Traveling With Seymour: Ravenna, Italy

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Ravenna, Italy - with a Few Bumps

Well, I got to the train station in time but the train was late - over 30 minutes late. I kept looking at the schedule and saw that another train was due in at the same time this one was supposed to come, so I had a bit of trepidation when I finally got on the train, worrying that it was the wrong one again.

Luckily, it was right and we got to Ravenna by about 9:30 am. I have to say that I was expecting a city that was totally bedazzled - er, mosiaced. It's my blog, I can make up words. I hunted all around town for something that was made from mosaics. Very few were found. I took pictures of some in windows that were pretty cool:

Here is someone making mosaics - that duck is all mosaic as is that big frame in the back:

This was over a church entrance:

This was an art gallery that wasn't opened. But the person you see inside to the right of that pillar is all mosaic - pretty cool.

I finally went to the tourist office and everything there is to see is in a few of the churches owned by the Diocese (I'm not sure I spelled that right). Anyway, they don't allow animals but I went to check anyway. The man said nope, we couldn't come in - but I noticed that the entrance was totally mosiac-ed so I went in to take a picture. I wasn't exactly thrown out, but the man came from behind the counter toward me as I was taking this picture. I thanked him and high-tailed it out of there. This was the ceiling.

Dante is buried here. The vine covered casket is his and there are a few others around him but I don't know who they are:

Here are some statues I thought were incredible:

The Duomo was unbelievably beautiful inside. I really wanted to take a picture but people were praying and it didn't feel right. But here is the inside of one of the smaller churches and the outside of a few.