Ravenna

So, here we are in the mosaic capital of Europe and it is time to get the brain cells working again ( actually, I think I have used them pretty well up to now anyway!)  to attend a week of Italian.

Gorgeous home and remarkable bed in the attic.  After my just about falling out of the skinny single bed on the first night, the owners of b and b kindly  made up the double bed for me. It is amazingly high. In fact, to look at it it seems you need to take a run at it to get on! Wasn't sure if my fear of heights would be a problem! No worries. Just need to be careful getting out of bed during the night. I simply slide down the side!

 

The city of Ravenna is a wonderfully comfortable size, with lots of pedestrian areas, hence clean and  calm! 

Street art is also very interesting.

 

Basilica di S Vitale is one of the most famous tourist attractions due to its phenomenal mosaics. Some of the most famous can be found here. They date back to sixth century. Sadly photos cannot do justice to the mosaic masterpieces here, many world-renowned.

 

Mausoleo di Galla Placida is tiny but the fabulous mosaic of the Good Shepherd ,, which adorns one of its walls, is beautiful.

 

Actually, I loved the marble window areas almost as much as the mosaics here.

 Needless to say, food here is delicious. One speciality  is piadina, a type of flat bread, with numerous fillings.

 

Today we went to the Basilica di s. apollinare nuovo, the largest area of mosaics from the 5 and 6 th century in Europe. Very impressive indeed. 

 

The mosaics showing the Three Wise Men were particularly amazing.

 

Battistero degli Ariani was another smaller monument with this fantastic mosaic composition on the ceiling -  I had a stiff neck after an afternoon of mosaic viewing!

 

A very similar design was to be found on the ceiling of the Battistero di Neoniano. 

While the colours of paintings fade, the glass olours remain just as intense, even 16 centuries later. Brilliant!

 

After 3 hours  of Italian in an excellent class with a very nice teacher, followed  by lunch and sightseeing, we were really happy to get back to Il giardino Roccioso, our b and b. Trying to do my homework in the lovely garden there was quite tricky, thanks to Roneo, one of the four cats,  who was delighted  to have company outside,  away from the visiting grandchildren 😀