Ravenna, Italy

From Venice we drove south down along Italy's Adriatic coast. There are several rivers that all enter the sea along there, so it is delta land and very flat. Our GPS altimeter measured -30 feet. (We keep the measurements in feet, yards, miles so we can have some sense of where we are without too many calculations!) We came to the great Po delta and Ravenna.

We arrived in the mid-afternoon, and after some minor difficulties found our hotel. We hope we don't have a big fine when we turn our car in for inadvertently driving in the restricted zone - many of these old cities have these areas that are either only for pedestrians and buses, or have limited access for the vehicles of residents and business owners. In a couple places we saw posts that had sensors for buses. When the bus approached, the posts went down, and after it went through they went up again! Very smart.

We got parked and settled in our hotel, and then went out to see a few things in this town famous for its mosaics. They first place we went was Dante's tomb. Although Dante was from Florence, he ran afoul of the authorities there and fled to Ravenna where he lived until his death. From there we went to see the basilica and small mausoleum. After figuring out which tickets to buy (not at all straight-forward) we entered the ancient basilica that has mosaics from the 4th century. It was just amazing and beautiful. The floor was especially lovely. We waited a little bit for three school tours to get done. Italy has one week each Spring when they make many of these sites free to everyone and all the schools do cultural tours. It can be a little hectic to see things some times, but it's also fun to see all these students learning about their heritage. The real treat was the small mausoleum behind the basilica. Although never used for the family for whom it was made, it has remained a treasure of Ravenna mosaics. We couldn't take any pictures in there, here is a picture from the floor of the basilica:
We saw a little more of Ravenna, checked out the restaurant where we wanted to have dinner, and then went back to the hotel for a little break. The restaurant didn't open until 7, and we got there right at opening. We are really glad we did (it was a Friday night) as the place was packed in about 15 minutes! It has been around a long time and is popular with locals and tourists alike. It was really good, and great fun to be in this lively and hospitable space.

When we arrived at our hotel we met an English couple who had also be been looking for the entrance! We saw them again at the basilica and mausoleum, and at the restaurant. We visited with them briefly as we went along, and then had opportunity to talk to them more at breakfast the next morning. That's part of the fun of traveling - meeting other travelers from other parts of the world and hearing of their lives and adventures. They were on their way to their home in Greece in an area where they had lived for 30 years and had a wind surfing and sailing business. Very interesting!

Venice!

You don't even need to say it's in Italy, although there is the California version. We drove from Bled to Venice in about three hours. We had planned ahead for what to do with the car and all of our stuff, saving just what we needed for two days in Venice. It worked very well to use the locked ("VIP") places at the big Tronchetto parking garage. It was only 9 euros more a day than the regular price, and saved the effort of dragging suitcases to the left luggage room. This way we could leave what we didn't need in the trunk and have it be secure.

After we got the car situated, we headed for the Vaporetto. We took the People Mover to Piazzola Roma and got on the the #1 and headed for our hotel. It was quite an experience to enter into that watery world. For those of you who have been there, you know you really cannot imagine it until you are there. We got off at the right stop, seeing many wonderful things along the way, noting those things we wanted to make sure and see during our two-day stay. We made our way to our hotel without too much problem, and settled into our room. Here's a view of the canal flowing by our room:
We went out exploring, finding our way as best we could through the unnamed intricacies of Venice streets and canals. We took in the immensity of St. Mark's Square, and decided not to pay $20 a piece for a gin and tonic at one of the orchestra cafes on the square. Instead we found a lovely little bar on a convenient corner a few streets off the square and celebrated our arrival with drinks and great people-watching! We wandered some more, found a lovely, quiet dinner spot where the food was excellent, and then made our way through the dark streets and bridges back to our hotel.

The next morning we set off to see St. Mark's. We'd heard so much about it, but we were not prepared for the awesome beauty of the mosaics that fill that space. It really is a "you have to see it to believe it" place. We spent a good long time enjoying the interior and the excellent museum, finishing up with the breath-taking views from the upstairs gallery. Here's a picture from that viewpoint:
We wandered around some more, including going to the Rialto Market and finding some tramezzini for lunch. We found good ones! After a little break at our hotel, we met Toni Sepeda who would be our tour guide for the end of the afternoon. Her specialty is the sites related to the novels by Donna Leon about Commisario Guido Brunetti. Nancy loves these books, and this was too great an opportunity to pass up. Toni Sepeda and Donna Leon have taught English literature together at the University of Maryland Venice 25+ years. Toni has written a book about Brunetti's Venice, and we could have done those walks. But it was worth the price to have the in-person tour. It was especially interesting to hear her views on living in Venice and how it has changed in the brief years they have lived there. Donna Leon is very specific about Venice locations in her novels, and it was really fun to see the places where she puts Brunetti. Here is a picture of Nancy and Toni at the location (way up at the top of the building on the left) where Brunetti and his family live in the novels:
After the walking tour, we had wine and a beautiful platter of cicchetti (Venetian "tapas") at Brunetti's favorite wine bar! We found another good place for dinner, and then headed off for a concert of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and a couple other things by the group Interpreti Veneziani who play regularly at the un-churched Church of San Vidal. They were very good and it was a very enjoyable way to wrap up our Venice visit.

The next morning we did a little shopping and looked at a few other things before checking out of our hotel and making our way back to our car. We found it in good order, and left the Tronchetto for the mainland happy to have made the acquaintance of this fascinating city. Our friend Paul Hinderlie calls Venice "the only fully preserved former Empire doing business for the past three hundred years as the world's premier historical theme park." It certainly is that, and much, much more. And, just for good measure, and to enjoy Venice from your armchair, click here for more information about Donna Leon's terrific mystery novels.

Bled, Slovenia

When we left Hungary, we had a couple options of how best to drive towards Venice. We had thought of Lake Bled after seeing pictures of it on a Rick Steves' TV episode, but the Vass family also encouraged us to go to Plitvice National Park in Croatia which has all these amazing waterfalls. Click here for some photographs.

We made the determining factor distances and available accommodation, and Bled won out. We're very glad it did. It is a beautiful little town and lake. Slovenia itself is pretty amazing. Everything is up to date and extremely well maintained - we were impressed!

In Bled we stayed in a great hotel run by the Berc brothers. We enjoyed the family atmosphere and the very hospitable place. They even have an honor bar in the breakfast room for an evening drink! The first night we had a marvelous meal and a popular restaurant which, besides being excellent cooking with great Slovenian wine, was a first-rate people-watching place.

The next morning we walked around Lake Bled. It's just a little bigger than Green Lake in Seattle - about 3.5 miles around. We saw Mute Swans (a species of swan), Marshall Tito's summer villa (Slovenia used to be part of the old Yugoslavia and Tito's mother was Slovenian), and the Bled Rowing Club. Rowers from here have won a dozen or so Olympic medals for Slovenia. We found a nice hillside restaurant with great small pizzas for lunch. Here is a picture of Lake Bled, featuring the small island in the middle:

After our walk, we drove to a nearby town to a wine store our server of the night before had recommended. The store included a wine bar attached to it, and when we went into the store we heard loud arguing going on. We asked the clerk if those were friends in there! She said it's the same every afternoon. These guys come in and start drinking wine, then they start arguing politics! Then she said it gets personal, the goes back to politics. She also noted that it seems to be worse three days before and three days after the new moon. It was hilarious!

We had a good dinner that night as well in a place next to our hotel, and before that we enjoyed time on the little balcony of our room. We liked Bled, and would highly recommend it to anyone headed that way.

Here is a picture of a Mute Swan:

Szeged, Hungary

There is so much to say about our visit to the Vass family in Szeged! We arrived on April 1 and there was a great welcome for us at their door. Here's a picture of us and our welcome sign:
Sylvia, Karoline and Kristoffer Vass all lived at Holden Village when we did in the Fall of 2009. Zoltan had to stay in Szeged for his medical practice, but he came and joined the family at Christmas. We so enjoyed them at Holden, and it was a real treat to be able to visit them in their home in Hungary. Check out a map and see where Szeged is - down on the Romanian border in south central Hungary.

They have a beautiful home they have worked on over 20 years. We enjoyed some time on the balcony over their yard, and then were treated to a superb Hungarian meal of chicken paprikash. A wonderful start to a wonderful trip.

On Saturday morning, we headed out to see Szeged. We boarded the tram near their home, which is also by the remains of a chapel that was destroyed in the communist era. Sylvia told us about the neighborhood project she is heading up to rebuild the chapel. Later she showed us a picture of the chapel in it original glory. They want to have the place be what it was again, and make the whole property a lovely park. Sylvia said there is a lot of enthusiasm in the neighborhood and in the city for the project.

We got off the tram in central Szeged. We had a very thorough tour of all the historic buildings and areas. It was really fun to have Karoline and Kristoffer's perspective. Szeged is a very comfortable and safe city for the children, and Karoline gets on the tram with her friends after school and hangs out downtown, often at McDonalds! We also stopped for ice cream at a popular Szeged place. It was Saturday, and there were loads of people - lots of families - just enjoying the sunny weather. Sylvia told us that it will be sunny now is Szeged until October!

We walked along Szeged's river, the Tisza. It often floods, and there have been disastrous ones many meters high. They showed us the high water marks along the edge. After a flood that destroyed much of the city in 1879, they built a huge levee that protects the city from the floods.

At the end of the afternoon Zoltan joined us at a restaurant famous for its Hungarian fish soup. It was a delicious - kind of like cioppino with lots of paprika and fresh water fish. We also had a delicious noodle dish with cheese and cottage cheese. Yum! Earlier in the day we learned about the local salami, Pick. Larry and I bought some to take along with us.

On Sunday we started off by going to the farmers market. We bought fruit and flowers, and Sylvia ordered their ham for Easter. On the way out Kristoffer said we needed to have some Lagos. This is a kind of fry bread served with cottage cheese and cheese. It was really good! Here's a picture of Sylvia and Kristoffer ordering our Lagos:
We then traveled by car some 30 km out of Szeged to Opusztaszer and the Hungarian National Memorial Park. This is an amazing and huge area with displays celebrating Hungarian culture and history. Most impressive was the panoramic painting of when the Magyars first settled in the central Carpathian plain over 1000 years ago. We also enjoyed an exhibition of horsemanship, with impressive work with bows and arrows. And we all ate delicious old-fashioned candy! The whole place is a wonderful area, and we were happy to have seen it, and especially to have such excellent tour guides as the Vass family. Here's a picture of Zoltan, Sylvia, and the tourist by the monument marking 1000 years:
We stopped at a local restaurant featuring regional food and had another great meal! There was a violinist playing in the background - very good - accompanied by a kind of xylophone. We headed home after a long day, grateful for this opportunity to see a part of the world we might never have seen if it weren't for Holden Village! Here we all are in their beautiful home:

Halstatt, Austria

Playing catch-up!

We stopped in Halstatt, Austria, on our way from Germany to Hungary. Halstatt (on Lake Halstatt!) is an ancient town clustered up on the hillside. Here's a picture:
Halstatt has been a salt mining place for three thousand years. There was a huge archaeological discovery here at the end of the 20th century when the graves of hundreds of ancient salt miners and their families were found. The discovery is known as the Halsattt Culture and is a significant part of the understanding of European development.

Larry is into everything about mining these days with his Holden position as Mine Curator, and we were impressed with the museum which was updated about a year and a half ago. (If you read the current Rick Steves' piece on this, ignore the comments about the museum - the book needs updating!)

We had a fun room in a 400 year-old hotel. We kept thinking the hot water wasn't working, and when we inquired they said, "It's a 400 year-old building. The water has to go up to the roof and then come down again. Just let it run." So we set aside our water-conservation instincts and we did finally get lovely hot water.

Our second night we ate at a restaurant famous for its lake fish. We were about the only people there (traveling in what they call the "shoulder season is good!) and the server recommended we share a whole fish. It was grilled and excellent, expertly filleted for us table-side.

Here's a picture of Halstatt from the balcony of our room, looking across the square. The ivy-covered building in the far corner is where we had dinner. You can see a waterfall and stream coming right down the hill. Up above is the valley where the graves were found and where the mines are.
Salt mining is still happening here. If you come in the regular season (starts Easter weekend this year) you can take a tour down into the mine.

On the Way to the Villa

There are many things to update in the blog: Halstatt, Austria, Szeged, Hungary. Bled, Slovenia, Venice, and now Ravenna. But it will all have to wait until we are at the Villa in Vasanello, Umbria. We get there tomorrow. We pick up Wally and Eileen Powelson and Eileen's sister Jean the Rome airport, and then begin another wonderful two weeks at Le Terrae! There will be time there to write it all down. Stay tuned!

Eisenach

We were in Eisenach one week ago - the last stop on our Luther/Bach journey. Luther studied there as a high school student (essentially), and the Wartburg, where Luther translated the New Testament into German, sits on a high hill overlooking the town. Bach was born and grew up there.

We found a wonderful place to stay - the Haus Hainstein. Owned by the Evangelische Kirche, it sits right on the edge of the forest on the way to the Wartburg. We had a wonderful room with a view of the Wartburg. Here's the picture from our room:The hotel has a history as a place for youth. I was surprised to see a statue of Nathan Soderblom,, the great Swedish theologian, Bishop of Uppsala, and father of the ecumenical movement, in the hotel's front garden. No one could really explain why, except that he had been involved with the place at the beginning of the 20th century. And here is a Holden Village connection! Dr. Conrad Bergendorf worked for Soderblom when Bergendorf was a young pastor. He went on to be president of Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, and in that context (and the Carroll Hinderlie connection) came to Holden Village in the 1960's and '70's! Here is a picture of Haus Hainstein:The first afternoon in Eisenach we went to the Bachhaus. This is another wonderful Bach museum. We really enjoyed all the excellent displays. There was a concert in the afternoon showcasing Bach's keyboard music on four different instruments from his time. It was very good. They have done a really superb job of showing the whole spread of his music in a variety of ways. Here's a picture from one of the listening stations where Nancy is listening to Cantata 140, "Wake, Awake":The next day we walked through the woods to the Wartburg. It was a lovely morning. We so enjoyed our walk and all the scenery. The tour of the place was interesting, but there wasn't much English, even though the tour guide did his best. We had no idea that the place had such a rich and powerful history besides the Luther stuff which is almost presented as an afterthought. His study where he translated the New Testament looked out into the castle courtyard. I'd like to think he often saw the amazing views on all sides as well.

We went to the Lutherhaus in Eisenach as well, which tries re-create the school Luther attended as a teenager. It's very small, and not very good. But there will be a new museum in 2015 in Weimar all focused on Luther's translation of the Bible and his theology. We saw the descriptions and it looks very good indeed.