Ciao!
Well...where were we when last I wrote? Sorry for missing a day, but to be honest, after yesterday, was NOT in the writing mood! Up early yesterday, and checked out of the Hotel Duomo in lovely Orvieto. Started down the hill, and decided to take some back roads heading toward Florence (when you almost have to get on the motorway, as there is a fairly big mountain range to traverse). Headed toward Todi, skirted Perugia and headed past Lake Trasimento; all lovely; lots of flowers, and it was a cool and cloudy kind of day. Got on the autostrada below Florence and put pedal-to-the-metal up to Bologna. Not the most pleasant driving, as speeds are high and trucks are MANY. If you hesitate at all, you may find yourself stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle, unable to pull out and pass, as traffic rushing by at quite a clip (only two lanes). So...off at Bologna exit and headed into town. Quite an ordeal! It is one of those cities that tries (in vain) to limit traffic in the central section – except for people going to hotels, taxis, buses, miscellaneous merchants and everybody else who feels like it ... Oh yes, bicycles and motor bikes as well! Robert did an incredible job of guiding us through the maze (and do not even ask me how many traffic laws I broke along the way ... oh well!) and to the street (?) with our hotel. Really wasn’t a street, more like an alley – grafitti everywhere; truly unattractive. Additionally, we hadn’t passed anything really attractive the entire way into town! The manager of the hotel was out in front, and when we asked him about parking (by the way, I had checked the hotel’s website the night before to bone up on parking. I quote: “Large parking area for hotel guests.” ) – turns out, there is no parking! The only parking available is in the blue zones around the hotel, and you can only hope to find one, otherwise, you’re out of luck! There was an underground garage some distance away. R dropped off two of the cases while I stayed with the car, and then I went in. Hotel looked OK, but to be honest, 1) it was in a grafitti-filled alley (albeit next to a sex shop, so that couldn’t be so bad, right?) 2) no parking, and 3) the entire area around the hotel was incredibly unattractive! So, we bailed ... yep, that’s right! Got the suitcases, said Sorry, this won’t work! and headed out of town. As far as we were concerned, the further away from Bologna we got, the better we liked it! Weren’t exactly sure where to go next, so looked at the map and headed to Ravenna. I had always wanted to visit Ravenna and see all the mosaics. So, there we went! Took lots of lovely back roads, and arrived in town about 5:30 p.m. Found a very nice hotel – Hotel Bisanio, near the center of town, and found that yes, they had a room at the inn! First room we saw was dark and VERY smokey-smelling; second room was right at the top of the hotel, lit by two big windows. BIG bathroom – jacuzzi tub AND a shower stall! How impressive! Dumped our things and headed out for a look around town ... and it is lovely! Think there must be some sort of restriction against motorbikes in the central area, as we were overwhelmed by the SILENCE ... NO engine noise! How un-Italian! However, there are bicycles galore! Never saw so many people – old, young and everywhere in between, pedaling through the streets! They also have public bicycles available for tourists through the information office! How neat is that?? Most of the sites had closed by this time (going on 7) but the local museum was still open, and we were escorted in! Had the place to ourselves – us and the security guards; very interesting place! I think this is one of those places where everything of any value at all has been deposited. We saw things ranging from Roman and Etruscan relics to 18th Century porcelain and tapestries! Rather eclectic, but fun! Then started looking for food ... not all that much to chose from, and there was some sort of Diadora rally (turns out a car race started from Ravenna this morning) with LOTS of loud rock music – which always sends us in the other direction! (We are SO old!) So, tried another direction and found a lovely restaurant – mostly serving seafood, as Ravenna on the coast. For starters, R had a small pasta with fresh tomatoes and anchovies; I had a terrine of vegetables with mozzarella and tomatoes – and folks, JAY, this was GREEN JELLO! That’s right, that old aspic which I have been avoiding since Switzerland, has now turned green and caught up with me!! Ugh!! We both had their beef main course, cooked perfectly and served with a potato gratin; just great. R had the prize dessert – Moscato semifredo with passion fruit; I had home-made gelato, crema, chocolato & nut; all terrific and served with an excellent bottle of local Emilia-Romana red wine. Then back to the hotel where I was asleep before I could even do the blog for the evening...but to be really honest, I wasn’t in the best blogging mood after our adventure in Bologna! I’m sure that there may be wonderful things there, but for us, no grazie!
Up in the morning, and were at the central ticket office at St. Vitele when they opened. (There is SO much to be said for being earlybirds!) Saw first the Basilico di St. Vitele, which we had to ourselves;; superb mosaics from the 5th century; really spectacular. Then headed over to the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia (which normally requires reservations “in season” but we were lucky!!); also had to ourselves, and also stunning. There is a mosaic school and restoration facility in town, and we were able to watch a young artist working on a mosaic; really interesting! (I keep thinking that I’d love to do our backsplash in Tucson in mosaic...not sure where to begin!) Wandered through the various other mosaic sites and churches in town; really, truly wonderful. I thought about t he mosaics we’ve seen in Monreale (Palermo) and Cefalu (Sicily), and it’s so hard to remember, but they are all breathtaking!
Wandered back to the hotel, as it was now heading toward noon, and our checkout time!
So...into the car, and out along the coast road to Rimini, our destination for tonight. (Thought as we were by the sea, we should splurge, and I got a GREAT rate on a terrific 4-star hotel last night on the web!) Arrived about 1:30 and had a couple of glasses of Prosecco on the veranda (near the outdoor pool, not to be confused with the indoor pool...) while waiting for our room. We are on the 4th floor, and our view of the Adriatic is absolutely spectacular! R napping at the moment, I’ve got the Giro d’Italia on TV and Wi-Fi on the computer! Wow!! Am planning on walking up Sleeping Beauty in a few minutes to take a walk along the Adriatic. Don’t see many people in the water, but a couple of surfers are out in wet-suits ... are there sharks in the Adriatic?? So! We will be lazy and non-culturally inclined this afternoon, before we head out to our first Agriturismo tomorrow, via the independent country of San Marino! Fun!
So, more later!
Ciao!!
m
No comments:
Post a Comment