Here's the Reader's Digest summary of my whirlwind of a weekend:
-Friday: Visited Rosalba and Giuseppe in Bologna
-Saturday: Venice day trip
-Sunday: Best of Tuscany wine and cheese tasting tour in Montepulciano, Pienza, and Montalcino
WARNING: This is going to be a long post. Not suitable for those with short attention spans. So get comfortable! Here goes...
After finishing class on Friday afternoon, I went straight to the Santa Maria Novella train station, and caught the train to Bologna. It was my first time ever riding in a train (not to mention, catching a train in a foreign country!), so I was a tad stressed about getting to the station on time and getting where I needed to be. Much to my surprise, it was easier to navigate than I anticipated. The ride to Bologna was a little over 30 minutes, so it went by quickly. Before I knew it, we had arrived! Rosalba found me within a couple of minutes. I tried to speak Italian with her, but failed miserably. Originally, I was going to visit her towards the end of my trip, when I would be more comfortable with the language, but we ended up making plans to see each other earlier. Luckily, she speaks English really well, so we didn't have a problem communicating at all, but I was disappointed, since I was hoping to speak in Italian with her. Oh well!
We walked to a nearby bar (bars in Europe are totally different than bars in America; here, they serve coffee, sandwiches, pizza, gelato, etc.) to get some coffee and chat before exploring the city. It was a really cute bar, and we sat at a table outside, great for people watching. The waiter came over right away to take our order. I was a little flustered, and ordered "un latte bianco," thinking of American lattes. You can imagine how silly I felt when he returned with a tall glass of warm, freshly-frothed milk. I tried to play it cool and pretend that I really did mean to order it, so I drank the entire thing. So refreshing on a bright, 80-degree day in Italy. Rosalba must have thought I was crazy, but she was really sweet and didn't let it show!
After our coffee/milk break, we walked around the city and she showed me many of the major attractions in Bologna. First, we saw the Palazzo di Re Enzo, named after the king of Sardinia that was held captive there after being captured during battle with Bologna. In one of the central archways under the palace, you can stand on one side and speak to the person at the opposite end of the arch. Hard to explain if you don't see it, but it was really cool and worked perfectly! Rosalba said long ago people used it to tell secrets to one another in public places without being discovered.
We also visited the Universita di Bologna library which was incredible. The university in Bologna is credited with being the first university in the Western world, giving the city one of its nicknames "La Dotta," (the learned).
Next, we went to the Basilica di San Petronio, one of the largest churches in the entire world. Apparently, when it was being built, the pope at the time traveled to Bologna to ensure that the church would not be larger/overshadow the Basilica di San Pietro in the Vatican. It was so big and absolutely beautiful! We also went to the Basilica di Santo Stefano, also known as Sette Chiese since it contains seven churches within it.
There are two massive towers in Bologna, Torre Garisenda and Torre degli Asinelli. We decided to climb the taller of the two (Asinelli). The students at Bologna have a myth a lot like the KU Campanile myth; if you climb to the top of the tower before you graduate, it's considered bad luck, and you won't graduate on time!
Since Rosalba just graduated from pharmacy school this spring, she hadn't climbed the tower yet, so it was the first time for both of us! About 20 minutes and 498 stairs later, we found an absolutely gorgeous view of Bologna.
View from one of the windows on the way up
Last of the 498 stairs (more like ladder) of the tower!
Stairs on stairs on stairs
Rosalba's apartment is right by the green dome!
After our adventure in the tower, we walked around the university area, then went to a pizzeria to meet Giuseppe for dinner. The pizza was absolutely amazing, probably the best I've ever had! We had to finish our dinner and hurry to the train station so that I could catch my train back to Florence. I made it to my seat with about a minute and a half to spare!
Phew... Told you this was going to be a long post. And that was only Friday evening!
Saturday morning, I took the bus from my host family's house to the train station to meet with the group from Florence for Fun. There were about 90 students that went, so it was a huge group. I was kind of nervous going in not knowing anyone, but I was glad that I went since I met a ton of new people and got to meet Rosalba the day before. We took a bus ride for two and a half hours, then took a train for about 15 minutes into Venice. When we arrived, the view was absolutely gorgeous! We took private boats on a tour through the Grand Canal (basically Venice's Main Street). It was so interesting realizing that boats are their primary form of transportation. Nobody owns cars; they drive boats to get from place to place. I can't even imagine how that would be to live like that every day.
After our tour of the Grand Canal, we saw the Palazzo Ducale (the Doge's Palace; home of the rulers of Venice years ago) and the Basilica di San Marco on our way to the glass blowing demonstration. Venice, specifically the island of Murano, is famous for its glass production. Watching the glass master work the glass was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen. In less than 2 minutes, the glass master took a ball of extremely hot glass that had been sitting in a 1000 degree oven, spun the hollow rod continuously while shaping the glass and blowing air into it, and created a vase! After that, in the same amount of time, he did the same thing and created a glass horse figurine! He made the procedure look so effortless, but his ease with working the glass came from 25 years of training--the minimum amount of time required for a person to become a glass master. Not an easy task!
Il Palazzo Ducale
Window on the Palazzo Ducale with the winged lion--the symbol of Venice
La Basilica di San Marco
Glass master at work
Spinning the rod with the hot glass ball
Shaping the glass
Two minutes later... He has a vase
Before...
...Almost done...
After!
After the demonstration, we had free time to eat lunch/do whatever. I ate with some girls at a restaurant and we were definitely overcharged for our meal! We should have known it was coming though; everything in Venice is so much more expensive, partly because it's so touristy and also because everything has to be imported since Venice is composed of many islands. After lunch, we explored for a bit, took some pictures, and hung out in the Piazza di San Marco.
La Piazza di San Marco
La Basilica di San Marco
Next, we took a walking tour on the way to the gondola boats. Riding through the narrow canals in the gondola was probably my favorite part of the day. Everything was so incredibly beautiful!
Pisa-style facade; the owner married a woman from Pisa who complained all the time about missing the architecture of her hometown, so he made the facade of the back of their home look like this!
So, so beautiful!
Fish market in the evening
After a little shopping in the market, we headed back to Florence and called it a night!
On Sunday, I did a Florence for Fun trip again, this time through several small towns in Tuscany for wine and cheese tasting. By far, this was my favorite day that I've spent in Italy so far! I absolutely loved everything about these towns. They are completely different from the larger cities... So quaint, charming, and NOT full of tourists.
First stop was Montepulciano. This charming town has only one bed and breakfast, and you have to take multiple different forms of transportation to get there, so it is not full of tourists like many Italian cities. Many movies have been filmed there, such as Under the Tuscan Sun, Gladiator, and New Moon.
Just outside Montepulciano
One of two gates into the city. This one enters from the side facing Florence, hence, the
Medici family coat of arms hung at the top of the arch.
The owner of this house found many tombstones buried beneath his basement, so he incorporated them into the facade of the palace. Interestingly, the tombstones are written in many different languages (Greek, Latin, Etruscan).
Bell tower
Montepulciano is home of Tuscany's oldest shoemaker!
Where part of New Moon was filmed
After a brief walking tour, we went to the Crociani family winery and had our first wine tasting. We heard the history of the family and how some of the wines are made. The Crociani family has been in the wine business for centuries, and they produce some of the top wine in the entire world, according to wine experts. It was a really fun experience tasting all of the different wines! We had bread and olive oil between each wine, in order to cleanse our palates.
After the wine tasting, our tour guide, Federico (a 67-year-old man who is a professor in London during the school year and is constantly chain smoking cigarettes), brought us to an area overlooking the Tuscan countryside. It was absolutely gorgeous; my pictures don't do it justice!
After Montepulciano, our next stop was Salvatore's cheese farm for a cheese tasting, demonstration on how pecorino cheese is made, and a cheese-based pasta lunch. I've never eaten or seen so much cheese in my entire life. Most of it was good, but I wasn't a huge fan of the spicy varieties. The process for making the pecorino is super interesting. First, they milk the goats and boil the milk. Then, they hand stir the warm milk in order to break apart the solid part that settles at the bottom. Next, they scoop the solid into these containers with tiny holes in the side and bottom in order to strain the liquid from the solid. They allow these containers to drain for 24 hours, constantly pushing/compacting the solid in the container in order to form the cheese. During this time, it sits on a tilted table and drains into a large basin. All of the remaining liquid milk at the end is used to make ricotta (literally "cooked twice").
After lunch, we got to see all of the animals on the farm. There were so many precious puppies, goats, lambs, pigs, and bunnies.
Next stop was the small Renaissance town of Pienza. It was built for the Pope Pius II during a time when the papal seat was not located in the Vatican. The pope designed the town exactly how he wanted it, and when he left for a trip he instructed the people not to change a thing before he got back. Unfortunately, he died before he was able to return to the city, and per his wishes, the city has not been added to or renovated since then! It was a beautiful, small town... Very quaint with beautiful views of the countryside!
The church
Courtyard in the papal palace
Clocktower
Our final stop of the day was Mario's winery in Montalcino. Mario, the adorable and flirty 82-year-old owner of the winery, has been in the wine business for his entire life, continuing the tradition that his family began centuries ago. His winery produces some of the best wine in the entire world. He allowed us to try a vintage Brunello di Montalcino (the wine they're famous for) wine from 2004--the best year for grape crops and producing wine at his vineyard. By far, the best wine I have ever tasted!! I had to splurge and buy one bottle to bring home to share with my family :)
Mario, the owner of the winery
Antique farming tools used years ago to harvest grapes
Vintage from 1945
Props to those of you who made it through this entire post! I know, it was a long one. That's all for now. Baci :)
No comments:
Post a Comment