Bologna: walking in heavy rain under the arcades

Bologna is most famous for its university, which is the oldest one not only in Europe, but also in the Western world. I was of course very excited about visiting this place, but the weather forecast predicted 100% rain for that day. And it was right, because it was raining like cats and dogs the whole day… Luckily, there are arcades everywhere in downtown, so it’s possible to walk around a bit, even without an umbrella. Despite this rainy autumn weather, I liked Bologna.

First, I headed from the train station towards famous buildings such as churches. This way was mostly under the arcades where you can find many different types of shops. I enjoyed the atmosphere, even though it was quite crowded. The churches are beautiful, and you can visit them for free, without waiting in line. It was much more convenient than in Florence, for instance. The buildings and streets in general were nice, it had a special atmosphere to walk around in the center. Due to this rainy weather, everyone wanted to search for safe places such as cafés and restaurants, churches and museums. The locals didn’t seem to mind this weather, they were sitting outside under the arcades, enjoying their afternoon coffee. I even saw people having lunch outside! I, instead, decided to sit in a nice place where I could eat a delicious pasta meal, without gluten. It’s a local specialty, pasta with ragu, and I enjoyed it with a salad.

After gaining some energy, I continued my trip because there were still some places on my to-do-list, including the university district. It was a bit further away, but I just had to go there and see it! Unfortunately, there was nothing much to see, but still: I can say that I have been to this place where there’s the oldest university. And after that I could go into a gallery which was also there nearby. I hadn’t expected that it would be such a big and rich exhibition! I had a bit less than two hours there because I needed to head toward the train station. But these two hours were not even enough! Anyway, I enjoyed it, and it was also a good idea to go into somewhere instead of spending the whole day outside in the rain… And of course I was not the only one making this decision.

I’m glad that I could visit Bologna, even if this weather reminded me of Germany. It came into my mind that I was looking forward to the sunny, warm Italy when living in Berlin… Well, I got it, but only a bit later, in Rome.