Saturday, March 25, 2017

Portico Restaurant in Bologna, Italy

Portico Restaurant in Bologna, Italy

One of the best things we loved about Bologna was the food.  The food was better in Bologna than Florence or Rome.  I thought it might be interesting for others to see a few dishes we enjoyed.


Bologna is known for a few things, this picture shows their famous balsamic vinegar, which was beyond amazing, and on a different plane than American versions!
A basket of bread is usually brought to the table upon sitting down and olive oil and balsamic vinegar is for dipping the bread.

The water buffalo balls (the white balls with olives and tomatoes) in Bologna were unbelievable.  They are similar to mozzarella but much, much better.  There is prosciutto (meat) on the plate, but Bologna is famous for their mortadella; which is like the caviar of bologna, and what our bologna in America was created after.

This dish is a pasta made with spinach, bacon, and cheese.  

This is Bologna's version of a spaghetti dinner; it is Bolognese sauce on some amazing noodles.  It might not look it, but the taste was great.

Up against Dd's left hand is one of the bottles of water we drank during the meal.  It is interesting how in Italy, though the water actually tastes good in our hotel, at restaurants only bottled water was served.  There were two options: gas/fizz or natural/no fizz.  The 'gas' is carbonation and 'no fizz' is no carbonation; plain water.




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Due Torri, the Two Towers, Bologna, Italy

Due Torri, the Two Towers, Bologna, Italy
In Process a.k.a. Asinelli and Garisenda towers, the Two Towers of Bologna are probably the most well-known items in Bologna.  They are medieval structures that have survived the years.  There use to be more than 100 towers around Bologna.  There are now only 20 of these structures still up, though these are the tallest of the remnants.  The Asinelli tower is the tallest, and it was completed between 1109 and 1119 and stands a height of 318 feet.  It leans 1.5 degrees.  The shorter is the Garisenda Tower which was built around the same time as the Asinelli, but leans more--3.97 degrees.




This is a close-up of the tower above.







The area around the Two Towers was always hopping; even at night.  As a popular tourist spot, there were some fancy shops in the square.  







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