Ravenna and her fabulous mosaics

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, dolce e sale, including honey straight from the comb,

we headed to the train station for a daytrip to Ravenna, a UNESCO World Heritage site with some of the best mosaics you will ever see.  

                                                    

The trip there was an adventure itself, we missed the direct train by about 4 minutes so we caught the next available, which required a change in Faenza.  Not a big deal, except when the first leg is late, then you miss the connecting bus. So we're standing in the parking lot of the train station, next bus in 2 hours, contemplating our next move. I hear a couple speaking English by the cab stand to we approached and agreed to bite the bullet and split a cab, 65 Euro, and off we went.  Chris and Regina were quite the couple, well traveled and bright folks from England that were a joy to spend some time around the town.  Chris was a walking history book, literally he was a history major/professor, and as we walked the town of Ravenna his backstory of how the Roman Empire came to power in Ravenna was riddled with details I'll never be able to recite.  It was almost like he was reading a book, marvelous details and the meaning behind them. Their upbeat attitude, lack of map reading skills 😉 , and kindness were much appreciated.  Chris even paid the extra 5 Euro cause he got the front seat of the cab!  We're certainly glad we got to spend a few hours with them and hear details of the churches and art works I"d never have known.  Chris put the ancient architectural work of these buildings and art in a perspective I've never thought, drawing the parallel that much of the work back in the ancient Roman times was tougher than the moon landing really described how I feel about the enormity of the construction, without any modern tools, well it just hits home for me.  So impressive.

               Basilica San Vitale                                   

Here we are in Basilica San Vitale, in my opinion the most amazing of the places we saw in Ravenna.  Thanks Chris for describing Teodora and how instrumental and unique she was in history, immortalized in the mosaics in Basilica San Vitale. (naturally I don't have a picture but here's one: Teodora)  Thanks Chris & Regina for sharing part of our journey!

The Basilica was stunning, just breathtaking, and not like the Seinfeld baby episode!  These pictures are not even close to showing the magnitude nor the splendor of the church:

                               

Keep in mind all of these tiles were the size of your pinkie finger nail.  The color was amazing, the detail unbelievable, I just cannot fathom the time, effort, planning and sheer talent it took to design, build, and then create these mosaics inside of the church.  This all was completed in the mid 500's.....  yes, 1400 years ago.  Just stunning. Here's a cool video of the how ancient mosaics were likely created:

We also visited the Neonian Baptistry and the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, here are a couple not so great shots from the latter:

The trip was super cool, except for the blister on Kathie's heel.  Ever try to explain you needed a bandaid to an immigrant in Italy?  We popped in a store on the way out of town as a last ditch effort, with a little gesturing and quick view of the problem our new buddy talked with his friend in the back, who happened to be a butcher, and bingo we were in business.  Friendly folks are everywhere, we could all be a little more kind.

Our trip back to Bologna was uneventful, we then took a nice riposo before dinner at what is probably our favorite restaurant.  We accidentally found Cesari two years ago with my brother and family, Ron, Rose Ann and Gena (here) and had to return.  Ricardo did not disappoint, the meal was fantastic!  We reminded Ricardo of our visit and he was all smiles, happy to have us back, not that he remembered.  He launched into the wine menu with descriptions of his Uncle's wine  and sold us on a Sangiovese blend that was great.  As we enjoyed the first glass the couple next to us, from West Virginia of all places, was happy to tell us they didn't get that sort of treatment and wine detailed description.  We just laughed it off as we told them it wasn't our first visit.  

                    

I had the pasta special for the evening,  pappardelle with asparagus and prosciutto.  Oh my it was so frickin' good, so so good.  Kathie had farfalle with butter and prosciutto, simple but spectacular.

Ricardo was carrying around a mortadella when I cleared a place on the table and asked him to just leave it, he laughed and asked "Are you sure you aren't my brother?"

Kathie and I shared a secondi piatti, the dish that is "...served with a napkin on the side to wipe away the tears of joy."  Petroniana veal, basically veal covered in Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano sauce that doesn't display well on a plate but is making my mouth water right now!

We capped the meal off with some digestivo, Kathie went for their homemade limoncello while I "settled" on the regional Nocino, a digestive aid made from walnuts.  Let me tell you the Italian people know their food, what to pair, how to get the most out of their local crops, and how to eat!  I never want to leave.

You call me fratello anytime Ricardo!

Needless to say we made reservations for a couple nights later.  It was a great day, an 18,000+ step day, relaxing and going fast are on tomorrow's agenda.

Ciao a tutti!