Suggestions for a few days around Ravenna. Flying into Venice.

You could take the train to Cesenatico (25 minutes) and see the outdoor ship museum with boats floating in the canal and also fishing houses out on the coast.

Or take the train to Faenza (33 minutes) to see the town itself and the International Museum of Ceramics and the ceramics shops.

Or even to Ferrara, even though it's an hour and a quarter by train --- it's become one of our favorite towns in Italy.

Or, if you like the mosaics in Ravenna, see more of them --- it may take more than two days:

Museo Nazionale (close to the next four places)

Basilica di San Vitale………..**Mausoleo di Galla Placida

Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra

Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe (must take bus to it)

Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (near train & bus station)

Museo Arcivescovile (near the next two places)

Neonian Baptistery

Duomo (quick look at floor)

Padova and Ferrara are on the way to Ravenna

I was thinking of renting a car to drive there but have been told if we want to stay in the city center it is better to drop the car off due to parking issues in the zone. The more I read these posts…some of them old I think we are better flying in….staying a night by a car rental place and just take the boats through Venice and leave and spend our time in and around Ravenna. Venice has changed so much and the authenticity of the smaller towns sound like a better idea now. We have been to Italy any times and a usually drove from Venice to Sorrento stopping along the way here and there.

Thank you.

Another thought is to see the places you recommend and then drop the car for our time in Ravenna. Just thinking out loud. Too old now to deal with the trains…..we did that many many times with a lot of luggage years ago. We flew into Milan once…left luggage in the train station…trained to Zermatt…picked up luggage …trained to Switzerland…Salzburg and then back to Nice dropping and picking luggage up in train stations. Those days are gone. It was great though!

We found Ravenna to be a port city famous for their mosaics. When our cruise ship landed there, we took a city bus to the train station. We left the city on a Bologna bound train and got off 1/2 hour later. We then connected to the next train that came along that carried us into Venice.

We just find that other cities easily gotten to are more important cities than spending a couple of days in Ravenna. I am talking about Bologna or Venice. Florence is an hour south of Bologna by train. The same train that takes you out of Ravenna goes straight to Milan, and Lake Como is just 45 minutes north of there by bus or train.

Thank you David. We will actual spend two days in Venice. We have been to Italy many many times and have seen Venice change so much through the years, we have driven through Italy as well several times and have been to Florence over five times. That is the reason we are looking to visit the smaller places. Mostly because we are sailing out of Ravenna. In fact I believe we were one of the last sailings allowed to go through Venice before they switched to Ravenna.
We will also be back after our cruise as we will have ten days to spend when we fly back from Athens. I am looking to spend some time in Lucca as we have not been there. Probably a few days in Rome as well. Another place we have seen several times. We have traveled a great deal the past 34 years.

Good suggestions though.
Karen