Ravenna Italy

The ship docked about half an hour from the center of town but there was a complimentary shuttle provided from the ship into town. I took the shuttle after a leisurely morning letting everyone in a hurry get off the ship and into town.

The best thing to do in Ravenna was apparently being on the 7:30 am ship’s tour to San Marino to get passports stamped. That is what the passengers who are “collecting countries” opted to do. We are counting the countries we have been to but are not so into it that we would get up around 6 am to make the trip.

The shuttle dropped us off a couple of blocks from the train station in one direction and all of the main sites within walking distance in the other direction. I managed to find Dante’s tomb, the Duomo, Basilica, and most importantly a tourist information center. I looked everywhere as I walked for “WC” and found none. At the tourist info center there were much better maps and I was able to locate the nearest “WC.” In Venice all of the public toilets cost 1.5 Euros but in Ravenna, it cost only .25 Euro – a real bargain. Right now a US dollar is equal to .69 Euros at the bank exchange rate so we can ballpark the exchange by adding a third to the prices.

In each new port, it is always difficult to figure out the basics such as where there are public toilets and how much they cost, how the public transportation works, and how to mail postcards. I found the Poste Italia at Piazza Garibaldi without any trouble but then I couldn’t figure out how the lines worked. It seemed to never be my turn, so I asked and was told to go to the ticket machine, press “P” and get a number. Then it was quickly my turn and I was able to have postcards of Venice stamped to be mailed from Ravenna.

There were very nice clothing stores with very large Euro prices, many cafes, some produce markets where I almost bought a quart of strawberries for 6 Euros. It is a Saturday so many of the locals were walking around the town enjoying the nice weather just like the tourists.

I wandered back to the shuttle pick-up point and stumbled upon the 5^th century Battistero degli Ariani and its mosaic ceiling. From the shuttle I was able to get some photos of these unusual fishing shacks with nets that drop into the water and fill up with fish.