Bologna and Ibiza

For a city that I’d never intended to visit, I’ve now been to Bologna a total of four times- twice to visit a friend and twice for conferences- but it wasn’t until this last visit that I really saw some of the city in a way that I'd yet hadn’t. I also re-connected with my friend in another stage of life.

Nearly 17 years following my first visit, I can now claim to have a general understanding of the layout of the metropolis. Staying in an apartment in the outskirts helped, as well as the convenience of having access to a digital map on a mobile device. Sometimes I wonder how I used to get around at all.

On my first morning there I met my friend in the city’s center, and we had coffee at a bar that would later become a favorite. I appreciated the small glasses of water served with the espressos, something that is not customary in Spain. I then accompanied her on an errand before we went to pick up her daughter from school and on our way back, she dropped me off at a neighborhood staple. With fantastic food served around the counter, I enjoyed a plate of ravioli with truffle sauce, which was prepared to perfection.

In search of a library from which to work, I stumbled upon the Teatro Anatómico and old university library, which I decided to visit. Taking in the marble dissection table mounted at the center of an ornate lecture hall, I mused at how many scientific advancements humanity has made in such a short period of time. The library itself transported me back to an era before the digital even existed, when knowledge was more difficult to acquire and magic was uncovered in the gaps.

Later that evening I returned with my partner to the bar at which my friend and I had had coffee that morning for Aperol Spritzers, which were served with small plates of vegetables and hummus and glasses of nuts, which hit the spot. I had made dinner reservations at a restaurant around the corner that my friend had recommended for that night, but ultimately our evening out’s enjoyment would end with the aperitif. Our meals at the restaurant were terrible. Trader Joe’s sells better lasagna than we had there…

Half-full bottle of wine in tow, we made our way back to our room for the night. It would be enjoyed the following evening with antipasti from a bar that reminded me of Brooklyn following a slow day spent in the vicinity of the apartment. After the conference concluded the following morning, I took my partner back to that neighborhood staple for a perfect plate of pasta before we headed to the airport, even though it was out of the way. Life is not linear.

At the airport we encountered the chaos of an overcrowded space and flight delays in the wake of a week of conferences in a city unequipped to handle such traffic. Arriving in Ibiza later than expected, we discovered that in spite of our email alerting the car rental agency of our flight, it was closed- even though the rest were open. With no other way to reach our rural hotel, we had to rent one from another agency.

We only decided to visit Ibiza because there were no direct flights back from Bologna, and we wanted to take advantage of being in a place neither one of us had visited. The combination proved to be too much, but nonetheless we enjoyed taking in the natural beauty of an island that in part has been lost to excessive consumption, something that unfortunately doesn’t seem to be able to be stopped short of catastrophe. At least much of the island’s iron red soil and rolling hills haven’t been razed.

Over the course of the couple of days we spent there, we circled most of the island by car. My favorite sight is one recorded only to memory, of a watermelon patch with a deliciously split watermelon suspended among iron waves of rich soil. I imagined being a small(er) field-residing mammal and gorging on it. However, given my species and microbiome, it wasn’t a good idea to do the same, so instead I enjoyed meals at local restaurants. Of the handful of meals that we had, two stood out, as well as a third that consisted mostly of artisanal beer, the quality of which paralleled that of those found in the United States.

Prior to our extended layover in Ibiza, the only region I hadn’t visited in Spain was the Balearic Islands. Now that I have, I can say that I’ve been to every region in the country. That is, I can say that I’ve been to every region in the country so long as its political borders remain stable, though no one ever really knows what Spain has up its sleeve.