Ravenna, Monday 19 May, Day 26

Another perfect morning in Venice - the weather has been terrific, sunny and clear with a light breeze. Around 9 we caught a vaporetto to the train station. Not too crowded to start with tho at the bus station stop immediately before the train station stop a huge crowd swarmed onto the boat. Luckily we saw them coming and positioned ourselves on the side to get off for our stop. The vaporetto we caught runs past the freight import area of Venice. Everything you eat, sit on, use, shelter under, every last thing has to be brought in by small boat or by hand trolley. Amazing to see that in action.

The train trip ran as smoothly as we have come to expect from the Italian rail service, and we had a range of travelling companions along the way, a sort of cross section of Italian society, including a twinkly older nun who wished us Buon voyagio, a gaggle of adolescents finishing school for the day, a lady farm worker, a chap who I bet didn't have a ticket and who departed abruptly before the ticket inspector reached us, and any number of ladies with massive bulky suitcases weighing more than themselves.

We arrived in Ravenna round 2.00 and for once found our hotel first try, and without too much effort.

After getting organized we headed out to explore.  So far we've formed a very positive impression of Ravenna. There are almost no cars in the old city section, lots of people strolling about, 3 gelato shops within 50 metres of each other, and lots of bicycles being ridden by people of all ages, typically at a stately pace not a huge amount faster than walking. I watched an older chap in a crumpled mac fish in his pocket for a cigarette packet, open it, extract a cigarette all travelling about 5 miles per hour. He did stop to light it though.

Today we visited the Basilica_of_San_Vitale, a church begun around 527 when Ravenna was under Ostrogoth rule, and completed in 547 when Ravenna has been brought under the control of Byzantium after Belusarius' campaign to return the Italian peninsula to Roman, albeit Eastern Roman, rule. The church has mosaics from both the Ostrogoth and Byzantine eras, including a portrait of Justinian I and Belusarius.

Nearby the church is the even older Mausoleum_of_Galla_Placidia, a much smaller but more completely realised interior. The effect of the wrap around mosaics is much more powerful. I found it impossible to get any photo that gave any idea of what that interior is like. We'd like to go back there when it is quieter.

After absorbing so much history and culture we felt a strong need to absorb a glass of wine, and luckily our hotel offers a sort of Italian tapas - you buy a glass of wine and fill up your plate from a selection of tasty offerings at the bar. The girl in the bar assured us that we were drinking the best wine in Italy and it certainly tasted pretty darn good.

After dinner we strolled down some of the quiet streets doing some window shopping. So far we like Ravenna a lot.