Mosaics, mosaics, and yes...more mosaics

Breakfast on the first floor (second floor by American standards and 2 long flights of marble stairs above our ground floor suite) was much better than the usual fare and, halfway through, Fabio, the manager, brought in a piece of homemade cake with a candle for one of the other guests who turned 71 today.  The guest, who turned out to be from New York not Minnesota which was our private guess when we saw him with his wife, was amazed they knew it was his birthday, but of course it was on his passport which hotels are legally required to copy when you register.  He shared his cake with us, it was delicious despite the candle which could not be blown out no matter how hard he tried.

Then it was off to see some of the 4-6th century mosaics which are Ravenna's chief claim to fame.   There are 8 UNESCO world heritage sites here, 7 in the city and another 2 miles away.  This morning we visited the Basilica St. Vitale, the neonian baptistry (not some form of the word neonate as I hypothesized but named for Bishop Neon from the 2nd century), the episcopal museum, and the mausoleum Galla Placida.  These all date back to around 400-472 when Ravenna was the capitol of the Western Roman Empire and are considered to mark the transition from late Roman to Byzantine art.  The mosaics are truly awe inspiring.  The following photos don't do them justice but may give you some idea (no flash allowed so the colors don't pop like they do in person).

Basilica St. Vitale

Baptistero Ariani (Neon baptistry)

Of course we also had to stroll around the area and stop for piadini for lunch, a Ravenna tradition.  Piadini are basically sandwiches made on a flat unleavened bread, kind of like naan, and pressed in a pannini press.  Very tasty and cheap.

Tom in front of the entry to Basilica St. Vitale

Basilica di San Vitale exterior

Another entry in the Nancy reading series

Piazza Arcivescovado

Neon baptistry exterior

Tom thinking about getting baptized or just jumping into the font

Detail from ceiling in baptistry (the fact that Jesus is shown without a beard and his genitals are barely covered was seen as part of the Arian heresy that Jesus was descended from God and was  human.  Ravenna was the site of the big feud between the two branches of thiknking that lead to the Nicean counsel and resulted in, among other things, the creating of the "Apostle's Creed" a prayer memorized at least until the 1960s  by Catholic schoolkids

Entry to the museum, no photos allowed inside.

Prosciutto, aruguloa, and formaggi piadino

Tom emjoying a piadino and a beer

Serving lady outside restaurant

just a building I liked

everybody rides bikes (and smokes and texts while riding!)

Typical Ravenna shopping street.  The lighter paved area is the bike lane

They are starting to celebrate Halloween in Italy!

Back 'home' in front of Casa Masoli.   Time for siesta before passegiata, a glass of prosecco at a sidewalk cafe, and then cappellotti en brodo, a local specialty, for dinner.  Buon appetito!