Travel Diary 19

Travel Diary 19

In my last Diary, I stated that we were off to Venice. But to get there we had to go via Ravenna. Forgot about that for a bit!

Ravenna! A coastal town developed by the Romans for it’s safe harbour and so they built a port here. At one time it was the capital of the Romans due to Rome being sacked by Visigoths or Goths or another Northern European group. Today it is a medium sized town mainly known for its beaches, port and wonderful examples of Mosaics.

Being a trading centre, the people were influenced by those it traded with. So in the few churches and other ancient buildings, there are examples of Mosaics with influences from Greece, early Roman and the Byzantine or Turkey/Middle East. Each style is slightly different, but all of them painstaking hours and months of cutting up tiny pieces of coloured glass and sticking them onto ceilings, walls and so on to form pictures.

Many of the artisans are unknown. But their work is on display for all to see. Quite magnificent! One church we walked into, had not only massive mosaics on the walls, but also the domed ceiling and the floor. Additionally, giant slabs of marble had been split carefully to show off the grain of the marble. Then the split sections stuck to the wall next to each other to form mirror images.

As you can imagine, the streets and shops are full of touristy Knick knacks all displaying mosaics. One could, if so inclined, even take classes in how to stick pieces of glass onto things to make your own! Hate to think how much that would have cost!

We wandered the main street looking for some socks for my feet. Found them – five pairs for around 8 Euro – so about the same as in Oz. Makes my feet a bit happier!! As we walked along, Kerrie got slower and slower with her walking every time she saw a shop selling handbags. It took a while, but eventually she saw something she wanted to replace the YSL one she currently has which is, quite simply, wrecked! Into the shop she went and after looking at shoes and other items eventually bought the bag. You’d have thought it was the sale of the day the way the retailer carried on!

The local Council has done a good job of smartening the place up and it has a long Mall and lots of pretty trees throwing shade over the main street at one end. The Grass is cut and whipper snippered – which is something I haven’t seen before. Even grass growing where it is not supposed to has been pulled and removed.

We had a bite to eat around the 2.00pm mark along with a cold drink (or was it a white this time? Probably!) and over the road from the Café we were in was a street market selling second hand stuff from clocks to cutlery to medals. Paintings, old black and white pictures, 78 and 33 rpm records, crockery, clothes, old magazines from the early 20^th C, and a host of things you’d have found in Grandma’s house about 40 years ago.

We walked over and just wandered, stopping occasionally to have a better at something. I noticed that everything was properly priced, so no bargains for collectors! Still, it was interesting and helped while away some time.

Eventually I said that enough was enough I needed to get my feet. So out came the street map. We worked out where we were and off we headed in the direction of the bus station. Except it wasn’t and about 20 mins later we realised we were lost. This time it was my fault! We stopped two teenagers to ask where we were and where we should go. But they thought we were a bit of a joke for some reason, but eventually we got the correct pointings and mimings going in between giggles and bursts of Italian and we headed off again. Retraced our steps or in my case, limpings, and slowly reached the bus station about half an hour later.

The bus duly arrived. A number 5, I think this one was and pushed on board along with everyone else. There were a number of North African young men at the bus stop who spoke what I assumed to be good Italian and a couple of them climbed on board as well. An African woman, beautifully dressed along with good looking children including a baby in a pram joined us.

This was also shift change and a new driver appeared and after a proper length of time getting ready and talking with the driver going home, he started the bus. Then all hell broke loose!

Another man from the bus company climbed on board and started arguing with the African lady. She argued back and then I realised she had not validated any tickets for her and her children got on board like everyone else. I suspect the company man had seen this and he was ordering her off the bus. She was protesting loudly and voices got louder and louder. Then one of the African men sitting in the seat behind us got up walked down the front and joined in yelling at the company man.

So between the three of them, there was a whole of stuff being said at top volume and everyone is watching and waiting. The two men got closer and closer until they were literally shirt fronting each other shouting at the same time in each other’s faces and I thought here comes a punch up! The lady and her children eventually got off and this young African man was seriously worked up, yelling and screaming, throwing his arms and hands around in the middle of the bus and at one point Kerrie copped an elbow as he was pushed back into his seat.

People on the bus had no idea where to look and just tried to avoid this lad’s antics. The company man eventually got off as well and walked away. The African man giving him heaps. But he wouldn’t calm down or sit down either. There was lots of ego at stake here and that was very obvious. Finally, one of passengers quietly told him to sit down and shut up and gently pushed and walked him back to his seat where he sat down and the bus took off.

It appeared to me to be racially motivated as the African man did not appear to know the women. They had not been together or talked at the bus stop and in fact did not pay each other any attention at all. He had been with his mates.  Besides, she was dressed far too well to be with someone dressed like he was. I think he just decided that he would stick up for one of his own as he felt that someone from his country was being picked on. But it was close thing for a while and everyone was a bit shaken up!

Fortunately, he got off about 3 stops later and we all settled down for the rest of the ride back to Camp.

This Camp site is the one I titled “Camping Extraordinaire” and have shared some photos of. Seriously is well done. So glad we found it! Our last day there was spent resting and catching up some stuff including some washing and the odd snooze!

In the morning we packed up, paid the bill and headed off to Venice. A few kms down the road we filled up with diesel. Then went to a super Mercado for some food. This place had a wonderful selection of wines and 700ml Bourbon at silly prices so we just stocked up! The lady at the checkout as well as other customers were looking at us as if we were alcoholics! There was more drink than food in the trolley!

After packing up the lot in the van we started again to go Venice and about 2 hours later we arrived at Mestre which is the closest camp site we could find to Venice. It’s about 10 minutes and 3 euros return away by bus.

The site is called naturally enough, Camping Venezia and is clean, neat, modern and tidy. We ended up in the newer section and what with free WIFI and only 3 euros for two glasses of red wine we felt quite content. A quick trip to the reception and a prolonged discussion sorted out the travel arrangements to and from Venice. The young girl running reception spoke pretty good English and while I was waiting, I heard her speak three other languages. I asked her how many she spoke and it turns out it is five very well and understands two others but can’t speak them well yet! She would be in her mid 20’s and as she confirmed, she loves languages. Bit of an understatement I thought!

Tomorrow we have an early start what with our first tour at 9.00am. Then another at 11.30am and the third around 5.00pm. So a big day.