Francesca (it would probably take a 3rd world war to wipe that smile off her face) and their mate Alicia a lovely girl who offered to take us around Venice when we got there

On our first day, Vedran took us on a tour of the student laden city on foot across Fontana del Nettuno and Sala Borsa amongst other places and took time to explain the history behind it all including that of the porticoes. The university itself is spread across the city center with an enormous campus which turns into a venue for parties come nightfall.

Via one of the many alleyways surrounded by porticoes (pillars) of the University of Bologna whose streets are transformed into a street carnival come dusk.

Like a few European cities we’ve been to, the number of push bikes outnumbered the number of motor vehicles and the streets had been well designed to accommodate the hundreds of students on their bicycles. Residents of the city could also rent a bike at no cost for the day to prevent motor vehicle congestion around the city center. Sydney, please note.

The place that intrigued me the most was the Sala Borsa – the public library of Bologna. Grand in architecture, a floor with glass panels that hide Roman ruins beneath, free rental of DVDs, books, magazines and anything print, I was visually captivated with the sheer enormity of it.

Sala Borsa – the grand public library of Bologna. Note in the bottom right of the photo you’ll notice glass panes under which are ancient Roman ruins

Chapter 4: Frisbee

On our second arvo in Bologna, Vedran took us out to a big park, Giardini Margherita, to play Frisbee, a game (if you can call it that) I have not indulged in since I was 8. However I surprised myself at how much I actually enjoyed playing alongside 3 other bare chested blokes (that seemed to be the uniform for all males at the park playing the sport). I did tell Vedran at the end of it to keep my participation a secret for the ages, for fear of being looked upon as less masculine in Australia; given that I am writing this public blog post from a coffeeshop in Amsterdam, it’s now no secret.

From Left: I, Vedran, Francesca, Alicia and Dee

The Facts

Next Stop: Verona