Food

Our first day in Bologna started with breakfast at the hotel, which ranged from cakes to boiled eggs and everything in between.

We didn’t really have a plan but set out to walk into the centre of Bologna. We wandered aimlessly and ended up on the other side of Bologna (the city centre is a big circle) so headed back to try find a few things.

Saw some huge towers, the fountain of Neptune (which apparently was quite controversial in its day due to the spouting of the ladies) and ended up at a little joint I had read about. It was just supposed to be a cheap lunch joint where you can get the menu del dia for 10E, Trattoria del Rosso.

We had pasta al ragu to start and then shin of lamb. Looks are deceptive - we were so full by the end of these two courses we said no to dessert and coffee.

After walking it off we had some gelato on the way back to the hotel room.

Dinner that night was at Al Sangiovese, which is a cute little restaurant - with nice fake lino-grass out the front.

We shared a salumi platter of meats and cheeses, then I had pastacelli in brodo, which is kinda of like breaded pasta in a chickeny broth - very melt in your mouth. Ben had a lasagne which was OK.

To finish it off I had pears with chocolate sauce. Overall dinner was OK, the people were friendly but other than that pasticelli in brodo and salumi, not a standout.