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April 16, 2018

After breakfast, we took the train from Riomaggiore to Monterosso, the western most town of Cinque Terre and furthest from our home base of Riomaggiore.  The train ride was quick and easy and the view of the Mediterranean Sea was gorgeous.

Once in Monterosso, we went to the beach, which was right next to the train station, and all put our hands into the Mediterranean.  Then we collected rocks along the beach.

We wandered around Monterosso old town for awhile, including stopping at a little church.  Monterosso is very small so it didn’t take that long.  We made a coffee/gelato stop.

Feeling refreshed, we started our hike to Vernazza.  It started out as mostly up on rocks and stairs along the waterfront.  It was very narrow and often we had to stop to let someone pass.  After a long up it was relatively flat and then mostly downhill.  Mike was consistently out front and often waiting for us.  The views were spectacular.  The hike took us about 2 hours.

Finally we arrived in Vernazza.  Wow what a quaint little Italian town.

We had lunch.  Rick says it was the best lunch of the trip so far.  We wandered around town a little and then took the train back to Riomaggiore and our apartment.

We showered and relaxed a little while before getting back on the train to go back to Vernazza and dinner. We had a very special dinner at Belforte over looking the ocean.

Nancy is taking the picture and the waiter is sitting next to Mike

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April 15, 2018

Today was primarily a travel day.  We left the apartment and    caught the 9:00 water shuttle to the airport where we picked up our car.  We drove from Venice to Riomaggiore.

We began our trip by driving on very local roads, some were just one lane, through farms and small towns.  We stopped at a restaurant in Maglio, about half way, and had a wonderful pasta lunch with all the other Italian families out for a Sunday lunch.

After lunch we decided we were willing to get back on the highway and expediate our travel.  We arrived in Riomaggiore around 5:00 pm, parked our car in the town lot, and followed the directions, up 114 steep steps, to our apartment, lugging our suitcases all the way.

It was worth it.  The view from our apartment is magnificent.  It’s a pretty nice apartment too.

After getting settled we explored the town a little and got groceries.  Here are some pictures of the coast from town.

We got some pasta and pesto in town.  Pesto originated from the Italian Rivera, so it’s a specialty of the region.  We came back to the apartment and Rick and Mike made a delicious dinner.  After dinner we planned our day tomorrow.  Stay tuned to find out what we do tomorrow!  😉

Here’s a picture from our apartment of Riomaggiore at night.

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April 14, 2018

Nancy and I started our day by going to San Marco Square and San Marco Basilica while the guys went grocery shopping.

I think we got the better end of that deal.  We listened to Rick Steve’s tour as we walked though.  The mosaics are truly spectacular.  Unfortunately you can’t take pictures inside but here’s one I downloaded from the internet.

We went out onto the balancing overlooking the square.  Again spectacular. Here are pictures.

Then we walked back to the apartment past the bridge of sighs which is an enclosed bridge is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace.

In the afternoon we decided take the vaporetti down the grand canal.  We walked across the island to the train station which was the start of the Rick Steve’s audio tour.  We stopped in a square for lunch, ordered our lunch and then waited 45 minutes and still no lunch so we left.  We ended up getting a sandwich at the train station.  Listening to Rick Steve’s audio I can visualize the grandeur of the grand canal at its peak.  It must have been amazing.

After our trip down the grand canal we went back to the apartment.  We packed up since we leave tomorrow and had some dinner.  In the evening we planned to take a vaporetti back down the grand canal because we heard that the palaces were lite up and it was amazing.  At my direction we ended up on the wrong line and instead went around the end of the island and only part way down the grand canal.  Frankly it was disappointing because not much was lite up.  Fewer and fewer people live in Venice because it is just so expensive.  It think it was obvious based on the number of dark palaces.  Here are a few pictures.

We got off at the bridge Rialto and walked back to the apartment.

 

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April 13, 2018

Everyone slept pretty well so they felt ok today.  Rick was up early and went out and got us croissants for breakfast.  Mike also made eggs so some had a big breakfast.

We planned to go to Murano and Burano today.  We walked across the island to get the vaporetti to Murano.  Here are some pictures from our walk.

We took the vaporetti with 9 million of our closest friends; it was very crowded.  After getting off at the first stop in Murano, we wandered along the canals and went into interesting shops.  So many beautiful things and such large prices!  Nancy got a couple of small items as presents but otherwise we didn’t buy anything.  We had a nice pizza lunch in the plaza.  Here are pictures from Murano.

Then we got back on the vaporetti and took the 30 minute ride to Burano.  Burano is more focused on lace and textiles.  More beautiful things at high prices.  The houses are brightly painted.  Here are pictures of Burano.

We took a vaporetti back to Venice, returned to the apartment and relaxed a little before dinner.  We had made reservations for a special dinner at a restaurant called Covino.  Rick and I had had a wonderful dinner here when we were in Venice two years ago.  We had another wonderful dinner this time.  Here’s a picture of us at the restaurant.

All in all a great day.

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April 12, 2018

Mom and I were up early to get ready to go to the airport.  We had breakfast at a nice little coffee shop around the corner from our apartment.

We walked back down to Arsenale which is where we caught the water shuttle to the airport.  The shuttle took about an hour an 15 minutes.  On the shuttle we met a nice lady who was born in Newcastle.  My mom is going to Newcastle in July so they talked about places to go in Newcastle.

Mom checked in and then we spent about a half an hour together before she had to go through security.  I waited about an hour and then Rick, Nancy, and Mike can out from immigration and customs.  We got back on the water shuttle to go to Venice.

I showed them to the apartment and they spent a few minutes getting settled.  Then we went out walking.  We walked all over Venice, we did almost 18,000 steps today. They had not slept much so they either needed to keep moving or they would fall asleep.  We started by walking by our apartment from our visit 2 years ago.  Then we went to San Marco square where Mike and Nancy got a gelato.  They we walked over to Rialto bridge stopping in a few shops along they way (but not buying anything).  Nancy and Mike were loving all the little alleyways, waterways, old buildings, bridges, everything; there’s really no place like Venice.

At the bridge we stopped for a snack and a glass of wine along the grand canal.  We enjoyed watching all the water traffic on the canal.  Refreshed we headed back to the apartment.  We made several provisioning stops.

That evening we had our usual dinner of bread, cheese, meat, and wine. Yummy!  They all stayed awake until 8:30.  Pretty good on just a few hours of sleep.

Here are some pictures from our walk through Venice.

 

 

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April 11, 2018

After breakfast we went over to the Palazzo Pubblico.  Yesterday we couldn’t go in because they were in session but luckily we were able to go in today.

The legislature of the republic is the Grand and General Council.  The Council is a unicameral legislature which has 60 members, elected for 5 year terms.  Every six months, the Council elects two Captains Regent to be the heads of state.

The building in which they govern is beautiful inside and out.

After a look around the Palazzo Pubblico we dragged our suitcases down the hill to the bus stop and caught the bus back to Rimini.  At Rimini we took the train to Bologna and from Bologna we took another train to Venice.  We almost got on the wrong train in Bologna but luckily we realized before it was too late. The countryside along the train tracks was very green.

We left San Marino at 10:30 and arrived in Venice at 3:20.  But wait, we weren’t done with the public transportation yet . . . Once we arrived in Venice we had to take the vaporetti, the public water transport system, to our apartment.  The vaporetti took us down the grand canal so we enjoyed this leg of our journey too.  It was 4:30 by the time we got to our stop.

We were met at the vaporetti stop by our Airbnb contact who showed us the way to our apartment.  It wasn’t too far and luckily there was just one bridge so we could roll our suitcases most of the way.  Our apartment is very nice and comfortable.

Once we were settled I purchased tickets online on a different water transport system to the airport for the next day.  My mom was leaving the next day and Rick, Nancy, and Mike were arriving.  I planned to go to the airport with mom, then met the others, and show them the way to the apartment.

Mom and I walked down to the San Marco stop to convert the voucher to tickets.  There are a lot of tourists in Venice and we were just two among millions.  But we walked by San Marco square so that was nice for mom to see.

After relaxing for a few minutes at the apartment we went out for a very nice where we met another couple from Easton, MA who had just arrived in Venice.

It was a nice day even though it was primarily a travel day.

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April 10, 2018

Today we wandered around San Marino.  All the streets are either steeply up or steeply down.  The main attractions are the towers which protected the city.  We visited two of the towers and just took pictures of the third from a distance.

The town itself is quaint and looks very old with what look like very old stone walls.

The streets are lined with stores and many people come here to shop since the tax is about half of what it is in Italy.  There are many weapons stores, guns, swords, etc.  I asked why there are so many gun stores and the answer was it is legal to sell them here but not legal to sell them in Italy.  Apparently Italian citizens need a permit which requires a lot of paperwork in order to buy a gun.  There are a lot of scary looking, automatic guns. 😖

We also walked to the Palazzo  Pubblico.  Sammarinese calls it ’‘the heart of San Marino.’’ It was built between 1884 and 1894 and is the official government building as well as a town hall of the capital city.  We couldn’t go in because the government was in session but should be able to go in tomorrow.

There were fanastic views from the palazzo.  Although the weather wasn’t great.  You could see all the way to the Adriatic Sea.

That evening we had a very nice dinner with Kassandra who had done pretty much the same things we did.

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April 9, 2018

Today we leave Ravenna.  I would definitely suggest a day trip to Ravenna if anyone is coming to Venice!  Here are some general pictures of the town.

After breakfast this morning we went to Domus die Tappeti di Pietra.  The remains and floor mosaics from a house, dating back to the 5th and 6th century, were unearthed when they were digging to build a parking lot.  Here are a couple of pictures.

After visiting the museum we went back to pick up our suitcases and headed to the train station.  Buying the tickets and finding the train was easy.  We took the train from Ravenna to Rimini where we got a bus to San Marino.  The bus ride was about an hour and did not take us all the way to the top.  There were a number of people on the bus including us that stayed on the bus expecting it to go higher.  The bus driver eventually kicked us off the bus.  It had started to rain during the bus ride.  There was another American woman on the bus who is staying at the same hotel.  Turned out we had to hike the rest of the way up the hill.

After checking in and getting settled, I went out to explore the hotel and ran into the other American woman, Cassandra.  She and I went to the tourist office and got our passports stamped.  (Rick Manser – I got the country of San Marino and you didn’t!)

We didn’t go out to explore further as it was raining.

That evening we had a very nice dinner with Cassandra in the hotel.  After dinner Mom and I played several games of dominoes and I beat her decisively.

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April 8, 2018

 

Sorry this is a long entry but the mosaics were spendid.

After a really good night sleep and breakfast at the hotel we started our mosaic trek.

First stop, Battistero Neoniano which is the most ancient monument in the city. The octagonal brick structure was erected at the end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century and finished at the end of the 5th century, at which time the mosaic decorations were added. The octagonal design of the building symbolizes the seven days of the week plus the Day of the Resurrection and Eternal Life.  Here is a picture of the outside.

The ceiling mosaic depicts John the Baptist baptizing Jesus standing waist high in the Jordan River. To one side stands the personification of the Jordan river, with a reed in one hand and a garment in the other.  The twelve apostles surround the center mosaic.  Here are pictures of the dome.

Here are other pictures from inside the battistero.

Then we went to the Museo Arcivescoville. In the museum relics of early Christian Ravenna are preserved, including fragments of mosaic from the first cathedral church, and the chapel of Sant’Andrea, dating from the Gothic kingdom.  We couldn’t take pictures but here are a couple I downloaded from the internet.  The first is an ivory bishop’s chair and the second and third are mosaics from the chapel of Sant’Andrea.

Our last stop of the morning was Basilica Sant’Apollinare Nuovo which was erected in the first quarter of the 6th century.  Here are pictures of the church and the mosaics.

After that we stopped in a workshop where they made mosaics and a very nice lady told us about how mosaic are made and gave me the name of a glass shop in Venice that I hope we can go to.

We thought about about having some lunch but neither of us was very hungry so mom had a gelato and I had an apple. We hung out in the room for a little while to make sure mom’s stomach was ok and then headed to the last two mosaic locations.

First, we went to Mausoleo di Galla Placidia.  Here are pictures from here.

Last and certain not least, actually it’s considered the best, was Basilica di San Vitale which was consecrated in 548.  Even the floors were amazing.

After touring we came back to the room to rest up for dinner.  😉

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant recommended by the fellow at the hotel.  After dinner we came back and packed up because we are going to San Marino tomorrow.

 

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April 7, 2018

After a better night’s sleep we packed up our stuff, went to our breakfast spot and had our juice and croissants. We returned to the apartment to collect our stuff. I double checked that I had my passport before closing the apartment door. (Two years ago I closed the door and left my passport in the apartment which meant we missed our flight, etc. etc. but not this time!)

As we were leaving the wheel on my mom’s suitcase started to break but we pushed forward and essentially dragged it the 1/2 mile to the train station. We are traveling from Padova to Bologna and then on local trains from Bologna to Ravenna. This meant we needed to go to two ticket offices to purchase the tickets. Tickets secured, our next challenge was the ATM, after several tries we got money. We are very accomplished travelers. 😉

We had to wait about an hour for our train.  The train worked well for us.  We traveled through farm lands. All the trees and plants are greening up with spring. Farmers were out planting.  Here’s a picture of mom on the train.

and a picture of the landscape.

Switching trains in Bologna was easy.  When we arrived in Ravenna we walked 0.4 miles to the hotel.  Mom’s doing great with all the walking.  Ravenna seems like a very cute little old town with a nice shopping area.  Our hotel is very centrally located.

After getting checked in and settled we went out for a late lunch.  We were told that piadina, essentially stuffed flat bread, is a specialty of Ravenna so that’s what we had.  While it as tasty, it didn’t agree with mom so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the room.

We didn’t go out to dinner (gave mom’s stomach a rest) and just stayed in.  You might have noticed I added categories to the blog!

Tomorrow . . . Byzantine mosaics!