SAN MARINO & RAVENNA

Tuesday, July 1st

After a quick 6-hour drive, Liz, Steph and I arrived in the micro-country of San Marino! It was a beautiful day with bright skies and cool breezes on top of Mount Titano. We couldn't have planned it better!

This was the view from our parking lot!!

We started at the outer edge of the hilltop town...

I couldn't stop taking photos of the magnificent views!!

These cross-guards stopped us in their tracks with their sweet uniforms. 

We couldn't resist a quick photo...

And I couldn't resist mimicking him!

"No, after you!"

We made it inside!

I was already in love with all of the architecture.

There were a few dancer statues in a park inside San Marino. 

We thought we were getting to the main square, but the road we were on kept leading us farther away from it...

We finally found Piazza Liberta - the main square!

Palazzo Pubblico in Piazza Liberta

If you look closely, you can see a rainbow in the clouds. My whole life, I have thought that it was called a "sun dog," but it is actually called a "fire rainbow!" You are welcome to look up either, but the important one to remember was the "fire rainbow." (as seen in the picture above)

I saw these three gentlemen heading toward the Palazzo Pubblico, and I tried to follow them to get a good photo. They are a part of the San Marino military. They get to perform ceremonial duties on the square everyday. San Marino has one of THE smallest military forces in the world. 

San Marino's Statue of Liberty

There was hardly a soul in the square! Note to self: Travel on Tuesday's in June. 

I look like I'm related to Powder in this photo. He asked where I was from. I said, "California." He said that only beautiful women come from California. Haha! He must have been bored...or blind. Haha!

We were there at the right time! We got to see the changing of the guard at 2:30!

They were pretty proud of their little ceremony!

Next we walked up to the first of the three towers in San Marino. This one was called the Guaita Rocca. 

We had to get some adorable photos of Henley, Liz's little boy, while we were here!

Ready, aim, fire!!!

This first tower was just 4 Euro to get in! It was so fun! 

I couldn't really imagine trying to defend this with crossbows and canons. 

Liz and I decided to go up to the top level. Steph stayed with Henley. It was scarier than it looked!

And I was wearing a skirt and sandals! DOH! Not the smartest or easiest outfit to climb in.

The view from Tower #1 looking toward Tower #2.

San Marino isn't too far from the beach. That's the Italian coastline in the background!

Happy baby!

I have good friends! They take pictures of me when I shove my camera in their hands. Haha!

As we were leaving, this sweet couple was headed into the tower. They sounded like they were from Ireland or Scotland. She was in a dirndl...in San Marino! Haha! 

We were all getting a little tired and hot, so we stopped to wet our whistles. Liz's hands weren't free, so Steph helped her get a drink... and I helped Steph get a drink. Haha! Friends don't let friends go thirsty. 

I saw a girl taking a photo here. It was a great location with a great view, so I stood in line to make sure we could get a photo in the same place. ...except that she took about 10,000 photos!! We must have waited at least 10 minutes to get this photo. Liz and Steph were sooooo patient! A nice man took our photo once the girl was gone. Phew! I'm glad we waited tho! It's always nice to have a group photo!

Next, we came across this artist at work. 

We spotted the second tower! It wasn't as far away as I thought it would be!

Photo shoot time!

Steph was all about it!

Henley wanted to get in on the action too! :)

This is the view I was waiting for! If you google San Marino, this view will likely appear. We were standing at Tower 2 with hardly anyone else looking toward tower 1. I was so excited that there weren't any tourists around us I started dancing! 

This second tower is 756 meters high. It's called the Cesta Castle. 

Henley was a trooper! 

In the background, you can see Tower 3. 

The steep stairs were slightly precarious! Liz was holding Henley on the way up and down! She's such a brave mom!

On our way toward Ravenna, we stopped to find a geocache with Liz. We got this great view while we were at it! :)

Liz was also nice to stop and let me take a few photos of this awesome sunflower field!

That night we stayed in Ravenna at a B&B. (more on that later)

None of us had ever been Ravenna before. We decided to go explore, while we had a bit of daylight left.  

We saw that the main Basilica di San Vitale was still open, so we asked if we could get tickets. The gentleman at the gate informed us that we could get the tickets that night for 8.50 Euro, instead of the normal 9.50 Euro. The tickets were good for 7 days! It was just one Euro difference, but we hopped on that deal! 

Afterward, we grabbed some yummy dinner at Babaleus. 

 It was a very full day, but so fun!

Wednesday, July 2nd

The next morning, we had a delightful breakfast in the garden at our B&B.

The B&B even had a rabbit and turtle in the garden. The rabbit was very friendly. It was such a fun atmosphere!

The owner of the B &B was an older man. He loved having Henley there! He only spoke Italian to us, and surprisingly we understood about 90% of what he said. He spoke very clearly and slowly. All three of us went away feeling like we were fluent in Italian.

Our first stop on our walk through Ravenna was Basilica di San Vitale. It dates back to 540AD during Justinian rule. Rick Steves (or Steve Jobs - as Steph and Liz refer to him) says, "The mid-sixth century was a time of transition, and many consider Ravenna's mosaics to be both the last ancient Roman and the first medieval European works of art."

Rick Steves (or Steve Jobs...as Steph and Liz refer to him) says, "The mid-sixth century was a time of transition, and many consider Ravenna's mosaics to be both the last ancient Roman and the first medieval European works of art."

High above on the arch is a medieval bearded Christ. 

Marble labyrinth

Silly statues

After the basilica, we walked next door to the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

This was my favorite display of mosaics in Ravenna. It was so highly concentrated in a tiny room. 95% of the mosaics in the mausoleum are originals. They were stunning!

Next we did a little search for a geocache. It was a teeny, tiny little geocache, but Liz found it!

On our walk to our next church, we spotted this store with tons of mosaics. You could buy your own mosaic pieces, or you could buy a piece of art. How about a Aerosmith tongue done in mosaics?

I love capturing moments like this. Just a man and his newspaper on the church steps in Ravenna. 

We made our way over to Piazza del Popolo. 

While I read my RS, I thought she was looking up interesting info on Ravenna. Turned out she was playing a game on her phone with a friend that lives in AZ! I don't know how she can multitask so well!

The river in Ravenna once almost came up to these columns, but the water became mucky and full of mosquitos. Dante is buried not far from here, and he died from malaria! (Thanks, mosquitos!)

Piazza del Popolo

Next we hit up the Arian Baptistery. 

This baptistry used to be knee dip with water so people could be baptized! How have I never put this together? A baptistery is where people are baptized. Duh!

This mosaic was on the ceiling. It has Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus is naked here and beardless in his youth. The Arian's stressed his human rather than divine nature.

 The man on the left is the personified River Jordan. 

Next stop was the Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. 

The two side panels have processions of 26 martyrs. 

We found this sweet courtyard as we were leaving. We also discovered it had mosquitos the size of birds...

By this time, we were all getting kind of "hAngry," so we eventually stopped for a small sandwich to enjoy in the square.

And we were off again to our next church! Basilica di San Francesco. 

We got to peek at Dante's tomb around the corner as well. Many people think he's buried in Florence. 

His bones were hidden here during WWII. 

I thought Liz might die after eating whatever was on this tree. She says it was probably a cherry tree.

Our last place we visited was the Neonian Baptistery near the Duomo. 

Liz wanted to sweep up all of the coins in the dried fountain. :)

Duomo

These sweet ladies were walking arm-in-arm. They looked so cute. 

Ravenna isn't far from where we live. It was a nice day trip (or day and a half), if you like mosaics and churches. I don't think I'll be doing this trip with Nick, but I loved getting to do it with friends!

Ciao Ciao!