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Trip report--Short stay in Venice, with a day in Ravenna

Trip report--Short stay in Venice, with a day in Ravenna

Old Mar 30th, 2005, 07:10 PM
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Trip report--Short stay in Venice, with a day in Ravenna

We're back from our very short trip to Italy (we flew into Italy on Sun., 3/20, and came home on Fri., 3/25). It was fun and worthwhile.

Tiredness was a real problem, as it has been on longer trips, but the time change was much easier than usual. For the first time, I succeeded in sleeping on a trans-Atlantic flight.


Day 1

In the morning we landed at the Marco Polo Airport, near Venice. My husband was going for a business meeting, so we had someone to meet us, and that made things so much easier.

A sharply-dressed young man from Bucintoro Viaggi greeted us and efficiently got us onto a shuttle bus and then onto a water taxi bound for town. The ride of about 45 mins. was surreal. Despite getting some sleep, we were bleary-eyed and unequal to the novel experience of going into town by water.

We arrived via the Lagoon, were handed up to the doormen, and were ushered in to hotel reception. We checked in and then went back out into the freezing afternoon. The rain I expected held off till Thurs. night (luckily), but it was much colder than we were prepared for. My hands were soon like blocks of ice. I bought a scarf for warmth, but didn't get gloves.

For lunch, we split a pizza at a snack bar. Then we briefly toured St. Mark's and were dazzled by the mosaics with their gold backgrounds. We wandered around a bit, then settled at a cafe on the piazza for a hot chocolate.

This proved expensive. Because a small band was playing (old standards, and playing reasonably well), the cafe added a charge. So a cup of tea and a cup of chocolate cost us nearly 30E!

A word about eating in Venice--it's significantly more expensive than elsewhere in Italy, and in my opinion, the food is not as good.

We returned to the hotel lobby several times to warm up. Only my husband's badgering stopped me from going up to the room to sleep. I knew it was unwise, but it was almost irresistible.

We had dinner at a trattoria not really worth naming. The headwaiter was like a stereotype: He welcomed us in warmly, then practically snarled when we ordered a light dinner. I had roast chicken and salad; my husband had spaghetti. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special. We drank mineral water, as wine would have knocked us out.

Back to the room. In bed by 9. The Hotel Danieli really was very special: It's a converted Gothic palazzo just a couple of doors from the Palazzo Ducale. Our comfortable and well-appointed room overlooked the small canal that ran beside the hotel. No doubt the rooms on the front side had a splendid view of the Grand Canal, and they were likely quite luxurious.
We needed sleep, as the next day we were heading to Ravenna.
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Old Mar 30th, 2005, 08:34 PM
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Day 2--To Ravenna

This was the crux of the trip for me, the reason I wanted to come here. The prospect of seeing all the Byzantine mosaics at Ravenna had excited me for weeks beforehand, and I was impatient as a child to go and see them.

We are not plucky or self-reliant people, my husband and I, so we signed up with a day tour company, Avventure Bellisime, to take us to Ravenna. We were doing well to find the right waterbus (#82) to take us to Tronchetto to meet our driver for the day.

Miriam was courteous and a good driver. The trip of about 80 mi. took over 2 hrs., so heavy was the traffic. We made it to San Vitale about 11:30.

Our guide, Rosanna, met us there and took us inside. Listening to her was a real pleasure, as she was very knowledgable about all aspects of Ravenna's history, its Byzantine architecture, and the mosaic work inside, without being the least bit pedantic.

I was surprised to see that only one of the 8 big "niches" inside San Vitale was covered with mosaic work. Most of the interior was covered with frescoes, obviously of a much later date than the mosaics. Mosaics covered only the apse (and the floor).

But the shortfall in quantity was more than made up for by the grandeur of the mosaics. The images of Justinian and Theodora with their attendants are among the most famous Byzantine mosaics in the world, and here they were, just splendid, and surrounded by other mosaics: scenes featuring prophets, portraits of martyrs, symbols of evangelists, wild creatures, geometric borders. The apse of San Vitale is an overwhelming sight.

Nearby is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. The pairs of doves, the starry sky of the dome--the mosaics here are very much worth seeing, though they are not easy to see in the dim mausoleum.

Next we saw the Neonian Baptistery, but by now I was getting overloaded. I can only take in a fairly small amount at a time. Going to the baptistery was largely lost on me.

We had lunch afterward. As the weather had turned warm, we headed to the square, but the cafes were closed (in preparation for the season, or some such). So we went to a "self-serve," a cafeteria, where we got some quite good pasta.

We walked past Dante's Tomb, and looked inside the small building. The lore is that Ravenna keeps in death the Florentine whom Florence didn't value in life.

Much of Ravenna is car-free, so we were on foot. Many local people rode bicycles; some of them smoked as they rode. Bikes for hire are parked in blue holders. One rents a key, and can take a bike from any holder and leave it at any holder, like luggage carts at an airport.
Or at least so I understood from Miriam.
After a leisurely lunch, we went to S. Apollinare Nuovo, a basilica-style church with a long nave running from entrance to apse. The long colonnade in the nave had upper walls decorated with delightful mosaics: processions of martyrs, scenes from miracles and parables, etc.

On to S. Apollinare in Classe, another basilica, this one a short distance outside Ravenna. Here the mosaics are on the very impressive apse: An expanse of green is filled with plants and animals; S. Apollinare is in the center, hands raised in prayer, and the starry sky above has a jeweled cross in the center.

None of these descriptions conveys how wondrous these sights were. Taken altogether, what I saw in Ravenna was easily one of the most gratifying experiences with art that I've ever had. Even my husband found it worthwhile.

I could have taken in no more. We had seen so much, and walked so much, that it was time to go. We dropped Rosanna off and began the long drive back to Venice.

Miriam let us off near a waterbus stop. We made a mistake and bought tickets for the #1 line, which is how we wound up on a Grand Canal local during rush hour.

We were good and tired, so we had an early dinner (pizza at a snack bar), and turned in.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 04:22 AM
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smalti--there are actually many excellent places to dine in Venice. Unfortunately, with your short stay, it would have been difficult for you to find one.

Also, the cuisine of Venice is very much different from that of the rest of Italy. It is not pasta based as it is in much of the country, and relies heavily on seafood. Spices and cooking methods are unique.

Many tourists expect "Eyetalian food" in Venice, and you aren't going to find many places that do it all that well in the city--it's like trying to get good TexMex food in Manchester, New Hampshire. If your are lucky, there might be a place or two that does it well, but most attempts at it will be unusual at best.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 05:05 AM
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smalti, you've made my morning! I've always wanted to see the mosaics at Ravenna, and your description lets me know that any effort will be well worthwhile. I, too, am surprised that S.Vitale is not entirely lined with tiles. Thanks for describing the two Apollinares, too.

Can you say anything about the city itself? Are the three churches close to one another so they can be combined on foot?

And I'm afraid to ask how much the guide/driver package cost. I'm fairly sure that's out of the question for me, but it sounds like it was a real convenience, and I'm envious. J.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 05:14 AM
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Hi, Rufus! I looked for polenta and risotto on menus, as I understand those are more local specialites, but I suspect those are available mostly at trattorias and ristorantes. Many of our meals were at pizzerias or snack bars, where pizza, panini, and pasta were more the order of the day. I did get some pretty good seafood, as I'll describe later on.

The main surprise of eating in Venice was the expense. In fairness, the last time we were in Italy was in 2000, and so we used lire. The dollar was strong against the lira, and it's weak against the euro. So part of the disappearance of cheap eats is caused by the difference in exchange rates.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 05:41 AM
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About the good food/bad food comments. I understand when someone gets defensive and say there IS great food in Venice, of course there is. But on the other hand, I also understand why so often the complaint is that the food just isn't as good as much of the rest of Italy. I've been to Rome and most other cities in Italy a number of times. I've ALWAYS had excellent food, sometimes great food, but never really bad or even mediocre food. Yet in my three stays in Venice I've had more than my share of mediocre food, including seafoood, and sometimes at highly recommended and expensive restaurants. Sure there are great dishes. I love the calves liver, and sometimes the seafood is great, but it nearly always seems outrageously priced compared to what you can get in other coastal cities of Italy, and in Greece or Turkey for example. I've had shrimp that was too chewy to possibly eat. I've had veal I couldn't cut with a sharp knife. I've had pastas that were overcooked and watery. I've had risotta that tasted burned. Well, let's just say, I've probably had as many meals in Venice where something was "off" as I've had where everything was perfectly done.
When it comes to asking where you ALWAYS get great food in Italy, I don't think Venice is usually going to be named. You have to really search it out, and you also have to be willing to pay more for it than in most of the rest of Italy.

And thanks smalti for the Ravenna report. Every time we go to Venice we think we are going to do a day in Ravenna, but we haven't made it yet.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 06:02 AM
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jmw44,

Most of the sights of Ravenna are within walking distance of one another in the city center and also not far from the train station.

S. Apollinare in Classe is, indeed, in Classe, a town a short ride away, reachable on a public bus. It is well worth the trip.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 08:41 AM
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Patrick--the worst two meals we've had in Italy were in Florence.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 11:36 AM
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smalti - what tour company did you use for ravenna?
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 01:49 PM
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Message to jmw44:

Hi, J.! I'm very sorry--I responded to your message this morning, but evidently it just disappeared into the ether.


I recommend Ravenna absolutely without reservation. If you like mosaics, you will not be disappointed! Ravenna itself is charming and small, at least the old, pedestrian-only part. San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Neonian Baptistery, S. Apollinare Nuovo, and Dante's tomb are all in walking distance of each other. I couldn't have found them all without a guide, but then I'm not the least bit clever with a map. If you have any sense of direction, you should be able to find all those sites, and more besides.

As ellenem notes, S. Apollinare in Classe is further away--5 km. outside of Ravenna, according to a guidebook. It is a short car ride or bus ride away, but well worth seeing in its own right.

As far as the day tour company was concerned, when it comes to logistics of daytrips, I need professional help. Several others have reported that they did very well getting to Ravenna in a rental car or on a train, but I'm not really good at that sort of thing. My husband could have managed it, but I didn't want to push that off on him as he was only going to Ravenna to indulge me.

So I signed up to the tour company for the sake of ease of transit, but I was surprised and delighted by the guide. It's not that I thought she would be no good, but that she was just so wonderful to listen to! So steeped in knowledge of her field, but as I say, not tiresome or pedantic at all.

The package cost 560E for the two of us. That included all entrance fees. I think there is only a nominal increase for up to 8 people to go. (The company uses a van--quite a nice one. The website makes sure you know the trip is in a "Mercedes vehicle.") So if you go with a large, like-minded group, the cost is pretty reasonable.

(Note to dgruzew: I found the tour company on the web. It's called Avventure Bellisime Tours. Dealing with them could not have been easier.)

I do hope you're able to see these mosaics in their settings! It is a wonderful experience!
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 02:17 PM
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Patrick--I remember a few years ago, on our first day in Parma, we went to the hotel dining room to get some lunch. We thought, "Three o'clock in the afternoon, a small, obscure hotel in Parma...what are the odds we'll get even an edible meal?"

Well, we got our lunch, and it was so good it would make you fight your grandma! Some sort of a layered pasta thing with crisp vegetables...it was just wonderful. Actually, most of the meals in Parma were excellent.

Five years later, and I still remeber that lunch in that hotel in Parma.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 02:21 PM
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Sure. Parma is a gourmet's paradise. I'd think you have at least a 90% or higher chance of any meal you eat there being at least wonderful. Too bad you can't get those odds in Venice.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 02:30 PM
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Hello smalti, do I understand you properly or was that a typing error. Did the tour to Revenna for the two of you cost 560 Euro? Was that for a day trip or did that include a hotel room for a night or two?
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 02:50 PM
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Hi, LoveItaly! 560E covered only a day trip for two: a van and driver, a guide to 5 mosaic sites (and a couple other attractions), and all entrance fees to the sites. Lunch was extra, and we didn't stay over.

As I say, for people with any pluck at all, independent travel might be the preferred way to go, but honestly, for me this was money well spent.
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Old Mar 31st, 2005, 03:52 PM
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Back to the report.

Day 3

Breakfast at about 8. The Danieli has the standard European hotel buffet, with something for everyone. The view of the water and of S. Maria della Salute from the hotel restaurant, the Terrace, was so heartening early in the day. Lovely.

Out on the square for a tour of Basilica S. Marco. We looked at the mosaics for a couple of hours. I would've liked to see the Pala d'Oro and other S. Marco attractions, but I had put my long-suffering husband through enough at Ravenna.

Window shopping. Aimless wandering in the narrow streets. There's no direct route to anything in Venice.

Lunch at a "self-serve" (cafeteria), called Chat qui rit, not far from S. Marco. The grilled fish was good, but overpriced.

We wandered some more and took pictures. We wound up heading to the Rialto. It was so crowded.

A woman had collapsed on the bridge. How would she be moved out? Probably she'd be carried out on a stretcher, to some sort of ambulance-boat on the Grand Canal. People were seeing to her, talking on cell phones, etc., so we decided the best thing for us was to get out of the way.

We headed back to Piazza S. Marco, which was not so easy to find. But the signs got us there.

We went up to our room. My husband practiced his speech for the meeting the next day, while I dozed. Then he was off to dinner with his associates. They ate at the Terrace, and it was a business dinner (no spouses).

I went for an early dinner at a snack bar. On the way back, I stopped in the piazza to take some nighttime photos of the Palazzo Ducale. While I was intent on taking pictures, a fellow sidled up to me and started making small talk in a quiet voice (I assumed it was small talk).

The fellow looked like an immigrant to Italy. He didn't accost me or try to rob me. I think he just saw a woman alone and thought he might be able to turn it to profit somehow.

This wasn't a violent episode, but it was enough to rattle me, and I went back up to the room. That was just as well, as I was tired anyway. Early bedtime.







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Old Apr 1st, 2005, 03:41 PM
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Day 4

After breakfast, my husband went to his all-day meeting, and I headed out of the hotel with an itinerary: first the Accademia, then the Frari and Sculola di S. Rocco (next to each other), and then whatever else time permitted. I got to the Accademia fairly quickly; it was enjoyable, though paintings begin to run together for me after a while. Bellini, Giorgione, Veronese, Carpaccio...it gets confusing. I'm no art historian.

Outside, I followed the sight of a campanile in the middle distance, and it led me to the Frari and its fine paintings by Titian. Then, the Scuola, filled with huge canvases by Tintoretto.

I enjoyed a good lunch at a trattoria directly opposite the door of S. Polo. Calamari and a salad. I think the place was called al Campanile (I saved the bill, which says Trattoria al Campanile di Puppi Massimo).

Then I ambled along, following signs that led me to the Rialto. I crossed back over the Grand Canal and decided to see the Ca d'Oro. But I couldn't find it. I must have been very close to it, but I just kept crossing small canals. Couldn't get my bearings--I was completely turned around.

Finally I decided to go back to S. Marco and regroup. I found signs, "Per S. Marco," and followed them for awhile, and then they just seemed to disappear. I kept going in what I thought must be S. Marco's direction...

Till I caught a glimpse of goldenrod-colored wall down the block to my left. I walked toward it. thinking, "D'oh! It can't be!" But it was. The island of S. Michele, ringed with its golden wall lay before me, only a short distance across the water.

I was crestfallen to know that I'd been walking in the opposite direction from my intended one, getting farther from my destination. At the same time, I was moved by the sight of the cemetery island, as I had been when I saw it in the poignant funeral scene in the movie Wings of the Dove.

Since it was nearby, I thought I'd go see the sculpture of Bartolomeo Colleoni designed by Verrocchio. Surprisingly, I found my way to it fairly easily, but it was covered in scaffolding when I found it.

Now the way to S. Marco was not so hard to find, but it was a long walk. I stopped at a wine bar to try some vino sfuso (draft wine). But I couldn't remember the term, so the barman gave me a glass of red wine from a bottle.

A friend of mine is fond of saying, "There are no good Italian wines, there are no bad Italian wines." I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure this was a bad Italian wine. Still, I downed it to fortify myself, and walked on.
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Old Apr 1st, 2005, 04:04 PM
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Smalti: As another directionally challenged person, I sympathize with your peregrinations in Venice. It happens to me at least once every time I go to Venice that I land up in the completely opposite direction
to the one I thought I had been heading in...
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Old Apr 1st, 2005, 07:10 PM
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Hi smalti, thanks for your report. I sounds like you had a beautiful time. And yes, I have had some bad wine in Italy too, it can happen! But not very often.

Even when one is turned out and lost isn't Venice a wonderful city to walk in? It sounds like you saw a lot.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

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Old Apr 1st, 2005, 07:14 PM
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Day 4 (cont.)

By the time I threaded my way back to the piazza, I was dog-tired and just went to the room. My husband joined me after his meeting, and we went to dinner at about 8.

Since my extravagance for this trip was the visit to Ravenna, I didn't make a fuss about eating in nice places. But I did want 1 ristorante meal in the week. I planned for the Terrace at the hotel, but my huband had already had a dinner and a lunch there. (Seafood for both meals, and he said they were very good.)
But yet another meal seemed a bit much.

So I decided on Ristorante Noemi, which is close to the piazza, and my husband was amenable. I had soup, grilled monkfish, and a salad. The soup tasted good but was a bit thin. The fish meat was sweet, but it was overcooked in places. My husband said his veal was fine.

On the whole, the meal was not bad at all. But for 90E (without wine), I wanted something more than "not bad." Probably the Terrace would have been the wiser choice.

A little more wandering around, and then we turned in.

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Old Apr 2nd, 2005, 01:06 PM
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I do agree with you, LoveItaly, in spite of my complaining, that Venice is a lovely town well woth visiting.

And, Eloise, I don't see how anyone finds anything there.
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