Comacchio to Ravenna

Woke up to heavy, steady rain in Comacchio. Not ideal when one has a 15-minute walk to the bus station for the return trip to Ravenna.

Tongue-in-cheek, Mui asked Renata — who had graciously opened the breakfast room early for us — to stop the rain. She twitched her nose and snapped her fingers … and by the time we were ready to set out for the bus station, the rain was gone 😂.

Bus 333 pulled up with the same driver we had on Monday. Recognition gleaming in his eyes, he smiled and greeted us like long lost friends. We tapped to pay for our ride and found ourselves a couple of seats.

Unlike on the ride to Comacchio two days ago, there were more people on the bus this time … and we actually made stops along the way to let people on and off. At the first stop, four TPER inspectors boarded the bus and proceeded to check that everyone had paid for their ride. No worries on our part … and the inspector even showed us which clicks in Apple Pay provide proof of purchase. Excellent.

Even with stops, we pulled into the Ravenna Autostazione on time at 9:33a.

Our host had agreed to let us check in at 11:30a. But how to while the time until then? Easy peasy … we stopped for a cappuccino and cornetto, and then walked over to Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo to check out the mosaics. But that’s for another footprint.

From the basilica, we headed in the direction of our lodgings for three nights, walking through busy streets … filled with school groups, tour groups, and independent travelers. I read in one article that Ravenna “… is under-visited … criminally so …”. Perhaps that is the case if you compare it to Roma or Firenze or Venezia. But that’s not a fair comparison considering how much bigger those cities are. Our first impression is that the city holds its own when it comes to tourism.

Anyway, walking along cobblestone streets, we arrived at Domus Galla Placidia … just steps from the mausoleum for which the house is named … and its neighbor, the Basilica di San Vitale. Yes, it was noisy outside … and crowded. But that promised to calm down by 5:00p … and it did … dramatically so. Besides, it was quiet inside.

The property is a ‘shared B&B. You can rent the entire place if you have enough people in your party, or you are willing to pay the full price regardless. Or you can rent one of the rooms. Kitchen facilities are shared. We booked the ground floor room with an en suite … the only one available for our time frame … just off the kitchen. That will work out well for breakfast … as it did for dinner.

After we settled into our room, we went out for a late lunch. Gamba’s, on a back street not far from our domus was perfect for our needs. Mui finally got his grilled octopus … this particular dish served over a bed of sautéed eggplant and zucchini chunks; I ordered a primi piatti of tortellini al ragù. It was all delicious and the portions were just right.

The overcast conditions we had arrived to in Ravenna broke for a very short time. Before we knew it, however, it was sprinkling rain. We made it to our domus just as the skies opened up. And that set the tone for a day of rest … though we could not resist going out for some photos right around sunset.

————————————————————

P.S. Word to the wise: it doesn’t pay to take chances with your transportation tickets/passes. One kid got fined on our bus today for not buying a ticket … the inspector wasn’t buying his story that he didn’t know he had to buy a ticket; and another kid was asked to get off the bus to continue the argument over an expired bus pass … he was still at the stop with the inspectors when the bus made a u-turn to continue its route.Leggi altro