Ravishing Ravenna

The Orthodox Baptistry or Neonian built 452 AD
The Orthodox Baptistry or Neonian built 452 AD

After completing one month in Recanati for Italian school it was nice to get on the road again touring instead of studying.  We booked four nights in Bologna and had grandiose plans to use it as a base for day trips to Ravenna, Ferrara and Verona but we ended up wanting too spend more time in Bologna instead. We were adamant though on going to Ravenna and so glad we did. At the bottom of this post is my video of Ravenna and a link to the photo gallery.

 

 

 

 

It’s an easy daytrip from Bologna, about an hour and a half on the excellent Italian rail system of Trenitalia.  The weather has warmed up a bit about 8-11’c but it was a rainy day, non-the less we had an excellent trip to Ravenna, Italy.  The city is in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and is known for it’s colorful mosaics that adorn many of its historical sites, some of them Unesco historical sites.  We bought the Unesco combination ticket for $9.50 euros that got us entrance to multiple sites and was great value as you’ll see in our pics, like the octagonal Basilica di San Vitale, the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia or the 6th century Basilica di Sant’Apollinare.  The sites are incredible to see, pictures don’t do them justice and it blows your mind the amount of effort and artistry put into these incredible monuments that have been standing since the 4th century. The beauty of these unimaginable works truly inspire the soul and astound the mind.  Walking on the mosaic floors of an ancient church built 400 AD or so is thought provoking, the history that happened here! 

 

 

 

 

 

From the train station it is an easy walk into the historical town centre and all the main sites are short distances apart.  The old town center is mainly pedestrian and is lined with many great shops for the shopping enthusiast as well as many cafes, bars and restaurants that you’ll pass on your way to the ancient sites.  As with most smaller Italian cities and towns though you have to plan around the hours when things open and close.  Most of the shops close from 12:30 till about 4pm and some of the churches are closed from about 12:30 until 2:30, restaurants open about 12 til 3pm for lunch and then close until dinner which is about 7:30pm.  You won’t starve though outside those hours there is always a café open where you can get a light lunch, snack and café or cocktail.  One of our favorite things to do is site in a café with a coffee, sample one of the many decadent pastries and watch Italian life happen in front of us. Below is my video on Ravenna and here is a link to the photo gallery.

2 Comments

  • João Lucas

    February 9, 2017 at 2:44 am Reply

    Ansious waiting for posts of italian course dates.
    “On you by”, italian folk!

    • Mark

      February 9, 2017 at 4:31 am Reply

      non capisco il tuo messaggio? Come Stai?

Leave a Reply