Around the World : Ravenna, Italy

So now that you read my post on Amsterdam I can now talk about the small trip when I went to Ravenna with my program. Ravenna is a city on the east coast of Italy in the Emilia Romagna region. It was the capital city of western Europe from 402 until the empire collapsed in 476. It then served as the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths until it was conquered in 540 by the Byzantine Empire. This explains why most of the church/baptistry contain byzantine art. My program E.C.C.O put together a tour of the city, and the woman giving the tour was very informative. Of course the tour was only in Italian, but at this point of my trip I enjoyed the tour. My head finally did not hurt from listening to Italian all day, and I wanted to only talk and listen to Italian. I am still waiting for the day I dream in Italian. I hope it will be soon. Italian is such a beautiful language.
In Ravenna, we saw many sites such as the Arian Baptistry, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the basilica of San Vitale and the Tomb of Dante, the famous Italian poet. After the tour Ari, Moorea and I, left the group to enjoy a delicious lunch as a trattoria we found. I had a delicious soup with vegetables, potatoes and beans, while Ari and Moorea enjoyed fresh pasta dishes. We walked around the small "carina" town and did some shopping here and there. I bought a nice burgundy dress from Zara, while Ari bought a white fur hat from a street vendor and a scarf from Zara. We ended the day with some gelato and took the three o'clock train home to be back in Bologna before dark. It was a lovely day in Ravenna, and I was happy to visit another town in the Emilia Romagna region.
Con tanto amore,
Samantha