Italy: Ancona to Bologna

When I tell people about this trip to Europe, a common question I get is: did you really just go by yourself? The question seems odd to me because when I think of travel and adventure it is usually just me even if I am meeting up with a group for an organized event like a long bike ride, sailboat race, kayak trip, or class reunion. For work, always by myself. The woman bikepacker on the ferry on her bike I saw last night seemed normal to me. The tourist groups I saw in Split following their guide and listening to the history of each building…well I just felt sorry for them.

I had not planned the transition from Croatia to Bologna in advance. I made some spontaneous last-minute decisions to end up on the ferry. The woman backpacker that caught up with me this morning on the walk to the Ancona train station from the ferry terminal (from the last post) was also making spontaneous trip decisions. On the way to the train station, she asked where I was going, and I explained about Assisi and the late change to go to Florence instead. Her plan was to go to Rimini. I told her I had been to Rimini and although it is well-known in Europe, I think of it as something like Atlantic City, way past it’s prime. Apparently, I made a convincing argument because she changed her plans and decided to go to Florence too.

I bought my train ticket to Florence at the station from a kiosk.
Side note: I went cashless in January 2020 in Taipei to enable COVID track and trace. 98% of Europe is already cashless. I went to an ATM in Croatia to get some local currency but could not spend all of it. I was 2 days in the EU before I went to an ATM to get Euros and I still have most of that here in Kirkland.

She was using something like a Eurail pass and got a seat next to me. The trip to Florence was about 6 hours and included a transfer somewhere in central Italy. I don’t remember much of that train trip because we fell into a deep conversation immediately that lasted the whole trip. So deep that (my fault) we missed our arrival in Florence in the afternoon and ended up jumping off the train in a non-descript suburb called Prato around 2:30pm.

Mareika is from northern Germany who has a career as a nurse. She speaks very good English, does not know Italian and I do remember some German, so communication and language was not a problem. In fact, language made for some highlight moments.

Neither of us had eaten all day.  Remember, we were both on overnight ferries from the night before from Split. As a backpacker on the other boat, she slept on the passenger deck while I had my private cabin with a shower ($100 all-in well spent). She was running on fumes even more than me. Anyway, we jointly decided to make the best of Prato and tried to find a place to eat. Managed to get to a trattoria 5 minutes before it closed at 3pm. Don’t know if it was really good food or because of the exhaustion, adrenaline, or the outdoor location in Italy but that was the best meal of the trip. A real highlight.

My travel soulmate.

We then caught a commuter train back to Florence and I walked her to her hotel. A couple hours later I went out to achieve my spontaneous goal, sunset at Ponte Vecchio. Took some pics and video on the way there and back. Check.

Firenze to Bologna

My “plan” was to take another walk in Florence in the relatively cooler morning and then take the train to Bologna when it got hot and everything was closed.
By the way, the weather during the whole trip was excellent but a little too warm for the clothes that I brought. Not good fashion choices on my part.
My morning walk was not a highlight. While it was good to get some exercise, practice language skills and orienteering in the only city in the world that has ever challenged my navigational skills, otherwise nope, not impressed. While walking I was also WhatsApp messaging with Mareika, she had decided to travel with me to Bologna. We met at the very crowded train station just after 12 noon and took a packed train to Bologna.

When I studied in Italy years ago, going to Firenze(Florence) for the day involved a pleasant scenic train trip that took about 90 minutes each way. Now it is less than 40 minutes and is underground most of the time. More like a subway.  Efficient yes, but not what I was hoping for. The scenic ride yesterday from Ancona to Florence was way better even though most of it did not register with me.

Once in Bologna we discussed our options and disagreed. Not a bad thing. After I checked into my stupidly expensive hotel I caught back up with her. We took a commuter train out to her AirBNB in the suburbs (quite close to where I lived when I studied in Bologna). After she checked into an interesting place, we went for a long walk together to find food (once again!). Restaurants were closed for a holiday so we ended up having ice cream for lunch. Eventually we found a supermarket, bought some more FFP2 masks and some cheap sandwiches and ‘dined’ together on a concrete patio overlooking a shopping mall parking lot. A bit of a harsh reality check after the last few days exploring historic Europe. Then we said our goodbyes.

Side note: In Croatia, there was some national day and there were fireworks and some non-tourist places were closed. In Italy it was some Republic Day and in Austria (future post) it was some holiday on Monday and some places were closed. Somehow, I managed to arrive in every country on some holiday.

The excuse for this trip was to go to my class alumni reunion in Bologna because I wasn’t able to go to my college reunion last year because of COVID. I moved the trip forward on the calendar to include Croatia because airfare was cheaper before US Memorial Day (yet another holiday). I expected the transition between Croatia and Bologna to be stressful and tiresome. Instead, the Universe delivered someone new and now special to me and made those 2 days amazing.

Going back to the question I am often asked; did you go by yourself? Yes, but I was never alone and my opportunities and experiences were so much more meaningful because I was on my own.

Side story, my long dormant language skills somehow ramped up on this trip. My Italian was better than I remember, my German is very limited but I was comfortable using what I know in Frankfurt, Innsbruck and with my new friend. Remarkably, I used my Mandarin to good affect twice. Once on the sailboat in Split with a couple from NY but really from Taipei – we talked about the best bakery in Taichung. In Florence I decided to be a cheap tourist and buy a couple of drinks from a convenience store instead of a bar and completely confused the Chinese owner by switching from English to Italian to Mandarin and back without her registering immediately what I had done. Good for my ego