2017 day 18 (19th September - Bologna)

All the best plans have to be changed and today's walk into the Apennines was thwarted by heavy overnight rain that did not want to abate so David our guide suggested we drive to a little village called Dozza so of course we took his advice.

About an hour's drive through the heavy morning traffic and along the via Emelia which is an old Roman road brought us to Dozza. At the centre of town is an amazing 12th century castle built of brick and later converted to a palatial residence occupied by the same family up until the 1960's  so furniture, paintings and even letters dating back to the 1600's were on display.

Beautiful views of the surrounding hillsides from the old battlements and amazing old kitchens and bathrooms provided plenty of interest. Absolutely fabulous li

ttle wine-tasting room in the magnificent basements of the castle let us sample a selection of whites and reds - We then headed to yet another great little restaurant for lunch before heading back to Bologna for some shopping and getting train tickets for our journey north to Switzerland on Thursday.

After such a big and beautiful lunch we headed out to find "something small" for dinner but after a fair time wandering about we decided that the next place would be "it" no matter what and of course it turned out to be one of the flashy restaurants but on the menu was beef cheek and oxtail so who could Resist?  Absolutely beautiful cooked in red wine with roast potatoes-  not a bad end to a day of changes but pleasant surprises.

Weather has fined up so our market shopping for tomorrow's cooking class should be OK.  Really looking forward to learning just a few tips at least on this fabulous Italian Food!