Have you ever heard of Pianeta Birra? No? well, that’s not that strange. It is an International beer fair that’s been held for the 10th time this year in Rimini, Italy. You can find stands from breweries from all over the world, and many Italian importers are present. Not only the stands are impressive (as you will see on my pictures), but also the building in which this fair is held, is pretty impressive. It is built in 2001, and is considered as one of the most modern fair centers in Europe. I must admit that it is the prettiest one that I have ever seen.
Now, what was I doing at that fair? Since my father is very interested in what is happening in the beerworld, and I am very interested in everything that happens in Italy, we threw our interests together and went for a weekend to Rimini. We booked ourselves a trip from Brussels to Bologna, and rented a car for the rest of the trip. Saturday at noon we arrived at the fair. We mostly visited stands that featured Belgian Beers, like the stand of Beerconcept, Interbrau and San Geminiano. At night, the place to be was the Rose and Crown, an Irish Pub in the center of Rimini. Most of the Belgian Brewers who felt like having a party, went there as well. it was nice to have something other than a pizza to eat for a change .. Too bad the weather wasn’t that good. It was very misty, and the foghorn blew every 30 seconds, day and night. It was very hard to fall asleep, I can tell you!
The second day, we decided to visit Cesenatico, a little place near Rimini. We went for a little stroll on the beach, accompanied by the sound of the foghorn. After that, we visited the older part of Rimini. It has some nice Piazza’s (Italian squares) and a nice old bridge, called Ponte di Tiberio, but isn’t really that special. The afternoon was pretty much the same as the first day: first a visit to the fair, where we watched a pizza-throw-demonstration by Riminipizza, and afterwards dinner and drinks at the Rose and Crown.
The third day, we drove back to Bologna. Unfortunately, our GPS system failed us, and we had to drive with the help of our map. Lucky for us, I am the perfect co-driver! Around noon, we arrived Il Guercino . It’s a nice little hotel just outside the historical center of Bologna. The room was very nice, as you can see here and here. After dropping off our luggage, we visited the center on foot. we visited walked via Via d’Indipendenza straight to Piazza Maggiore. There we saw the Fountain of Neptune (Fontana di nettuno), saw one of the many churches that Bologna has, two towers that looked like they were competing with the tower of Pisa to be the most crooked tower, and many, many small streets with cute little shops, like this macceleria. At night, we went to the part of time where the University of Bologna is. It’s not a very big surprise that the best bars were in that neighbourhood. In Bounty, you can have appetizers every night for free if you buy a drink of 5 euro’s. You can eat as much as you want. They have pasta, vegetables and other tipical Italian appetizers. If you are looking for a cheap place to eat, you have to go to Bounty! The Cluricaune is the place to be if you are looking for Irish or German beer. The atmosphere is very nice, and the girls at the bar are very friendly.
Tuesdaymorning, we took our flight back to Brussels. The landing on Brussels Airport was a bit bumpy, but I’m back home, safe and sound!
If you want to see all of my pictures from that weekend, just click here…
