Ravenna, Italy

April 1-2, 2023

Ravenna was the port that replaced Venice on our cruise after Venice decided to stop allowing cruise ships to dock there. I didn’t know much about Ravenna but, boy howdy, it is a place I would love to visit again! Quite a few of our fellow cruisers took the opportunity to go to Venice for a night since we were going to stay at the port for two days—at least that was the plan.

Brian and my visit started off on a down note. There is a bad cough going around the ship and it never seems to go away. I got laryngitis twice and had a deep cough with wheezing and, after our stop in Greece, I decided that I should see a doctor. I made an appointment with the medical center for the day before we arrived in Ravenna. My visit confirmed what I thought: I had bronchitis. After a oxygen treatment in the ship’s small hospital, I headed back to the cabin with a 5 day supply of prednisone and a week’s worth of penicillin (in case I had a bacterial infection). Since we were spending two days in Ravenna, Brian and I decided to spend the first day on the ship to rest. The shore excursion we had booked was to San Marino and included lots of climbing which I knew would be beyond me. Our friends, Sandra and Darla, took our tickets and we got to enjoy an empty cruise ship. It was an incredibly relaxing day and by Sunday I felt much better.

Our ship was docked at Porto Corsini outside of Ravenna. A free shuttle was provided to get us into town. Brian and I headed out to explore midmorning. The shuttle dropped us off outside the historic city center. Ravenna is known for its marvelous Byzantine mosaics, so off we went to see them.

A few sights from our walk to our first stop:

The old town is most charming and very pedestrian friendly. Cafes were beginning to open, the market was setting up, and, since it was Palm Sunday, after people left church they strolled around holding their olive branches. No palm fronds here. There were very well behaved dogs being walked. The city was spotlessly clean and we found it a relaxing place to be.

We made it to our first destination, the Basilica di San Vitale and, after buying a ticket to see three of the sights, we made our way inside. The church dates from the mid-6th century has the finest Byzantine mosaics in the Western world. The mosaic work was stunning. The pictures will speak for themselves.

Next door to the Basilica is the National Museum and, since it was Sunday, admission was free. We went in to take a look around and discovered there was no easy way out. We went up and down stairs, through galleries and halls and eventually found the public toilets (which was handy). There was a classical music concert with three instrumentalists playing in a room by the exit.

With trusty map in hand, we set off to find our second set of mosaics. Now, the streets in old Ravenna are not straight and the names changed along the way. I won’t say that we were lost, but we weren’t getting where we wanted to go. We were getting hungry, so we found a restaurant and decided to refuel. The food was wonderful. I had a traditional ravioloni (large ravioli) with filled with cheese with a cheese sauce with walnuts. I forgot to take a picture. Brian wanted pizza, however they didn’t serve it until evening. He settled on the world’s largest hamburger and a local beer. He thought it was really good.

As we waited, we consulted the two different maps we had, figured out where we were and plotted a course to get us to our next stop, the Basilica di Saint’ Apollinaire Nuovo. It turned out to be not far from where our shuttle bus would pick us up, so we decided to head back to the ship after we visited it.

Our path was correct, and we made it to the Basilica. Again, the church was filled with 6th century Byzantine mosaics.

We arrived back at the ship tired but happy to have seen what we did. Ravenna is a marvel.

Back in our cabin after dinner, the Captain addressed the passengers over the speaker system and told us that, due to weather, we would have to miss our next two ports, Lubljana, Slovenia and Split, Croatia. We would be spending another night in Ravenna and would leave the next day around noon to make our way to Kotor, Montenegro. While disappointing, this gave me three more days to rest up before our next excursion and, after walking 5 miles today, I could use it.

FYI, the penicillin didn’t work. This cruise cough is viral.