As was the case during our other intercity travel day, we had two city stops, but today we also had an included lunch.

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Our first stop was for just under two hours in Bologna. That really only gave us time to walk around the Neptune Square and the Piazza Maggiore (main square) of the city, walk past some of the market stalls, grab an arancini piccolo (a small rice and cheese ball) from a food vendor, and get a sense that this is a city to which we will want to return.

We parked right beside the San Francesco (St Frances) Church, with its flying buttresses and interesting open-air mausoleums.

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Bologna is known as the city of porticos, with more than 35 km of arches located within the city.

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Because Ted and I love the art and history in European churches, our priority was touring the Saint Petronius Basilica.

This is the first time we have seen a huge church like this with an incomplete exterior. The bottom half is clad in red and white marble (and yes, it is called red marble, even though it looks very pale pink). The top half of the basilica is naked brickwork, and you can actually see the holes where studs should have been inserted to hold on huge marble panels, but that didn’t ever happen. The side wall, with its arches, is more complete but also has no marble facing.

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Inside, the Basilica is yet another spectacular example of a combination of Romanesque and early Gothic architecture. The ceilings soar high above, but as opposed making the space being dark and imposing, the light streams in from windows high up on all the walls.

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There are many side chapels dedicated to various Saints, and of course one to Saint Mary.

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In the open area of the basilica was an interesting example of how science meets religion: THE BODY OF THE HOLY SHROUD MAN, the 2002 work of sculptor Luigi E Mattei, is a sculpture that is the result of scientific and artistic research. Its features are the faithful reproduction of the original Holy Shroud image.

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Along one wall, although we could not get close to it, there was a terrific example of trompe l’oeil painting. It was easy to see that each side chapel had completely straight walls perpendicular to the floor and ending in an arched shape, but there was no dome. Despite that, one in particular (below) was painted to look absolutely as if the walls curved.

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After touring the basilica, we walked through the shops and stalls of the food market.

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Bologna is famous for its tortellini stuffed pasta, and stores sold it fresh (ready to cook) in a wide variety of sizes and with a wide variety of fillings.

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I told Ted, just before we were leaving, that Bologna might be my new favourite Italian city, because here is the first place I have been stopped by a local Italian woman and told that I looked “elegante”. For one brief moment I felt like the embodiment of the Italian concept of “bella figura”. What a compliment…. and what fun.

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Speaking of fun, on our walk back to the bus we passed a very different kind of busker: a marionette band playing Despacito.

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En route to our next stop, there was a quick photo opportunity at the Ducati motorcycle showroom, and then we proceeded to our included lunch, appropriately at a restaurant frequented by the employees of the Bologna Ducati factory!

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The delicious food was made even better by fun conversation and a bottle of Lambrusco Reggiano, one of Ted’s and my favourite sparkly red wines from the Emilio region.

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Then it was back on the bus for a 90 minute drive (aka “naptime”) to Padua. Some of our group would happily have skipped visiting that town at all, and simply proceeded to our hotel outside Venice, but fortunately it was not put to a vote and so we stayed with the original itinerary.

Padua (Padova in Italian)is known for the frescoes by Giotto in its Scrovegni Chapel from 1303–05 and the vast 13th-century Basilica of St. Anthony. The basilica, with its Byzantine-style domes and notable artworks, contains the namesake saint’s tomb. In Padua’s old town are arcaded streets and stylish cafes frequented by students of the University of Padua, established in 1222.

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We’d researched all that, but when we got to Padua we realized that it was market day, which pretty much precluded getting access to any of the downtown sites, especially when you only have an hour!

So… we spent our hour in the central park, which is completely ringed with statues. Padua is apparently known as “ the town with three withouts”: the café without doors, the church without a name, and the park without grass. We can verify that the park does in fact currently have grass, but perhaps at one time it was simply a place without greenery but with many, many statues. There is of course a fountain in the center. Local Padovans picnic, read, and sleep under the trees in the park. This is not a tourist attraction; this is truly a city park.

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That Saturday market was an attraction in itself! There were literally hundreds of vendors under white canopies, selling mostly clothing, accessories, and a few housewares – it was quite different from a food market, and was full of bargains. I picked up a lovely generously-sized linen souvenir towel for son#2’s kitchen for just €3 and a button-front maxi dress made from several yards of 100% silk (vintage sari material) for me for just €20 !!

After Padua, we headed for our final “eternal city” of this tour: Venice.

We’re staying in Venice Mestre for two nights, at the NH Venezia Laguna Palace on Viale Ancona, well outside (almost an hour by transit) the historic city centre. Reading the Tripadvisor reviews of the hotel gave me pause, but they were wrong; it is the best hotel of the trip so far. Everything is bright and modern, and we have a beautiful bathroom that is complete with a very welcome large soaker tub-shower combination. It’s heaven after a long hot day.

We didn’t feel the need to head into Venice tonight, no matter how romantic the thought of moonlit canals sounds.

We had a wonderful couple of days in Venice in 2022, and are actually not planning to go into the city centre tomorrow either – opting instead to explore Mestre and meet another set of friends who are lucky enough to live here part time.