Countryside Trip

I am finally back from my trip in Italy. It was awesome and I am happy and contented  to visit again  more places in Italy. There is no  other country in Europe where I always pay a visit every year. There are times when I go back there couple of times in a year. This is due to its geographical location of this country  in which it is easy for me to find cheap holidays there.  I live around 4 hours from its border.

Back to the main topic. I am quite confused which to visit during  that day. I already researched about the sights to see in  Ancona, the capital  city of  Marche region in Italy before that trip commence. It is  first on my list but after the  inquiry I had from our tour guide the day before, I ended up choosing Ravenna.

The Piazza del Popolo or People’s square in Ravenna during my recent trip in March 2014.

Ravenna is the home of the Mosaic Basilica, with a delightful small town atmosphere. It was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until its fall in 476. Although an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is the location of 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

I asked my travel companion if she will go with me in that trip to Ravenna and she said yes. I told her that we need to wake up early in the morning so we can visit two places that day.

My alarm was already set-up at 6:30 in the morning. Breakfast in our hotel in Rivazzurra, Rimini starts at 7:30 AM. I told my friend that if possible, we will wait at the bus stop no. 26 at around 8:00 AM to catch the train at around 9:00 AM in Rimini train station. I don’t exactly know what time will the bus stop near our hotel. There was a qquite delay that time because my friend was still trying to find something in her luggage. I guess, it was a medicine or cream she was looking for.

I waited for her in some minutes and finally decided to wait outside the hotel. When she came, we rushed immediately to the bus stop which is around 200 meters from our hotel. As we were approaching there, the bus already came and it was too late for us to ride. In short,  we have to wait again for the next bus  which took around  15 minutes. At 8: 27 AM, the next bus finally  came. Lessons learned when you travel,  “always come  earlier  to the bus stop or train station because, they will never wait for you.”

Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo. We were running out of time and was not able to go inside this church.

I was praying that time that we will arrived on time in the train station so we can catch the train at 9:00 AM. Travel  time from  Bus stop number 26 in Rivazzurra  is around 25 minutes  until Rimini train station. I was already running to the ticket office to buy for our train. Thanks God,  we  did it to Ravenna that morning, or else the plan of seeing two places might not happened that day.

Sometimes, this is the disadvantages of traveling with other person. If they are not aware of the time and are not always ready for the travel plan, you will surely get delays and will ended frustrated especially if you cannot visit the place where you want to go.  That is why I prefer to travel alone when I can.  I have the freedom to do all what I want especially  when doing my sightseeing activities.

In short, we arrived Ravenna safely that  morning. We had  around 4 hours sightseeing in this city. We were able to see some sights including the Basilica of San Vitale (exterior only), Piazza del Popolo, St. Francis basilica, church of San Giovanni Battista, church of St. John the Evangelist, Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo and other sights in the city.

We missed some of its sights, since we really don’t know which are the most must-see ones. We already found the tourist information quite late. Sometimes, this is the problem when you travel to other countries and most of the people you asked don’t speak and understand English. Besides, it was a last-minute decision to visit Ravenna and I was not really prepared for it.

At least, I had the experience to explore this city which is very famous for its mosaic and history. Well, I might visit it again in the future like Venice, where I already visited 5 times.

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