Saturday, August 10, 2013

On Taking Suggestions From The Front Desk At Your Hotel

I planned on heading back to Roma at some point on Saturday.  But I was pretty flexible. I really had no agenda for Saturday and, between Thursday afternoon and Friday, I'd hit all the things I considered "must sees" from Lonely Planet and the NYT 36 Hours in Bologna.  I therefore on Friday night asked the guy at the front desk - who'd been helpful so far - what he recommended.  He mapped out a nice walk outside the city center that would take me uphill to a beautiful church with a wonderful view of the city below.  He also gave me a route to take on the walk back that passed a few churches he said were unique and famous for the Bolognese.  None of these sites is in the NYT or Lonely Planet guides.

Well, wow, I'm glad I asked.  I followed all of Roberto's advice and it turned out to be a surprisingly charming day of sight-seeing. 

The San Michele in Bosco church should be in the guidebooks.  It offers magnificent views of the city center. 


The church is nice too. 




San Michele in Bosco is south of the center and outside the city walls.  But it's really just a 30 minute or so walk from the heart of the city.  It's definitely off the tourist route though.  I was the only one there at 10:30-11:30 on Saturday morning.  

The other places Roberto said to go were good as well.  The Chiesa di Santa Lucia was in particular a nice spot.  I've certainly never seen a church with quite this type of design.  The doors were locked, so I could not see the interior.  But I was happy with the exterior alone.  Look at the close-ups so that you can see the material from which the church is made.



St. Giovanni in Monte was worth a quick stop also.


I couldn't really view the last church that Roberto had suggested.  It looked to me like Santa Maria dei Servi was undergoing massive construction.  So be it.  While wandering, I found the funniest museum of women's clothing I've ever seen.  I only walked in because the museum was inside a little tiny palace that caught my eye and was very pretty.



When I came downstairs from snooping around what might've been fancy high-end office space, the man downstairs informed me that the upstairs was private, but I was welcome in his museum on the ground floor.  It was several rooms filled with musty old paintings on the walls, and mannequins of women's styles for work and formal-wear in the 19th and 20th centuries.  The humorous thing was that I tried to walk out a few times.  But the dude kept saying, "did you see this room....?" and then he'd guide me into another room that looked just like the previous 4, but where the dresses were from 30 years later.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was a docent in the most boring museum in Europe!

Anyway, you can pass on this one - I should have too; after all, Roberto had not mentioned it.   

No comments:

Post a Comment