A relaxing weekend amongst mosaics and pizza!

So this past weekend, Robin and I hopped on the train and spent the weekend in Ravenna and Bologna.  At first, Robin was a bit skeptical and I was worried we would be bored, but thankfully, we were both delightfully surprised.

We spent Saturday in the small town of Ravenna.  This town is extremely picturesque with it's cobblestone streets, cozy piazza, and crowds of locals.  We were lucky as there were hardly any tourists and we were able to see everything we wanted to without a fuss.  The local tourist office offers free bikes to tourists, so we spent the day pedaling through the cobblestone streets to the different churches we wanted to see.

The thing that is special about Ravenna are its mosaics.  Ages ago, Ravenna was a center of power of the Byzantine Empire and the Orthodox influence can be seen in many of its churches.  The mosaics are incredible!  As an Orthodox Christian, it was a pleasant experience being surrounded by familiar, Orthodox style iconography, however, I've never seen mosaics like this! The quality of the depictions, the countless number of tiles, the COLORS were all incredible.  After seeing three different churches filled with mosaics, I didn't want to look at another Western-style painting! (don't worry Dad, that feeling passed)

We were also able to visit the tomb of Dante Alighieri, which was a treat for me, the nerdy Italian Literature major.  His tomb is elegant and beautiful and filled with German tourists.....

The only problem with being in Ravenna in the off-season is that EVERYTHING closes after 2pm, which was annoying as that was when we got hungry!  Luckily we were able to find ONE place that served the traditional Ravenna-style panini and we watched as people danced in the Piazza del Popolo.

Afterwards, we got back on the train to Bologna and walked to the popular Piazza del Nettuno for some wine.  Bologna is a beautiful city bustling with students, tourists, and annoying street vendors, but for some reason, I wasn't feeling the vibe.  Something felt off.... not exactly sure what.  However, we went back to a restaurant near our hotel to have some Pasta Bolognese and Tiramisu, both of which were tasty.

The next day we decided to just relax and take the day as it came!  We walked around the streets, people-watched, peeked into the GIANT churches, and visited the Archaeological Museum which has an amazing ancient Egyptian display complete with its very own mummy.

We also walked around the famed University of Bologna.  This is the oldest university in all of Europe and people such as Dante Alighieri and Paracelsus have attended it in the past.  Unfortunately, it had to have been the dirtiest, smelliest university I've ever seen.  Granted, it was a Sunday morning and the remains of partying from the night before hadn't been cleaned up yet, but my God was it nasty!  There is a beautiful, big church in the university district but the best part of the area was the graffiti!  Some rather interesting depictions that you would expect from university students:

but also, a rather strange tradition of putting up pictures of current students in awkward situations.  It was rather amusing reading all the little blurbs that accompanied the pics but I'd hate to have one of me up there.....

While waiting for out train, Livio from our hotel recommended his favorite pizza joint to us.  It was the best pizza I've had since coming to Italy and Robin and I ate a whole one each.... we couldn't move after awhile but I swear, it was the best decision ever!

All-in-all, an easy, relaxing weekend complete with beautiful art and yummy food!