Our initial idea was to go to Venice for a couple of days. I very much wanted Pieter to see this city - I'd been there half a lifetime ago and I seriously think you should see Venice if only once in your life - since Venice cannot be compared with any other city in the world.
But then, we would be in Italy and not see - Italy.
Like Ravenna, a must see because of the famous, World Heritage, mosaics. While in the neighbourhood we might as well go there and see them. And just south of Ravenna we found the intriguing, tiny republic of San Marino, with its own army (the smallest in the world) and its own Euro coins (extremely rare, so highly sought after).
So our plans expanded quickly, and in the end we whipped up a very satisfying (ok, IMHO) programme. First we would visit Italy's mainland. For our visit to Ravenna and San Marino we pre-booked hotels, then we would see wherever we wanted to go for the next couple of days before spending the last four days of our holiday in Venice.
Ravenna turned out to be a charming city.
I must tell more about charming cities in Italy.
As far as I have seen every city in Italy has a wonderful historic inner city.
Around it a ring of rather non descript residential areas, often rather ungainly condominiums but still very much Italy and a good area to find a not too expensive hotel.
We found - and it's not only the cities with a harbour - a lot of the cities possess vast heavy industry areas, full of huge factories, warehouses and storage tanks. Rather ugly but fascinating since these areas are so close to the cities that are flocked with tourists from all over the world.
In Ravenna the industrial zone is situated between the city itself and it's 'Lido', the city's seaside resort. We visited both this area (bordering the outskirts of Ravenna) and the seaside resort next to it. Amazing.
But that's not what we came for. Here are some pictures of Ravenna, and because I'm a librarian a couple of pictures of a beautiful, centuries old library (the Bibliotheca Classense, officialy closed to the public) and handwritten index cards (!).
In the next blog we'll enter the Cathedrals, the churches and the mausolea and we'll baffle you with the mozaics.
But then, we would be in Italy and not see - Italy.
Like Ravenna, a must see because of the famous, World Heritage, mosaics. While in the neighbourhood we might as well go there and see them. And just south of Ravenna we found the intriguing, tiny republic of San Marino, with its own army (the smallest in the world) and its own Euro coins (extremely rare, so highly sought after).
So our plans expanded quickly, and in the end we whipped up a very satisfying (ok, IMHO) programme. First we would visit Italy's mainland. For our visit to Ravenna and San Marino we pre-booked hotels, then we would see wherever we wanted to go for the next couple of days before spending the last four days of our holiday in Venice.
Ravenna turned out to be a charming city.
I must tell more about charming cities in Italy.
As far as I have seen every city in Italy has a wonderful historic inner city.
Around it a ring of rather non descript residential areas, often rather ungainly condominiums but still very much Italy and a good area to find a not too expensive hotel.
We found - and it's not only the cities with a harbour - a lot of the cities possess vast heavy industry areas, full of huge factories, warehouses and storage tanks. Rather ugly but fascinating since these areas are so close to the cities that are flocked with tourists from all over the world.
In Ravenna the industrial zone is situated between the city itself and it's 'Lido', the city's seaside resort. We visited both this area (bordering the outskirts of Ravenna) and the seaside resort next to it. Amazing.
But that's not what we came for. Here are some pictures of Ravenna, and because I'm a librarian a couple of pictures of a beautiful, centuries old library (the Bibliotheca Classense, officialy closed to the public) and handwritten index cards (!).
In the next blog we'll enter the Cathedrals, the churches and the mausolea and we'll baffle you with the mozaics.
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