From our hotel in Venice we took a water taxi back to Piazzale Roma where we retrieved our
bags and met the driver (we had a hard time finding him) we had pre-arranged to take us to
Ravenna, Italy (about 2 hours away). (We had originally planned on taking a train where we
had to transfer once, but cancelled that plan because John still had his cold and wasn't
confident he could move our heavy luggage around on and off the trains.) In Ravenna we
wandered around and found promising restaurants for dinner. We had a very nice dinner that
night, once again in an open air restaurant. The next day we visited a number of sites in
Ravenna, a generally quiter, less crowded, and still picturesque place. Ravenna was the
seat of government for the Roman Empire after Rome itself began to fade. The town has a
number of basilicas and museums with spectacular mosaics and scuptures, many from the 5th
and 6th centuries. These included the Basilica of San Vitale, commisioned by Justinian,
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Basilica of Sant’Apollinaro Nuovo, the Neonian Baptistry,
and Museo d’Archepiscopal Chapel. We also saw Dante’s Tomb. Galla Placidia was a remarkable
woman, daughter of an emporer, abducted to what is now Spain by Goths, married to their
leader, bore a son, later managed to return to Ravenna, where she ruled as regent for her
son for a number of years. We started our next cruise from Ravenna, an increasing
alternative to Venice because of the environmental damage being done to Venice by the
large numbers of large cruise ships.
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