A Mosaic of Ravenna!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

                              

We docked in Ravenna at about 7:00 am and the ship was cleared by 8:00 am.  It was only about 50 degrees but sunny so it warmed up nicely - a beautiful mild day and a beautiful city.  The pier provided shuttle buses for the 1/2 hour drive from the pier to the city.  The pier facilities are still under construction and there is nothing in the vicinity except refineries and marshland filled with fish shacks. 

  

We waited till the tours had left the pier and caught the shuttle into Ravenna.  It dropped us at the train station.  Our tour information indicated that Ravenna was the city of Mosaics and it sure was!

It is also famous for its history of “The Arian Heresy”.  In brief… Around 320 AD, a Christian Priest (Arius) began preaching that Jesus, being the Son of God, was created by God, the Father The Nicene Council interpreted this as saying Jesus was separate to and inferior to God the Father, and thus was inferior to God. (this is obviously a simplification)  The Council branded Arius a heretic and burned his books.  They later issued the Nicene Creed which defined God as the Trinity. – Anyway –

We walked from the train station to the Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo.  We spend 1/2 hour looking at the mosaics – the walls were literally covered.  The descriptions are complicated but they are of particular interest because they represent mosaics from the 6th Century as an Arian church and then transformed in the Nicene style afterward under Justinian.

  

  

We walked from this church to Dante’s tomb – small but interesting with an adjacent Franciscan Monastery and San Francesca Church.  Dante lived in Florence, but was exiled late in his life.  He died in Ravenna and is buried here.  The citizens of Florence have been trying to reclaim his remains for centuries, but Ravennans refuse, arguing that Florence did not welcome him in life so they can not have him in death.   The church had a deep room below the alter which was viewable with lights (cost .50 euro).  It had several feet of water with fish swimming about.  It was supported with columns and had a beautiful ancient mosaic floor.  Its purpose was a mystery to us. 

                

               

As we searched for our next place to visit we came upon an antique street market.  It was to benefit their Red Cross organization.  It would have been easy to spend the rest of our time on shore shopping – but time and the thought of expensive shipping intervened.  We thought for about one minute about using one of the free tourist bikes to get around…but on second thought…

           

Piazza del Popolo is the place were Dante died.  As we visited this piazza, we tried to imagine what it was like when the edge of the sea (now many miles away) filled all the area up to the middle of this piazza.  Here we ran into Rose from the ship and she mentioned that a Mass was just beginning at a church around the corner so we went to Mass at the St. Maria del Suffragio.  The priest said Mass with his back to the people and it was interesting to observe the Italian enthusiasm, both in his words and in his actions throughout the Mass.  It sounded as though they had a full choir, even though fewer than 20 people were in attendance.  The backside of the pews had individual names stenciled on them.  Hope the Marcellos didn’t mind our temporary use of their pew.  All our friends and relatives were remembered at this Italian Mass. 

        

On our way to discover the mercato, the large indoor market we were sidetracked by a small linen shop.  The owner spoke no English, but her daughter and children were visiting so we had a great conversation plus we purchased a large tablecloth painted in a design only found in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna area.  We can’t wait to use it for family dinners.  The market was very colorful but the fish smells kept us from spending much time.

  

We had been told by Lino, our driver from last Thursday, that we absolutely shouldn’t miss the Basilica of San Vitale.  He was right on!  This is an octagonal church built in 547 AD.  A very impressive structure with truly marvelous mosaics. The acoustics were wonderful and we could just imagine listening to the upcoming Easter concert – right place, wrong time.  On the same grounds as San Vitale was the Mausoleum Di Galla Placidia.  We regret we didn’t have time to explore the interior but we did enjoy the walk through the grounds.

         

  

  

  

All aboard time for this port was 2:30 pm as we have a 6:00 am docking time scheduled for Alexandria, Egypt on Tuesday, the 19th.  We had hoped to have time to relax in a piazza and enjoy a nice pizza lunch.  Not to be – not even time for gelato.

On the way back to the train station we took a quick detour to see the Arian Baptistery built in 526 AD as the center of the Arian style faith.  It depicts Jesus in a very human manner.  The bottom of the Baptistery is now 6 feet below the present ground level.

  

The shuttle was jam-packed but we squeezed on for the drive back to the ship.  We had a very late lunch on the Lido and had to rush in order to make it to the mandatory fire drill as we were leaving port.  It would have been great to be able to eavesdrop on all the locals who were standing on the dock looking at 893 passengers plus crew huddling together and looking out into space.  At least we are no longer required to show up in our bright orange life jackets – of course, not everyone follows instructions. 

You could feel the relief of the passengers as we all switched into “sea day mode”.  It was necessary for a quick check of the daily planner to make the best use of our  time.  Chris, our on-board techspert was offering two computer/photo classes before dinner.  We were instructed to bring our cameras for the class and when Chris asked how many pictures we had on our memory card I was relieved to learn that I didn’t have the most – well, until I learned that those people hadn’t downloaded since the beginning of the trip and I had 223 just for that day.  Oh well, you can always delete – you can’t go back and take more. 

No entertainment show for us again tonight – our entertainment has become our ‘blog”. Tomorrow night the dress code is either Venetian Carnival or Formal.  Think we’ll opt out of both and go to Chris’ next two classes. 

Pedal to the medal, per the captain – next stop Egypt!