May 20, 2023
The scent of Sento Centro.
Bologna to Sento
Dinner last night in a small trattoria near our council flat was sensational. I guess that’s one advantage of staying in a bnb in a fairly downmarket area. There were only locals around and our restaurant was cheap and cheerful.
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I was less enamoured with our place at 4.30am when the goods trains started rolling through. A bonus was also being under the flight path of the curfew free Bologna airport. I kept thinking of that scene in The Blues Brothers.
We’ve had another late start today primarily due to the weather. It’s wet again but is forecast to be better after lunch, as in light rain rather than moderate, so we hang around Bologna drinking coffees and eating pastries. It’s only a short ride today as Franklin is definitely a fair weather rider and we are now within striking distance of Verona which we need to get to in two days time.
Compared to the last weeks riding it was a pretty flat uninteresting pedal through the famed Bologna industrial estates and then on a flat path hugging a busy road through to the town we had picked out for no particular reason.
Cento looked a bit ordinary as we rode in but it turned out to be anything but. At 4pm it was dead. Hardly anyone was around apart from a weird stall selling aprons. Franklin and I wander over as we’re at the point in the trip where we’re thinking of gifts to take home. Turns out there’s a wine and food festival on tonight. Ten euros buys you a wine glass and 3 vouchers and 50 euros gets you the apron, vouchers and lots of other goodies. It doesn’t start until 5pm so we wander off to find a hotel.
By 6pm the town is jumping. There’s people everywhere, the shops are open and the festival is in full swing. After deciding aprons as presents probably won’t cut it we opt for the wine glass option. Whilst chatting with the organisers they call over the town mayor for a formal introduction. It turns into a great night, with musicians on every corner. We wander around the inner city sampling wines, ate in a swanky fish restaurant and finished the night off with ginger mojitos and the obligatory gelato for the walk home. Franklins choice of banana and liquorice raises a few eyebrows. It looks disgusting.
Hi
Tomorrow’s forecast is for 26 degrees and sunny. Finally! After five weeks of generally crap weather the tide is turning.
Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,617 km (1,004 miles)
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