Bologna in Three Days - Part 1

Everything started with an e-mail I got from the beautiful and kind team member Valentina of Bologna Welcome. She was telling me that the 3rd Social Media Free Trip Weekend was on the corner and if I am available between 24 and 26 January and with whom I would like to attend. I chose my husband Yasin as my guest, as we were willing to see Italy for a long time.

Everything was so fast as we don’t have much time. One day she was sending hotel reservations and invitation letters, the other day we were applying for the visa, etc. When the time came for the flight we were still not believing that we were going to Bologna.

Our flight to Istanbul was at 6.00 am, so we had to leave home 4.00 am. Normally we sleep at around 1.30 or 2.00 am. So we saw no meaning in sleeping just 2 hours. Thus we didn’t sleep at all. The flight sponsor of our visit was Turkish Airlines, so we has no worry about any problems based on our previous experiences with Turkish Airlines.

Everything about our flight was perfect, we had not even a minute delay. We slept almost all the way. When we landed Bologna Marconi Airport our luggage was the first to come out. In a word, the universe was working just for our comfort during our visit to Bologna.

Valentine, Claudia and Piere Paolo welcomed us at the airport they took some photos. We felt like stars in a world tour. They gave us all the documents we would need and a tablet for internet access and took us to the Best Western City Hotel. Briefly, everything was thought.

The hotel was perfect by the way. It was the cleanest hotel I have ever seen. Also it had a some way romantic decoration. As we would like to see whatever we could, we left the hotel after we left our luggage to the room.

According to the agenda we would be in Ex Forno for lunch at 13.30 pm. But we stil had time before the luch. So we stopped by a cute cafe to have a cup of cafe latte. It was a perfect cure for our flight tiredness. After our delicious cafe lattes we walked to Museo d’arte Moderna di Bologna (Mambo) cafe restaurant to have lunch. It had a tasteful decoration and delicious foods. I preferred  ravioli filled with pesto and tomato sauce on top. Yasin chose chicken with curry and rice. Both were very delicious. As desserts we tried ice cream dropped in coffee and Italian classic tiramisu. Our desserts were also wonderful.

After this yummy lunch we went to Mambo. We were very sorry that it was not allowed to take photos. Because there were incredible art pieces. We admired all of them. But the revolving mirror in entrance was my favorite. Yasin liked the non-stop revolving hour. I think we like revolving things both:) The Museum was so quiet and peaceful that we didn’t want to leave. But we had things to do.

After Mambo, we made a city tour. The weather was rainy, so it was not very easy. But we cut all the boundaries and walked for hours despite the rain. Besides, the porticos made it easy for us. Porticos are the roofed sidewalks which are typical to architecture of the city. There were not many people out because of the rain. So the bad weather became an advantage for us indeed.

We toured a few churches and walked aimlessly around the city center. Our first stop was Basilica of Saint Francesco. It is a 13th century church which is a good example of gothic architecture. The building was gorgeous outside and the carvings and icons inside were awesome.  We were so fascinated about the spiritual atmosphere that we lighted two candles and prayed in our ways.

Piazza Maggiore is the very center of the city. Palazzo d’Accursio, which is the Town Halll at the same time, and Fountain of Neptune which are the important tourist destinations are located in this square. Bologna Welcome Office is also located in Piazza Maggiore.

At night our agenda was to attend a cooking course in Bologna Cooking school “Cultura Italiana”to learn gluten free recipes. We cooked gluten free troccoli, gluten free gnocchi and gluten free chocolate cake. Our chef was amazing. He was very informative and rigorous. There were some rules we had to obey. There were two sinks in the cooking class. One was for washing food and other for dishes. When we put dishes to the wrong sink he was warning every time.

He made us wash the dishes after the course also. Don’t take it in the wrong way, I am not complaining. I loved it. It is just my style to have rules and obey them in the kitchen.  The other two attendants made the chocolate cake, while we cut the vegetables for troccoli.

Than we knead doughs for troccoli and gnocchi together. Troccoli, gnocchi and chocolate cake was a masterpiece each. After the course we went right to the hotel as it was a tiring day.