Ravenna

 Thursday June 9 2022

We departed the Milan airport in our rental car heading for Ravenna, which turned out to be a longer trip than we anticipated. It is summer in Italy and road construction is everywhere so three lanes become two and two become one. Then the rains start and traffic is further slowed - but the worst is the dreaded electronic signs that announce CODA, meaning traffic jam - and that usually meant traffic was actually stopped. We finally arrived, exhausted, and could not find the hotel. We were on little one-way streets in the middle of Ravenna so we stopped and Cindy ran into a cafe to get directions which turned out to be wrong, and then it started raining!  I found a semi-legal place to park, got out and checked every door on the street where our hotel was supposed to be located.  Ten minutes later and soaking wet, I found the hotel which we had passed in the car TWICE!  Not very good signage in Italy. We got to our room and then I had to go park the car in a lot that was five minutes from the hotel.  The rain had stopped and we were only too happy to start exploring the city ... and even though we had been here before, we recognized nothing!

We started, as we usually do, at a cafe/bar - the same one where Cindy had stopped for directions. It was only a two minute walk to the hotel but he had given rather bad advice. Anyway, it was a mom/son little place habituated by locals, which for us is a good sign that the prices will be fair. We had two glasses of Prosecco and the son provided us with a list of good local restaurants. Ravenna is a compact little city so walking around looking at menus was rather easy. We had been to Ravenna off a cruise ship years before and had happened on a restaurant that we really enjoyed, more-so when our ship's senior staff, all Italian, came for lunch and saw us and gave us the thumbs up. We found this little gem again without too much difficulty but there are times when you really can’t go back again. The food was very good, but the servers were sullen and downright grouchy. Our overweight waitress must have been Albanian and must have had foot issues, as in they hurt and she didn’t want to walk on them. She spent more time hiding than serving and more than once we had to flag someone else down to order wine, water or more food.  Very disappointing. 

The next day was a bit cool and rainy but we nonetheless kept to our routine of Cindy running and me exploring until we met for coffee at OUR bar and compared notes.  We cleaned up in the room and then headed out for adventure. Our first order of business was to find the train station since that is where we were to meet Kent and Valley on Sunday morning. For some reason, and that is a euphemism for “William done wrong," we ended up taking forty minutes to get there and only twelve to return! It did provide us with an excellent opportunity to see places in Ravenna that we would have never, and should never, have seen!  

The city is most noted for the fabulous mosaics in some of their older churches and public buildings. We had seen them years ago and thought it would be fun to see them again. However, they have become so popular that you have to book your visit hours ahead of time and we just couldn’t muster the energy to pre-plan.  So in true Embee fashion, we walked by the sights and lines of people and just viewed the exterior and read the detailed plaques, many with lovely photos so we felt like we were inside.  Dinner that night was another disappointing experience. We sat outside but right on the curb of a rather busy road. The service was really slow and not attentive - we didn't ask the guy if his feet hurt but that may have been the case! The food was okay, some dishes really good, others really not so good but the attitude of the server was once again marginal at best.  We walked home and enjoyed glasses of Vecchia Romagna, my favorite Italian brandy, in our room before bed.

Saturday was fun with lots of walking and lots of good experiences with servers. We had a lunch at a cavernous restaurant filled with Italian tour groups, families, and locals. Our waiter was a comedian and very attentive, and the food was delicious and complemented by carafes of local wine.  We walked some more before our nap and then walked again before aperitivos at our local. We had made a reservation at a restaurant called Bella Venezia and from the moment we arrived we were made to feel like family. It was filled with locals all of whom seemed to know one another and also the staff of the restaurant. The food was the best we had had on the trip and we were delighted to have that as our final memory of Ravenna.

The next morning we packed up and loaded the car and headed for the train station just as Kent and Valley arrived from their cruise. We somehow got all of their luggage packed in with ours and we were off on our new adventure in Bassano del Grappa.