60 Days in Europe: Day 11 / June 9

June 9, 2014 – Ravenna & Venice.

From my journal:
Monday.
Train to Ravenna via Bologna. We checked our packs there and connected to Ravenna.

So glad I chose to take a day for this place, a trove of early Christian art and architecture. Also, it embodied in its designs the conflict between conciliar Christianity and Arianism. The mosaic, too, is the perfect art for Christian expression: small, broken, fragmentary pieces are chosen, shaped, and carefully placed into a unified, beautiful whole, to create the image of God incarnate and his people. In short – the church.

Here is what we saw and did today (just in Ravenna):

The Arian Baptistry – with a nude Jesus being baptized.
Piazzo di Popolo.
Ate piadinas. First time.
Saw the Tomb of Dante.
Piazza Garibaldi, with memorials to WW2 dead, including Jewish victims of the Nazis.
Walked through the covered market.
Basilica di San Vitale.
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.
Piazza J. F. Kennedy.
Macchiato & cappuccino.
The Neonian Baptistry (Also Arian, also had nude Christ being baptized).
Basilica di San Francesco (Note what a Franciscan interior looks like compared to a St. Peter’s or one of the Duomos. Point made.).
Basilica di Sant’Apollinare, with both Arian and Byzantine (Nicene) mosaics.

– All in less than five hours!

Ravenna.

Ravenna: Dante’s tomb.

Ravenna: This is where Dante’s actual remains were accidentally discovered in a church wall in 1865.

Ravenna: Memorial to Jews who died fighting and resisting the fascists in WW2.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale. Dome with 18th Century baroque frescoes.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale. Scenes and people from the Hebrew Bible.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale. Emperor Justinian and his retinue.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale.18th Century baroque frescoes.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale. Empress Theodora and her retinue.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Vitale.

Ravenna.

Ravenna: The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

Ravenna: The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. St. Lawrence in triumph.

Ravenna: The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

Ravenna: The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Vault decoration, “The Garden of Eden.”

Ravenna: The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Looking up at the dome, the original “Starry Night.”

Ravenna.

Ravenna: The Neonian Baptistry.

Ravenna: The Neonian Baptistry. The baptism of Christ, surrounded by the Apostles.

Ravenna: The Neonian Baptistry.

Ravenna: The Neonian Baptistry. Apostles.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Francesco.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Francesco. Ancient floor mosaic of the crypt submerged in water.

Ravenna: Basilica di San Francesco. Franciscan simplicity.

Ravenna: Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.

Ravenna: Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. The Palace of Theodoric.

Ravenna: Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. The Holy Virgins.

Ravenna: Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. The Palace of Theodoric. Notice the leftover hands and arms on the columns.

Ravenna: Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.

Ravenna: Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. The Holy Martyrs.

Train back to Bologna, then onto Venice. We walked the wrong way from the Venice station – to Mestre. Then came back, went the other way, to Maghera, and found our hostel, the Columbo Hotel. Very tired, and not looking forward to the dorm, and not remembering what our reservation was – we almost danced when we were told we had our own room!