Parmesan Cheese, Parma Ham (aka, prosciutto), Parmigiano-Reggiano PDO (Protected Designation of Origin – can only be made in ONE place, like Champagne or Bordeaux wines). These are the things that popped into our heads when we thought about going to Parma, Italy. Not necessarily on a bucket list if you live in the U.S. and only have one limited trip to Italy; but it is one of those types of places that you probably want to visit if you are living abroad or are a frequent traveler and spend a lot of time going to or traveling around a country. Thus, we decided a trip to Parma was in our cards, so we started our usual research.
We had heard a bit about Parma, the first Italian city to become UNESCO’s heritage site for Gastronomy. Located between Milan and Bologna, we had passed by it on previous travels, but never stopped. Now that we are living in Italy for a couple years, Parma is the type of place we seek to spend a bit more time exploring and enjoying. So, we dove into the internet – searching what travel blogs suggested and watching what others recommended in YouTube videos. As we knew from other excursions (see Cinque Terre for an example), what we could expect was a bit different than everything we watched or read. Armed with skeptical optimism, we dove into figuring out how to get there, where to stay, what to see and do, and where to eat.
Our first task was determining our mode of transportation. Parma is about 200 kilometers by road, about 2 ½ to 3 hours by car or 4 hours by train. We enjoy taking the train, and it is usually pretty easy and convenient. We looked at options and figured we could leave at the ungodly hour of 7:45 AM and be up in Parma by noon to enjoy lunch. We booked our return for 3:30 on Sunday, getting us home by 7:30 – in time for dinner (although early for eating out) and to get ready for the work week. Train tickets booked – we looked into hotels.
Holy Schnitzel Batman, the prices were steep. When we went looking at our usual hotel booking sites (Expedia and Booking.com), we found almost nothing available and places with rooms were 300-400 euros for the night – not quite what we had read or were expecting. We tried a couple other discount travel sites with no better luck. We had already decided on the weekend and had a busy next couple months, so we went ahead and booked one of the few places available. We were now ready and set to go.
Saturday morning arrived – early as expected. We made our way to the train station (where there is free, safe parking available) and boarded our 7:45 to Florence. A relaxing hour and a half later, we got off and went to find the track for our ride, we were on the highspeed train, for the leg to Bologna. Oh oh, looking at the board, lots of stuff looked “Delayed”, including ours. This was not looking good as we didn’t have much time to transfer for the final leg to Parma. We pulled out our trusty phones and started trying to figure out what was going on – strikes are kind of common and we had spent 8 hours in the ticket line at the Florence airport earlier due to “industrial action”. I got in line, with about 100 of my fellow travelers, to talk to the agents and see what was happening and what the chances of actually getting to Bologna, then Parma, would be. I found out there had been some technical difficulties in Rome the day prior, which affected the entire system, but our train would go – we would get to Bologna. However, from there I would have to talk to someone else because it wasn’t their train for our final leg. Down to the next information office I went and was told that the ticket, for the regional rain, was good for four hours, so as long as we got to Bologna somewhere close to our time, we would get a ride to Parma. However, lunch places close around 2 – 2:30 and visions of our charcuterie board with Parma ham and cheeses were slipping away.
An hour later, our train did depart and, we were able to catch a connection to our final destination. We got in a bit after 1, checked in and hustled out to grab a bite before taking a walk to explore the town. Instead of a charcuterie, we settled on a schiaccia (sandwich) and a birra (beer) at a place we had heard about, Birra & Schiaccia (no website but findable on Google Maps). The place lived up to the hype – great sandwich and a tasty artisanal beer. We finished lunch then went to see the main sites – the Teatro Regio (unable to book get in, but supposedly pretty spectacular and a top opera house), the Cattedrale di Parma (beautiful cathedral with an intricate dome that you can see lit up by inserting 2 euros into a collection machine near the altar), the Baptistery of Parma (which costs 12 euros to enter and is included in the entry of the Museo Diocesano – across the piazza and worth the cost, there are some pretty neat things and the art is quite nice.) We also took the time to wander the streets and alleyways – the city is very pedestrian friendly, with very few cars but lots of bikes with riders of all ages.
Going by the city information center, we found out that there happened to be two festivals in town, the Parma Street Food Festival and the WWHT (World Wide Hair Tour) – the largest event for hairstylists around the world (unfortunately my barber, Lorenzo was unable to attend). This was news to us. Although we thought we had figured out where we were going and when, we hadn’t seen anything about a festival. I guess that is one of the things that happens, especially when you have the ability to hop places for the day or weekend and you spend your time bopping around. You don’t plan around a specific event and some smaller events happen to be there when you are. Which also explained why there were no hotels and seemed to be so many people in early June, well prior to the height of tourist season. We also found out about a couple other smaller sites that were off the beaten track – the Church of San Marcellino, whose nave and chancel had been hung with thousands of dried flowers, and the Cloister of Sant’Uldarico, whose altar featured a boat “beached” on thousands of books. One thing that is exciting as a Later Gap Traveler is finding these eclectic and out of the way gems or exhibitions that are often missed in the hurry to check off the main attractions in a place and then having the ability to appreciate them.
Stopping for an appretivo, we decided to save the Parco Ducale, which was hosting the Street Food Festival for the next day and go back to clean up and get ready for dinner. We had booked “un tavalo per due alle otto” (I am getting pretty good at this – after the first few epic fails) at Tra L’Uss e L’Assa, website coming soon, but found on Google Maps when the couple places mentioned on blogs or in videos weren’t available. The place is a mom and pop restaurant, serving just a few dishes and sandwiches along with some local wines. We ordered a cheese plate to split and each ordered a dish – I had a pasta with a vegetable based pesto and my wife had eggs (probably the freshest I’ve tasted) on a bed of asparagus. We asked for a bottle of the house wine – and the server suggested the Lambrusco Rosso. We were a bit worried – with preconceived notions of what Lambrusco means in the U.S. She said not to worry, this was not sweet but nice, and added, “For me, it’s good for breakfast”. How could we say no?
After dinner, on our stroll back to our hotel, we came across an outdoor concert in front of the Palazzo della Pilotta (the main palace). The WWHT had brought in the Symphoniacs – a Berlin-based band combining classical and electronic club music – as their website says, “Vivaldi meets Daft Punk”. We stopped and enjoyed a few of the songs – great sounds of modern songs with a pretty intense light and video show. For a taste of the music, check out their cover of Coldplay’s, A Sky Full of Stars, here.
After a leisurely breakfast on Sunday, we wandered back out and around the park. Nothing was open yet, it was only 10 (still real early), so we took a nice walk and then walked back through the streets and alleys to kill some time, do a little shopping, and wait until the festival opened for lunch. With foods from across Italy and from several different countries (Brazil, Argentina, and Greece to name a few), we found plenty of good things to try. And with several local craft beers available, and Stella Artois as a sponsor, we were not thirsty. We spent a couple hours sampling and then headed back to our hotel to gather our belongings. We had already checked out, but most hotels will store your stuff for the day, either prior to check-in or after check-out. We then headed back to the train station to catch our 3:30 train home, planning to pick up some meat, cheese, and wine for the ride home – or so we thought.
First off, none of the shops were open – it was after lunch and things close for the siesta, especially on Sundays. So much for dinner on the train on the way home. Then, we got to the train station, and our train wasn’t even listed. Several trains were “Delayed”, this time it was the regional lines. We pulled out our phones again and started trying to figure out what was going on. I typed in several renditions of “train” and “delay” and “Italy” and “today” and got information on how to get a refund and several articles about “Are train delays common in Italy”. Quick note – if there are several websites dedicated to this topic, and they have to ask, either you don’t want to really know the answer – or it is “yes”. Back into a line with another 100 of my fellow travelers to find out what was going on and our options.
This time it was a day that workers “could strike if they wanted to”. It wasn’t a scheduled strike day, which are fairly common, but an extra day that is thrown in, I guess just in case. I was told that although our train had been dropped (cancelled), we could take the one an hour later – again leading to issues with our future transfers. By now, my wife’s cell phone died, so we couldn’t communicate – she was up watching the big board and I was trying to do my best to figure out what was happening with my limited language skills. Rendezvousing, we figured we had at least an hour to wait, so we went to a café/bar to have an Aperol Spritz and plug in her phone.
There was a train leaving slightly earlier than the one they had suggested to me – and this one went straight through Florence, albeit wasn’t a high-speed option nor the line we were booked with. We decided to hop on, we are not fully sure which trains are aligned with each other and figured we would claim ignorance if told we were not allowed on this one and then hop off at the next station and try and catch something passing through – I know, you are thinking, “Aitkin Extranjero, that is a GREAT idea.”
Well, it was a pretty good idea, so good in fact that a great majority of our local friends seemed to be doing the same thing. Although this wasn’t a high-speed train, it also wasn’t a regional, people had seats assigned. We figured, “In for a penny, in for a pound” so we found a couple seats that looked promising and sat down in them – claimed them as our own. Although the train was fairly full, I think people were doing the same thing we were, so no one was really going to call anyone out, that is unless we just happened to sit in an actual booked passenger’s seat. We made it to Bologna Centrale, where we had to get off and change trains. And we weren’t the only ones – the platform was swarmed and as our fellow travelers disgorged, we added to the melee.
The next train, for us and our host of fellow stranded passengers, was from Bologna to Florence. Like the leg from Parma, this was also an assigned seat journey. As we piled on to the next scheduled train, we felt like we were in the Far East, where attendants with white gloves help cram people on to subways so the doors can close. Unlike the leg from Parma, we didn’t get seats on this one. We spent the next hour of our lives jammed against the luggage rack. We made it to Florence, none the worse for the wear, and set out to find a train to handle the last leg – to Livorno. These run more frequently, and the tourist load is a lot less. An hour and a half later, we collected our car from the lot and drove back to our agriturismo in Guasticce.
We really do enjoy the public train options here in Italy. Part of the adventure is that sometimes things don’t go as smoothly as one would hope. It reminds us that we are not in charge – things work differently here. That also goes for places you go. Sometimes you really don’t know that the World Wide Hair Festival is happening in the village you wanted to go to on the exact weekend you planned to be there – we ran into Pope Francis in Malta in this way, that is another story. If you are on a Later Gap Travel, you need to be ready to roll with it. Although we are older, and sometimes a little less “flexible”, we continue to try to learn to adapt, and really just make the most of each of these spontaneous hiccups – some good and some bad, but all of them contributing to this adventure.
Thnx
No worries – glad you enjoyed