(no subject)
I haven't really been feeling like travelling since I've been here. With all the school stuff going on it's so easy just to fall into a comfortable school/home routine and not bother with getting up early on weekends and spending money to go places and see things. Still, as one of my classmates said, sometimes you just have to make yourself do it, because it's worth it. So, this weekend I went to Perugia. They were having a chocolate festival, which I found to be sufficient inducement to haul myself out of bed and hike up to the station at 9am on a Sunday.
Perugia is the capital of Umbria, and also apparently the chocolate capital of Italy, which is why they have this festival in the first place. Their big chocolate company is called Perugina (now a subsidiary of Nestle), and is much like Cote d'Or, selling everyday supermarket chocolate rather than more complicated artisanal truffles and the like. I deigned to try some of their free samples, and it certainly wasn't bad. Interestingly though, even in Italy it doesn't seem to have much of a market. Bologna is only 3 hours away from Perugia by train, and all the grocery stores have here is Lindt. There were lots of other chocolate makers represented, mostly smaller Italian chocolate houses but a few from outside of Italy like Lindt and Valrhona. The Belgians were conspicuously absent. I had a good time though, eating chocolate-drizzled popcorn, looking at the sculptures carved from solid blocks of chocolate, and browsing the chocolate-related merchandise which ranged from books to liqueur to tableware to more exotic items. There was also chocolate face painting, though I declined to partake. There was one disappointment for me, besides the lack of Belgians: a dearth of free samples. I would have loved to try everything, nibbling and comparing until I crowned the king of Italian chocolate, but I certainly couldn't afford to pay to do it.
Even aside from the festival, Perugia was worth seeing. There is fortress there from the 1500s, built around and into the central hill of the city, with gardens and the historic city center on top. The view from the top is wonderful, and some of the Renaissance architecture and the fountains are lovely as well. You can see all the pictures I took here. I really need to work harder to get around a bit more before winter settles in and I go into hibernation mode. Maybe I can find someone equally food-obsessed who would be willing to go to Parma and Modena with me. They're less than an hour away so they would make good day trips.
Perugia is the capital of Umbria, and also apparently the chocolate capital of Italy, which is why they have this festival in the first place. Their big chocolate company is called Perugina (now a subsidiary of Nestle), and is much like Cote d'Or, selling everyday supermarket chocolate rather than more complicated artisanal truffles and the like. I deigned to try some of their free samples, and it certainly wasn't bad. Interestingly though, even in Italy it doesn't seem to have much of a market. Bologna is only 3 hours away from Perugia by train, and all the grocery stores have here is Lindt. There were lots of other chocolate makers represented, mostly smaller Italian chocolate houses but a few from outside of Italy like Lindt and Valrhona. The Belgians were conspicuously absent. I had a good time though, eating chocolate-drizzled popcorn, looking at the sculptures carved from solid blocks of chocolate, and browsing the chocolate-related merchandise which ranged from books to liqueur to tableware to more exotic items. There was also chocolate face painting, though I declined to partake. There was one disappointment for me, besides the lack of Belgians: a dearth of free samples. I would have loved to try everything, nibbling and comparing until I crowned the king of Italian chocolate, but I certainly couldn't afford to pay to do it.
Even aside from the festival, Perugia was worth seeing. There is fortress there from the 1500s, built around and into the central hill of the city, with gardens and the historic city center on top. The view from the top is wonderful, and some of the Renaissance architecture and the fountains are lovely as well. You can see all the pictures I took here. I really need to work harder to get around a bit more before winter settles in and I go into hibernation mode. Maybe I can find someone equally food-obsessed who would be willing to go to Parma and Modena with me. They're less than an hour away so they would make good day trips.