Raining in Ravenna

ITIKI arriving in the canal at Ravenna

As you know we have been racing up the east coast of Italy to get to Venice. A few people had mentioned to us that Ravenna is a “must do” stop along the way so here we are. As it happens, we managed to time our arrival just ahead of some really nasty weather. Across in northern Croatia the Bora is honking and there have been 45-50kts winds with the accompanying swell so it is great to be tucked up in the very well sheltered Marina Marinara here in the town of Marina di Ravenna. The town of Ravenna itself is a short bus ride inland and sits at the end of a very long canal which divides Marina di Ravenna in two. Although the morning was fairly quite weather-wise, rain and strong winds are predicted here as well so mooring lines have been doubled. We are in for a creaky night!

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Ravenna is best known for its 6th century mosaics. That is about the extent of my “research” before we arrived, so I would like to share with you a “typical” ITIKI tourism day.

• Get up at 8am (yes I know its late but we did arrive late last night after an overnighter)
• Its Sunday so we have scrambled eggs on toast with smoked salmon for breakfast - it helps us remember what day it is (other days are cereal…)
• Plug in shore power, connect dock water, reduce pressure on dock water intake by climbing into the engine bay with an allen key and half flooding it, setting off the bilge pump and its piercing alarm
• Put washing machine on with first load
• Lynda calls mum thinking it is mother’s day (that’s next week)
• Keith interrupts as washing machine has stopped working! What?! Oh shore power has gone off. Change shore power points until we find one that is working, restart washing machine.
• Lynda goes in search of the Capitainerie (Harbourmaster) clutching boat documents, to have the Guardia Costiera (Coast Guard) sign our Costituto (transit log) – this is a requirement for each port in Italy because we are non-EU boat.
• Lynda discovers that the Capitainerie is on the other side of the aforementioned very long canal and it requires a €1 ferry ride to get over there. We might just the skip the formalities in this town… However the good news is I discovered a promising looking supermarket close by there are a few things we need.
• Quick phone call to our first visitor of the season who is joining us in Croatia in June and in the process of booking flights
• Return to boat, hang out washing, put next load on, collect the shopping bags and the pack horse (aka Keith) and head back to supermarket. Get lots of stuff, take it back to boat, hang out next load of washing, have a cup of tea/coffee and check bus timetable for Ravenna.
• Walk to bus stop, get on bus, the heavens open and it is now pouring with rain. Great!
• Get off bus in Ravenna, duck into train station, consult TripAdvisor, debate getting on the bus and going back to the boat.
• Identify the nearest monument at 400m, run across the road, through puddles and pouring rain to duck under an awning. Discuss returning to boat, notice an Asian supermarket -  maybe they have coconut milk and fish sauce? Buy 4 cans of coconut milk (its really hard to get this in Europe), no fish sauce though.
• Rain has eased, head towards monument carrying coconut milk, find that monument is closed for renovations!
• Discuss next move, bus tickets are still valid for another 15 mins… Find another monument not too far away, walk to monument in rain, find monument on our left, note 4 “older” tourists standing around the ticket machine in the rain with their umbrellas trying to buy tickets for monument. Look to our right, there is a restaurant, let’s go in its lunch time. Ooh white table cloths this looks a bit fancy, oh we can just have pizza and we were going to go out for dinner anyway... Oh should we have a glass of wine? OK just one - oh they only have bottles? small or large?! Hang on, I thought you ordered a small one?! Well the price was almost the same and we dont have to drink it all…. Delicious fresh pasta, local speciality (capoletti?). Desert menu? Oh it doesn’t hurt to look! Mmm delicious chocolate fondant! OMG, wine bottle is empty and its 3pm! Time to waddle over to our first monument!

 
OK it did get better after that, the rain stopped and although the sun didn’t come out we stumbled upon the tourist office, got a map and some tips and visited a few more places before jumping on the bus back to the marina. Our 5-monument pass is valid for 7 days so we can knock over a few more attractions tomorrow morning before an overnight passage to Venice. The weather should ease overnight. Oh and by the way, those mosaics really are very special.
 
PS: As I write this we are tucked up on the boat, its 10C outside plus windchill (30kts) and its raining again. Shore power is on, our heating is on, there is a hot water bottle in the bed. There is a serious swell running outside of the breakwater and there are some crazy windsurfers and kite surfers who are still on the go at 8pm! I hope they have good, thick wetsuits!