Dallying in Ravenna & Onward with 333

Our train ride from Bologna to Ravenna was fast … and jiggly.

We arrived at the Ravenna train station on time at 10:17a, found the underground passage to get ourselves to the autostazione (bus station), confirmed that bus 333 to Comacchio would be leaving from there at 12:05p, and then set about figuring out how to kill time until the departure time.

First, we went to the only café in the immediate vicinity for a cappuccino and cornetto. We initially planned to stay there until it was time to return to the autostazione. But when we realized we were just a 2-minute walk from the Ravenna Darsena, we decided to head there for a bit.

The Darsena is the revitalized historic dock area and industrial canal. It has apparently been transformed into a trendy waterfront urban space. We saw no evidence of that on the side of the canal where we took a short stroll. Nonetheless, it was a nice place to while away a bit of time.

Bus 333 is the direct TPER (Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia-Romagna) regional service connecting Ravenna and Comacchio, with some of the buses going as far north as Codigo. Think city public buses operating between cities. The service is infrequent, but we managed to make the schedule work for us. During the beach season, I bet the bus is packed. Today, there were just 8 of us riding the bus … 6 of us international visitors … and we made just one mandatory stop along the way since no one rang for a stop and the stops along the route had no potential passengers waiting to get on the bus.

We settled ourselves in the front seat and enjoyed the ride … a roundabout route that took us through some of the beach town before reaching our destination in Comacchio.

Now to grab a quick bite and explore the town … got to ‘make hay while the sun shines’.Read more