I met lots of friendly faces on my visit to Bologna for Blogville last summer. It’s one of the highlights of travel. To learn about other cultures, hear what people have to say, and to connect over shared interests – often the travel itself. (And food – let’s not forget the food.) During an action-packed week in Emilia Romagna, I managed to snap a few photo’s of the folks I met and spent time with, including Italian people and fellow bloggers.

Melvin from TravelDudes tried as hard as the rest of us to work in our shared apartment, but the wine and Parmesan you can see in the background didn’t make it easy;

I met Erin from Our Tasty Travels for the first time, after meeting her hubby Brett in Berlin a couple of months earlier.

A really friendly tour guide in one of the museums we visited was full of information about the area’s history.

Her colleague was more of a dummy, seen here sporting ‘World War winter chic’.

My hiking and biking guide in the Apennines was Stefano, a photographer and wildlife enthusiast.

This very Italian lady lived in a cottage just outside some woods and was grateful of passers-by to talk to. Maybe she’s Little Red Riding Hood, all grown up.

Caught peering into a farm courtyard, the owner came out and chatted to us about his business. He might look old, but as he spoke about his prosperous past rearing pigs on the small holding, he also recommended long walks and good Parma ham for putting lead in your pencil!

Fellow blogger and native Costa Rican Norbert from Globotreks pauses at yet another great view, on the way up to ‘the mezzanine’ for our lunch with guide Stefano.

Just in case you forgot what Stefano looked like   :)

This sweet gal living at an outdoor adventure centre gave an Oscar-worthy performance of dejection and loss, although really she was just tired of us trying to make friends with her.

After a few hours hiking in nice weather and pretty surrounds, our agriturismo hit the right note and this Englishman enjoyed a good cup of tea.

A day out in Bobbio for all the Blogville Week 1 posse including our hard-working host Nick in the middle.

Meeting a pasta master, Sfoglina Luisa, the in-house fresh food Maestro of a well-known Bologna restaurant and wine bar, who gave us a pasta-making demo during a press conference.

Keith from VelvetEscape and one of the men behind Blogville captures the same press conference on camera.

And after working hard we all agreed to play hard, enjoying beers in one of Bologna’s central squares.

Randy, half of blogging extraordinaire BeersandBeans, tries on a Calzone for size. Unsurprisingly he struggled to finish this beast!

Bethany, the other half of Beers And Beans, sets the tone nicely in one of my favourite photos from 2013! Take that Austerity, and anyone causing it.

And finally, meet my Italian girlfriend – neighbour to the Blogville 2013 apartment and door-lady of a slightly suspect venue. She’d wait outside my bedroom window all day you know, but it wasn’t meant to be…

Did you enjoy my portraits from Blogville? Two very notable faces were missing: Kash, the remaining organiser of this blogging initiative (although I caught up with him later); and a good shot of Bethany! She’s such a dedicated paparazzi that it’s hard to catch her without the camera in front of her face! (Next time Bethany…) Sorry to tease you all with mentions of the fabulous views and delicious food. Those photos are on their way soon!

But the lesson here is very much that… while travel will always increase your personal well-being, there’s nothing like having good company to share your experiences.

Yeah, travel is about the journey. But it’s also about the people.

Stayed tuned for more travel photography from Italy and beyond with Twitter and Google+, or by subscribing to the site. I’d love to hear what you think is most important when you travel too!

Peter

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