Trip to Ravenna
Sunday, June 17th, 2012
I don’t write much about side trips, churches, monuments and such things but decided that the day trip merited a post. Ravenna is famous for byzantine mosaics and I saw a lot of them. Ravenna was the center of byzantine control in Italy starting in 540 and lasted for a couple of hundred years. Â During this time several religious buildings were constructed with spectacular mosaics which have survived quite well for almost 1500 years.
I was one of only two students that accompanied Francesca on this day trip. Francesca studied history at university and is keenly interested in all things historical and always leads the biweekly day trips to one city or another. We met at the train at around 8:45, bought our tickets from the machine, stamped them to validate them before boarding the train (a requirement) and made our way to Ravenna. We toured the monuments, ate a light lunch at a bar something that resembled a calzone but much thinner. Apparently this is a food very regional to the area but for the life of me I can’t remember the name of those little thingies. If there you are sure to see signs for them.
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- The ticket machine
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- Don’t forget to validate (timbrare) your ticket or you could receive a fine (multa)
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- Take the underground passage way to the correct train platform (binario)
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- And here comes the train
After lunch I was pretty much tired of churches and museums. In truth not my favorite places. There’s lot of beauty but at some point it all starts to look alike and I want to just go have a glass of wine or something. After lunch Francesca and the Turkish journalist went to the two remaining churches while I just walked around and window shopped. At midday most stores are closed, unfortunately, so I didn’t buy anything.
So here are the photos.
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- A courtyard of the first location – I think it was a church
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- Mosaics on the ceiling
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- mosaics above the window
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- mosaics everyhere
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- on the wall…
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- part of the original floor that is now a display on one wall
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- One of the oldest of the mosaics that is in a mausoleum – the ceiling
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- same locale but on a wall above the entrance
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- on a wall above the sarcophagus
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- another ceiling – different building. They’re all starting to run together at this point..
June 18th, 2012 at 3:59 am
la foto con la dicitura “mosaics on te celing” rappresenta, però, un affresco del seicento; la Chiesa di San Vitale è stata rimaneggiata nel tempo.
Per pranzo avete mangiato piadina con lo squacquerone? 🙂
June 28th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Grazie per il correzione. Per pranzo non ho mangiato piadina, almeno penso di no. Ho mangiato piadine a Bologna – sono come un gran taco;^) Queste invece erano sigillati, come un calzone ma sottile. Dentro mio erano salsice e mozzarella.
Joe
June 18th, 2012 at 8:46 am
Ravenna is the first city I went with Francesca……I am not that impressed with this city as many people do.
June 28th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Yes, but the mosaics are certainly unique.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:58 pm
Joseppi,
I love the photos!
June 28th, 2012 at 4:03 pm
I noticed that I duplicated one. Maybe I’ll go back and fix it or maybe I’ll continue to be “pigro”.
Joe
June 20th, 2012 at 12:03 am
What a wonderful side trip and what beautiful pictures. Thanks Joe I am grateful for your stories. Debby
June 28th, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Thanks for the praise. It’s always appreciated.