Ravenna is a city rather unique in the world. During the 5th to the 8th centuries it was the last capital of the Western (Roman) Empire. Its monuments, basilicas. baptisteries and mausoleums are very much intact and have the best examples in the world of Byzantine mosaics. 

We arrived late afternoon from the train and an already busy day in Rimini and San Marino, to find no tourist information office at the railway station. We had been counting on that to secure accommodation for the night. We asked and followed signs and it was a good 2 kms with our packs on, in surprisingly hot weather, before we located the tourist information office and organised some assistance. They found for us a little B & B and advised we would have time to see at least 2 of the UNESCO sights, before they closed, and gave us a marked up map.

Arriving at our B & B, our hostess and ourselves discovered we had no language in common but she seemed thrilled to have 2 Australians. We heard her telling her friends in an excited fashion, Australian being the only word we understood and uttered in an awed way. We dropped our bags and took off and managed to see three of the UNESCO mosaics sights. They are truly extraordinary works of art and often up very high on the ceilings.

After sightseeing, we walked back to a little bar we had spotted quite close to our B & B and ordered a glass of vino each.There was a sort of Tappas bar arrangement and the food was plenty for us to call it our evening meal. People watching was lots of fun, but I think we were the star attraction, the odd Australian guests in the nearby B & B! Up early the next day we set off to see two more of the remaining sights, before picking up our packs and heading to the railway station for our train to Venice. 

Trains in Italy are amazing and quite easy to use. They are much cheaper than other parts of Europe. We had to change along the the way but after 3 hours or so we saw the bright blue water either side as the train took the causeway into the centre of Venice. The busy Santa Lucia train station is right on the bank of the Venice's stunningly beautiful Grande Canal we walked out the door of the train station and boarded a water taxi to take us to the International ferry terminal.

Our next destinations are Croatia (again) this time the northern area known as the Istria Peninsula and then Slovenia.  


Footnote: Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna is an UNESCO World Heritage listed site.