ITALY - Back in Bologna

Today I returned to Bologna for some sightseeing with four major things planned.

Firstly a trip to the old university buildings in the city centre. The one hour guided tour is better than the tour with audio guide because you go into more rooms. The highlight of the visit is the Anotomical Theatre, this was used for anatomy lectures in the medical school and has a dissection table in the centre. It was almost completely destroyed by a bomb in WW2 but was restored using as much of the original fabric as possible.

The statue of a man holding a nose is of Gaspare Tagliacozzi and early pioneer of reconstructive surgery

Elsewhere in the university you can see that the walls and celings are covered with the shields and coats of arms of the students who came from all over Europe.

Now lets me honest about it with sight number two, from the outside the cathedral is not a looker. It's not up there with Durham or Reims but it holds something very special inside. Rather than being alined east/west like most other curches, this cathedral is north/south and consquently can house a meridian line. There is a hole in the ceiling/roof through which around midday (1pm in summer time) the sun shines forming a circle of light on the floor which, when alined with the meridian line enables you to tell the time.

Now you need a bit of patience with this one .....

There is usually a crowd of people jostling to get the best pic for Instragram of the circle on the line - and to be honest they are a bit irritating - but patience as we know is a virtue. Sods Law states that as soon the circle of light reaches the meridian, a cloud will cover the sun outside and the photo opportunity will be lost. Well that's what happened today haha! The crowds soon then get bored and move on to the next thing for "The Gram" and if you wait a bit longer the cloud will pass and you will get the pic. OK the circle of light will have moved off the meridian a bit, but the pictures are still quite good.

Next it was a climb up the clock tower, simply for the views over the square and over Bologna's red roofs.

Lastly I joined a food tour which took a group of 7 of us around various shops and restaurants trying, bread, balsamic vinegar (not the 25 yr old though!), cold meats, cheese, tortellini, wine but of course DON'T MENTION SPAGHETTI ! The guide will stress that Bolognese Ragu is always served with Tagliatelle - Spaghetti is for cream sauces only.

ITALY - Modena's Black Gold

I started today just wandering around the city centre in Modena, enjoying the early summer sun. This though was just a precurser to a really enjoyable day.

Palazzo Comunale - City Hall

Modena Cathedral

I was collected by minibus with some other people at midday and taken to a Balsamic Vinegar Acetaia around 20 minutes outside the city. Traditionally the vinegar was made in peoples homes so we arrived at a lovely villa in the countryside where a glass of Lambrusco wine was waiting for us. A guide then explained the process for making traditional Balsamic vinegar.

Locally grown grapes are picked and crushed and the juice then "cooked". Unlike mass produced Balsamic the grape juice is the only ingredient. What makes it so special is the aging process - mass produced vinegar is aged for around 3 years maximum but the traditional variety comes in two forms - "Aged" which is greater than 12 years old and "Extra Old" which is greater than 25 years old. Although the acidity stays the same, the sugar content increases with age, so the "Extra Old" vinegar is not sour to taste.

The ageing takes place in attics rather than cellars and this is why it originally was in peoples houses. The ageing is done by blending from barrel to barrel in the same way that's done with sherry. You start with 10 barrels of increasing size with Barrel 1 being small and barrel 10 being large. The 10 barrels are all filled with Year 1's grape juice.

The barrels are not sealed, they are left open to the air and changes in temperature with just a cloth over the hole in the barrel to stop the flies getting in. This also meant that when we went into the attic there was a lovely heady aroma.

At the end of Year 1, some of the liquid will have evaporated so Barrel 1 is topped up from Barrel 2, Barrel 2 from Barrel 3 etc with Barrel 10 being topped up with fresh juice from the following years harvest. So each year you have new juice coming into the system via Barrel 10 but that in Barrel 1 is becoming older and older.

After 12 or 25 years the vinegar has to pass an independant quality control and then up to one and a half litres from each of the small barrels can be bottled and sold, and the process continues.

There will always be some of the original batch in the barrels in ever decreasing amounts. So the line in the picture above started in 1954 and although they are bottling some of the vinegar each year there will still be some originating from 1954 in the barrel. The oldest line they had was from 1888.

We were then given a buffet lunch and encouraged to have the "Extra Old" with more subtle flavours and "Aged" with the stronger flavours. We were even encouraged to put some on our dessert.

The "Extra Old" was amazing, thick and sticky, not really tasting like vinegar at all - but before you rush out and buy some I should warn you that direct from the Acetaia it was €65 for 100ml - retail it would be even more expensive!!

ITALY - Don't Mention Spaghetti

Yesterday I had a great ride down from Munich via Innsbruck in Austria to Italy, on an OEBB RailJet train, widely considered to be one of the best trains in Europe. Travelling through the Brenner Pass from Austria to Italy meant some great views to.

In Italy I am staying in Modena but will be making a couple of trips down to Bologna. I've had to change things round a bit as there is a general strike taking place on Monday meaning that, that is the day I must stay in Modena. So today - Sunday - I caught a local train for the 30 minute journey to Bologna.

The most important thing about Bologna is never ever ask for Spaghetti Bolognese! This is a British pairing, The Bolognese citizens would never pair Ragu with Spaghetti - but more of that on Tuesday when I return to do a food tour.

Today I was just wandering around, soaking up the vibes of the city. Bologna is famed for its porticos. Originally a means of extending buildings out over the pavements, today, Bologna has more porticos than anywhere else and they are listed by UNESCO. They keep the citizens dry from winter rain and cool from summer sun with some of them being richly decorated.

              

Bologna is also home to the world's longest portico. This runs for 3.8km from the city centre at the Saragosa Gate up a hillside to the San Luca Sanctuary. It even crosses roads. Now the tourists will pay €13 and ascend the hill by Dotto Train but the locals 'promenade' along the portico.

€13

The beginning of the San Luca Portico

A major road crossing

The path to enlightenment always involves steps

At the top is the spectacular San Luca Sanctuary and wonderful views.

GERMANY - Munich

I am going to start off this post by simply saying I can really recommend Munich and I will definitely return here. I've spent a couple of days in the city and its a really relaxed enjoyable place.

The centre of the city is Marienplatz which is always busy with locals, tourists and buskers - including some that perform in the square with a grand piano. There is a lot in the central area and I will simply list the things to see with some pictures.

On Marienplatz is the new city hall and various other civic buildings.

Just behind is the Munich Residenz this was the official royal palace of the House of Wittelsbach - the Bavarian royal family. Their reign ceased at the end of WW1 when a lot of their property was handed over the to state, but as a royal dynasty they are still going strong styled these days as Dukes and Princes. The Residenz is the usual string of lavishly decorated rooms many of which had to be restored after damage in WW2. One of the things on display are the Bavarian Crown Jewels.

Near by is the Frauenkirche - another Our Lady Cathedral - much plainer than the cathedrals we saw in France but actually a very beautiful building. Near the entrance is a footprint in the stone floor which is said to be that of the Devil who stamped his foot in the cathedral soon after it's construction. The Devil obviously has size 8 feet and "Oh dear" my foot is a perfect match.

Just along the street is another big church, Michaelskirche, this time in a Baroque style although still very light and airey. People following the trail of King Ludwig II come here because the Wittelsbach's have a family vault in the crypt and this is where Ludwig II is buried.

For something to eat head to the Viktualienmarkt, a large open air market that doubles as a) a working market for the purchase of ingredients and b) a street food mecca for the tourists with stalls serving various German street food from large chunks of pork and various wursts in rolls, through to beer and gherkins. I had a couple of light meals at a soup kitchen whose Goulash was amazing.

A little out of the city centre by tram or U-Bahn is the Nymphenburg Palace, another Wittelsbach home and birthplace of Ludwig II. I was a bit palaced out by this point so didn't go inside but I really enjoyed an afternoon tea of Black Forest Gateau and a beer and a walk round the park after.

Lastly the largest park in the city is the English Garden an easy walk from Marienplatz and at the southern end, the river makes a wave large enough for surfing. There is a group of people who regularly don wetsuits and surf for their own pleasure and that of the many people who simply come to watch.

No post tomorrow as I have a 6.5 hour train journey through the Alps to Italy. See you in Italy.