Photo:Wikipedia
We concluded Roman stay with a visit to Santa Maria Maggiore at the end of the day as it was only a short walk from our hotel. Originally built in the 5th century soon after the Council of Ephesus (431), it still retains the ancient box+hemisphere shape though there are rococo additions on the outside. Inside, in addition to the magnificent shapes of space, there are mosaics on Old Testament themes that can justly be described as awesome.
The Frecciarossa train departed precisely on schedule this morning ( but with only 17 minutes notice of platform) making a happy contrast to a sour review by Tony Thomas of an Italian trip in this month's Quadrant where he suggested that even Mussolini couldn't make the trains run on time. May all the rest of our trains on this trip go and do likewise. A little over two hours later we drew into Bologna, a modern underground station with confusing ranks of escalators as we struggled to surface at the street.
Our first task was to buy tickets to Ravenna, and there were machines but no office visible. A helpful uniformed lady directed us to the Tabac after first inquiring to where we wanted tickets. Having handed over our 28 euros for two return tickets I noticed many numbers on the tiny butts but no destination. The Tabac lady said we had bought tickets good for any ride up to a certain number of km.
We are delighted with Bologna's architecture.
The town centre has an integral traditional style including its own leaning tower. A minor quibble is that most of the buildings seem only to be open in the morning: even the main basilica closed for a long lunch, re-opening at 3pm.
We made sure to have pasta (tagliatelle - they don't eat spaghetti in Bologna) Bolognese at dinner, and it was very good. The meal was made more enjoyable as we struck up a conversation with a young Chinese couple sitting at the table next to us. They were from Shanghai and only have two weeks to see as much of Italy as they can.
Food window shopping is eye candy, as the Americans might say
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