Beautiful sunny day again today. No plans, once again, just strolling the old town and looking at all the Mosaics. We bought the shuttle passes (argh, at least this port we are 25 minutes away from town, so $14 each isn’t that ugly…but…it’s the principle thing….) and were on the first shuttle into town. Smooth as silk.
It’s a great medieval town, all block and cobblestones and famous for their glass mosaics. Even the street signs were done with Mosaic!
We aren’t typical cathedral goers, but this town was the exception. We wandered through the main square, then headed out to the Basilica di San Vitale and the Galla Placidia, two of the more renowned places for the mosaics. We bought a combo ticket for those and 3 other places for 11.50 euros and began our tour.
The mosaics were amazing. Such detail. Such artistry. Simply beautiful. It’s incredible how someone could have the talent and the patience to do this. Beautiful! the most spectacular though, was the Galla Placidia. It’s a small unassuming little building behind the Basilica, but the mosaics within were the most beautiful and intricate of everything that we saw throughout the day.
Outside, we wandered the back streets of the town, just exploring and soaking up the Italian warmth (both culturally and temperature-wise). Next stop was the Battistero Neoniano – an ancient Roman bath that was converted into a Baptistery. Small, but interesting. More marble than mosaic, but still cool!
We circled back around the town, passing Dante’s tomb…
…then back into the main square which was now bustling with people. We stopped for a snack at a local deli type place – had panini but in pita bread. Odd but good nonetheless. Then we continued our tour to the last Basilica – Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo. A gorgeous old structure, just as interesting on the outside as on the inside!
Now mosaic’ed out, we head back to the shuttle bus for an afternoon of rest on the ship! Next stop – Slovenia!
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