Baron in Italy, Sun, 15 Dec 2019 | written by Jemma
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

After the short drive from our parking spot, we arrived in Ravenna. We were amazed at the hugeeeee powerplants we passed on our way here and then by some of the really ugly buildings in the town – I guess not everywhere in Italy can be beautiful.

The reason we’re here is because it has some amazing late Roman and Byzantine churches – more places to see from the UNESCO list.

Today was a day of seeing the most amazing mosaics! Firstly, we went to the Bascilica di San Vitale, an early Byzantine church. The exterior looks great – an octagon with flying buttresses – but the mosaics inside are mind-blowing! I also couldn’t believe that horrible Baroque frescos had been added in the rest of the church – how did they think this looked good next to these mosaics?!?

Next we visited the Mausoleo di Galia Placidia – Roman building filled with the most amazing Byzantine mosaics, plus three huge, carved sacrophagi.

We stopped for lunch at this food hall – it had various shops and eateries downstairs, and places to sit upstairs. More bread, cheese & tomato for us!

Getting back on the mosaic trail, we went to the Battisterio degli Ariani, a 5/6th century Arian building by the shameless Ostrogoth heretics, thankfully later reclaimed by the One True Church. Glorious mosaics on the ceiling. This one was actually free to get in for students – we’ve found such good deals for students in Italy!

Next, Bascilica of Sant Apollinare Nuovo. This was the palace chapel for the Ostrogoth king, Theodoric the Great (6th c.). It has long mosaics along the walls, showing processions of saints and virgins! At the top are scenes from the life of JC with what is supposed to be the first artistic representation of Satan – a blue angel on the left side of JC.

Then we saw Dante’s tomb!

Next, Baptistery of Neon (4/5th c.) – another late Roman build, including a basin from a Roman bath. And another lovely mosaic of JC dipping in the Jordan river.

Finally on the mosaic trail – the chapel of Sant Andrea, which is inside the museum. Beautiful angels!

Feeling quite mosaic-ed out, we stopped at a cafe, which turned out to be a tourist trap. When we had ordered (cappuccino and cam tea) they told us to sit down and pay later. After a while they brought a cold cappuccino and pot of boiling water, but no cam tea bags. I went back to complain and finally we got what we wanted. Then they tried to charge us for almost double the listed prices as a service charge, which Simon argued us out of. It’s made me realise that you really have to check your restaurant/cafe bills while traveling. So yeah, that was pretty crappy.

We then walked back to the Baron via the southern city walls, and cooked some dinner.

For the evening, we found a place to park in town, grabbed laptops and went to a bar called Moog. This turned out to be a great find – cool bar, free WiFi, tasty tea!

We parked the van up for the night in a car park out of town.