Mike here. As Margaret mentioned in her last blog, we spent a few days in Ravenna on our way back from the funeral in Oderzo.
When we had originally planned on going up to visit the family, Margaret, who usually does the detail planning, gave me the task of finding something to do on the drive home. When we normally go up and back on the Autostrada, we drive North along the coast to Rimini, take the Autostrada northwest to Bologna and then northeast to Venice. That makes two sides of a triangle avoiding the straight route along the coast but it’s a fast and easy drive. Since we had the extra time on the way back, I looked at places of interest on the direct coastal route and there was Ravenna. I had been generally aware that barbarian invasions had moved the western capital from Rome to Ravenna in the 400s and then Ravenna became the western center of the eastern Byzantine empire into the 700s. The opportunity to learn more of this area and the byzantine mosaics and architecture seemed like a natural destination for us.
My imagined scenic drive south along the coast to Ravenna actually was two hours in a heavy fog tunnel, but the roads were good and traffic was light.
A surprise to us when we toured Ravenna was that the residents think of themselves as a southern Venice. While they don’t have canals, Ravenna is built on marsh land that protected them from invaders and, like Venice, it is sinking. Underground crypts and grottos in Ravenna’s churches are partially flooded and not accessible.
Margaret here. I was really glad that Mike took ownership of finding a destination for us on our way home. We both needed a break, and he, as usual, did due diligence and found a great place to explore.
I found a nice hotel in the central part of the city, and the concierge recommended a tour guide. She was really good. Ravenna has eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, and she took us to six of them. She seemed to have picked up on the fact that Mike was interested in the history of the wars (who conquered who when), while I was more interested in the art and the religious history. So she covered all the bases. On the way home, we stopped at the seventh site, which was well worth the time.
You really need to look at the photos. The mosaics are amazing. Our limited knowledge of the art/craft of creating them stems from several excursions to Tornareccio, a small town near where we live, that has an outdoor museum of custom mosaics. If you haven't already read our blog on it, check it out. Needless to say, we were very impressed with the centuries’ old mosaics in Ravenna.
Click HERE for photos.
One of the sites is Dante’s tomb. While the city is famous for this, it was, for me, the least impressive. Maybe I’ve been spoiled?
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