Ravenna, Italy, Sept. 7

Ravenna! Famous for its UNESCO world heritage status.  Mosaics and frescos draw your eyes to ceilings, walls and floors. Not restricted to flat and domed surfaces mosaics also make up statues and monuments and of course, all sorts of tourist items.

We headed in on the local bus in between practice and race days. We spent the morning with Anne and Lubbert getting our bearings.  Of course, half of our team had the same idea and we ran into a few throughout the day.

Our first stop was by fluke as we explored the narrow cobblestone streets, a Mosaic studio.  The artists allowed us in and we were able to watch and take photos of them at work.  A wonderful intro to mosaics before we had even seen any!  We were able to speak to a Taiwanese student who was learning the art.

Anne V in studio window

Copy of famous mosaic

Photo

mosaic of photo!

Lubert and Richard, Mini mosaics

We parted ways at the Bascilica di St. Apollinare Nuovo, on the UNESCO World Heritage List.  We were on our way to a geocache.  On the next corner was a ruined building, the Palazzo di Teodorico.  We went inside and up the spiral staircase into a room filled with partial mosaics that had been recovered from some other buildings. Then on to the geocache located next to the Santa Maria di Porto Church and in front of the Museum of Art.  Even the flower planters were mosaics.  We quickly found the magnetic geocache near the horse statue in front.  Our first in Italy.

Bascilica di St. Apollinare Nuovo

Bascilica di St. Apollinare Nuovo

Bascilica di St. Apollinare Nuovo

Palazzo di Teodorico

Palazzo di Teodorico

Palazzo di Teodorico

Mosaic planter in front of Santa Maria di Porto Church, Museum of Art

Richard taking photo of horse

Geocache on back of sign

We continued down Via Roma to Porto Nuava and headed west along the inside of the old wall to the Tamo, a museum of the history of mosaics in the San Nicolo complex. Quite spectacular!  Many casts of mosaics from the Vatican made in the 1930s.  These duplicates show the condition of the originals back then. The originals fade with time.  There were also modern mosaics of some modern art.    Back in the pedestrian only area we met up with John and Mo and Ray.  We all went into the  Cripta Rasponi in the Palazzo Della Provincia, the second of 3 on our voucher.  Of course, we ran into teammates!

The highlight of the day was the Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra, Judit's recommendation.  Awesome! Entering through St. Euphemia church we descended 3 metres to an underground room decorated with magnificant mosaics dating from the 5 to 6th centuries.  On display were Byzantine mosaics from a 14-room palace only discovered in 1993. Check out this link for the specatular images as no photos were allowed.  Our favourite mosaic was the Dance of the Geniuses!

Friday evening is market time in Ravenna and the Piazza's were crowded with vendors and shoppers.