“Ravenna retains more of its old Italian style than any other city. It remains out of the way of travellers and therefore that style has remained original. People make much love, and murder every now and then.”
(Letter written by Lord Byron while in Ravenna.)
This post continues the account of the trip which started by visiting Gothenburg, Sarajevo and Mostar, picking it up from the crossing of the Bosnian/Croatian border by bus.
Day 6 (part) – Monday 21st September 2026 – The Bosnian border to Split
After leaving the Bosnian border post, the bus drove the short distance to the Croatian border control, where the proceedings were rather more rigorous than those for leaving Bosnia & Herzegovina. Everybody had to leave the bus and queue up to go one-by-one to the control post. I was grateful for this opportunity to stretch my legs, since it gave me some relief from my uncomfortable collapsing seat. As I was towards the back of the bus, and I had someone sitting in the aisle seat next to me who was slow to move, I was near the back of the queue. Since this is an external Schengen border, non-EU citizens were required to be photographed and fingerprinted, so the queue moved quite slowly. When it was my turn, I was processed quickly without a word being exchanged between me and the official. One person who was just ahead of me in the queue was not allowed to proceed. When everyone else had been processed he was escorted back to the bus to remove his bags and was taken to an office to be interviewed, reminding me of my experience of trying to enter Turkey earlier this year. After about 10 minutes he re-emerged and was allowed back onto the bus, which then continued its journey.
About 15 minutes after leaving the border control, we stopped again at a roadside cafe for a coffee/toilet break. I did not need either and those who did buy drinks reported that the prices were extortionate. Even though the stop was in a very scenic location and I welcomed the chance to stretch my legs again, I would have preferred to have pressed on and got to Split a little earlier.
Rather than taking the main dual carriageway all the way to Split, the bus followed the winding road hugging the Dalmatian coast. It stopped off at a number of small towns on route to drop off passengers. This freed up seats and eventually I was able to move from my broken seat seat to a functioning one on the side of the vehicle that gave good views of the coast.
On the way to Split we passed through the town of Omiš. The area around Omiš had been devastated by wildfires that had burned uncontrollably for nine days the previous month. One could clearly see the large swathes of scorched trees and some destroyed buildings, while on the landward side of the road there were rows of burnt out cars.
The bus pulled into Split bus station by the harbour at 18:10, ten minutes late on its five hour journey. I was staying in a guest house about 15 minutes walk from the bus station and I had arranged a specific time to pick up the key, which fortunately I was able to make. Once I had settled in, I immediately set out to find dinner.
Even from my initial walking through Split it was apparent that it was full of tourists and that British accents were far more evident than they had been in Bosnia. In the restaurant, I ordered a pizza and a bottle of Croatian Zlatni Medvjed beer from the Mevedgrad brewery that I had first discovered when I was in Zagreb the previous year. When I had nearly finished the beer, I caught the waiter’s eye and I could tell from his reaction that he had failed to place my pizza order with the kitchen. When the pizza finally came, I felt obliged to have another bottle of Zlatni Medvjed.
Day 7 – Tuesday 22nd September 2026 – Split
After I left where I had stayed for the night, I headed straight to the centre of the Old Town in Split. This area is within the walls of the palace built by the Roman emperor Diocletian in the the 4th century. Today, modern shops and cafes occupy space in the structure of the palace. Right at the heart of the palace is the peristyle, a colonnaded square, which was already busy with visitors before 9am.
I first went to Split City Museum which is on a side street in the heart of the old town. It is built over the excavations of some of the original Roman buildings and describes the development of the city from its Roman beginnings through to it being part of the Venetian Republic in medieval times.
In the centre of Diocletian’s palace is the Catholic cathedral of St Dominus constructed in the 7th century, converted from the former mausoleum of Diocletian. I went first to the Cathedral’s treasury, before going into the church itself. The interior is ornate, but relatively small, by the standards of most cathedrals.
Adjoining the cathedral is its bell tower, which was added in about the 13th century, although it took several hundred years to complete. It was extensively renovated in the early 20th century, when the design of the upper levels was changed. By climbing the bell tower one gets good views over Split and its surrounding area.
You can also go to the cathedral’s crypt, dedicated to St Lucy, which you get to by using a separate entrance outside the cathedral.
A short distance from the cathedral is a former Roman temple of Jupiter, which became the Baptistery of St John. Unlike the other baptisteries that I would see on this trip, the Baptistery of St John was rather plain on the inside.
I next went to Split’s Ethnographic Museum, which has displays of traditional clothing and customs from the area. I had been to Croatia’s National Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb the previous year, but I thought that the museum in Split presented things rather better. The special exhibition in the museum was about embroidery samplers, comparing this traditional craft with modern social media influencing. This was nearly identical to the special exhibition that I had seen in Zagreb previously, so I assume that it must have transferred between the two museums.
When I first set out on this morning I had noticed people erecting roadside barriers along the coastal road leading out of Split. A bit of research led me to discover that the Tour of Croatia cycle race (the Cro Tour) was making its Grand Depart from Split just before lunchtime. So when I had finished in the Ethnography Museum, I went to the place that it was due to start to see what was going on. They were part way through doing the team presentations before the start of the race on a stage near the start line. The Tour of Croatia is a second-level international cycle race, behind in status to the Tours of France, Italy and Spain, but equivalent to the Tour of Britain. It was due to last for six days, going all over Croatia. Many of the big name teams that participate in the Tour De France were taking part (typically using a couple of their experienced first team riders, but also giving an opportunity for rising talent to participate), as well as some second-ranking teams. While watching the team presentations, I was given a Cro Tour flag, which I managed to keep for the rest of my trip.
When the presentations were over, the riders did some warm-up riding along the the sea front, while their support cars were marshalled into formation behind the start line. At the appointed time the race started and I chose a viewpoint to watch it on a bend about a couple of hundred metres beyond the start. The start was quite sedate, because, like in the Tour de France, they have a ceremonial start from where they roll out of town, before the real racing begins a couple of miles later.
Split is on a promontory sticking out into the Adriatic. The far western end of the promontory forms the Marjan Forest Park, which is hilly and covered in trees. Given the centre of Split was now very busy with tourists, I thought I would explore the park for a while. I climbed up through the park, trying to keep to some of the smaller paths, going past a small chapel dedicated to St Nicholas, before reaching the highest point. There was a lovely scent of pine and the crickets were chirping loudly during my walk. At the summit there is a large white cross and a Croatian flag, together with good views of Split and its harbour below. I chose a different route to return, making a detour to visit the botanical gardens.
When I returned to Split the city seemed busier than ever. The streets were congested with tour groups, so I decided to find somewhere else that might be more peaceful. I went to the Museum of Fine Arts, the main art gallery for the city. I chose to pay to access only the permanent collection, rather than the special exhibitions, as I was not sure that I would have time to do both and the special exhibitions were of contemporary art that was unlikely to be to my taste. I had the permanent exhibition to myself while I was there. It largely featured Croatian artists who were previously unknown to me, but I quite liked most of their work.
By the time I had finished in the Museum of Fine Arts, it was nearly 4:30pm, the time that my ticket for the ferry to Italy that evening said that I should check in. I know from previous experience that ferry check-in times have a lot of padding, so I was not too worried about getting there exactly on time. I found the ferry company offices by the harbour and exchanged my ticket for a boarding pass, but was told that boarding would not start until 18:00. That left me with an hour to kill and the ferry terminal had few facilities, so I found a bar on a side side street a few blocks back from the harbour to have a beer until it was time to return to the ferry.
When I got to the port just before 6pm there was now a large group of foot passengers waiting to board. When it turned 18:00, it was not obvious what to do, so I and many of the others just walked through the lines of vehicles waiting to be loaded and went onto the ferry. There were no identity or security checks involved. Once on board, I went to the reception desk to collect the key for the cabin that I had booked. The ferry looked like it had seen better days, with signs of rust in places, but everything was clean and functional. Most of the customer-facing crew were Indian, and when I first went on board they were positioned at regular intervals throughout the ship, offering to help you find your way around. I first went to my cabin, before going on deck to watch our departure from Split. The ferry slipped its moorings and started to move slowly out to sea at 19:40, 10 minutes behind schedule.
Once we had departed, I went to find dinner. The ship had two restaurants: a waiter service restaurant with tablecloths, which seemed quite expensive, or a self-service canteen. I chose the latter. By going there just after the ship had departed, I hit the peak time and there was quite a long queue. I thought that the food was quite homely and reasonably priced. I had pork with fried potatoes and grilled vegetables.
After dinner, I considered going to the bar for a drink, but when I got there, I discovered that there was ‘entertainment’ provided in the bar, so I changed my mind and went back to my cabin.
Day 8 – Wednesday 23rd September 2026 – Ancona to Ravenna via Rimini
The ship was due to dock in Ancona in Italy at 7am, so I set my alarm for 6am. However, the ship had other ideas and started playing its own wake up call at 5:30am. Fortunately, I had slept very well, so I got out of bed and had a quick shower before going on deck. It was before dawn, but there was a red glow in the east where the sun was going to come up, and in the other direction lights on the Italian shore were clearly visible. As we approached the port an Italian pilot vessel came out to guide the ship into harbour. Once we passed the outer breakwater, the ship swung round and reversed into its berth at 07:10, just 10 minutes late. Unlike some other ferries that I had been on, they let the foot passengers off before any vehicles. The foot passengers walked to an immigration post on the perimeter of the harbour area, but there were no officials there and I was in the city of Ancona by 7:20am.
I had visited Ancona the previous year at the start of a trip to a number of Italian cities, so I was not planning to spend any time there on this occasion. Nonetheless, to remind me of the place, I walked to the Piazza Cavour in the heart of the city. From there I made my way to the railway station. I remembered from last time that Ancona is very hilly and I could either take a direct route which involved a lot of climbing and descending or return to the harbour and walk along the coastline, which is longer but probably quicker. I chose the former and was rewarded with views of the harbour and the pentagonal Lazaretto, a former quarantine station for the port.
I arrived at Ancona station in good time for my 08:45 train, so I went to the station café for a powerful espresso coffee and a pastry for breakfast. To get to Ravenna, I needed to change in Rimini. The train left on time and arrived a few minutes early in Rimini, just over an hour later.
At that time in the morning there is a bit of a gap in the timetable and I would have nearly three hours to spend in Rimini. I had visited the city once before on my way to Athens in 2022. The railway line splits the city between its ancient Roman centre and the beach resort. Last time I was here I stayed in an empty out-of season hotel on the beach side of town. The first thing that I noticed after getting off the train was that there are now exits from the station in both directions (city and beach), whereas four years ago you could only leave in the direction of the city and to get to the beach you had to take an underpass just beyond the station.
This time I headed towards the city centre, walking past the remains of the Roman Surgeon’s House, that I had looked around on my previous visit. Continuing through the old buildings of the city centre, I came to the Castel Sismondo. This sturdy looking edifice was built in the 15th century as a castle and fortress. Later it was used as a barracks. Since 2021, the Castel Sismondo has been the home to the Federico Fellini museum. I did not visit it when I came to Rimini in 2022, as then I was not familiar with any of Fellini’s work. In the intervening period I have seen what is probably his most famous film, La Dolce Vita, and I understand that most Fellini films are very similar in style. The Fellini museum is divided into sections covering a number of the themes which recur in his films. It also contains a number of the props used, including the statue of Christ that is seen being transported by helicopter in the opening sequence of La Dolce Vita. Included in the ticket for the Castel Sismondo is access to another branch of the Fellini museum located in another building a short distance away. This is more of a reference archive, but it had on display the posters used to advertise Fellini’s films.
When I had finished in the two parts of the Fellini museum, I continued my stroll through the historic centre of the city, picking up an ice cream to eat on the way.
I returned to the station to catch the train to Ravenna, departing at 12:43. This train was starting in Rimini and when I got to the platform I could see it waiting in the sidings. There were a lot of people on the platform and the train was busier than the one that I had caught earlier in the day. It took an hour to make the journey to Ravenna, arriving just a couple of minutes late.
As I usually do when arriving in a new city, I spent a little time wandering around to familiarise myself with its basic layout. I then dropped off my bag at my hotel, before continuing my explorations.
The poet Dante Alighieri was a native of Florence, but he was banished from that city at the beginning of the 14th century. He eventually ended up in Ravenna, where he died and was buried. I went to view Dante’s tomb which is in its own standalone monument next to the Basilica of San Francesco. Every evening at 6pm there is a public reading of part of Dante’s Divine Comedy outside the tomb. Near the tomb is a small museum explaining more about Dante’s life and work.
The English poet, Lord Byron, lived in Ravenna for two and a half years from 1819 to 1821. During this time he was having an affair with a newly married aristocrat, Teresa Guiccioli. He also became involved in the Carbonari, a revolutionary group, trying to overthrow the rule of the Austrians and the Papacy in Italy and elsewhere. During his time in Ravenna, Byron completed his poem Don Juan. In the former Palazzo Guiccioli, where Byron lived, there is a Byron museum, which only opened in 2025. Here you can see information about Byron’s poetic works, as well as some personal items of his kept by Teresa Guiccioli.
On the floor above, in the same building is the Risorgimento Museum. This describes the struggle for Italian reunification, led by people such as Mazzini, Cavour and Garibaldi, following on from the earlier activity of the Carbonari.
I thought the two museums in Palazzo Guiccioli were very good. Strangely, the admission ticket also gave you access to a collection of dolls in a separate building across the courtyard from the first two. The dolls were just piled up in a haphazard way in a few showcases – it just seemed a bit odd to link this to two excellent informative museums.
It may not be well known, but Italy does have a flourishing independent brewery sector, particularly in the north of the country, which produces some really good beer. This is not to be confused with the bland mass produced fizzy beers which Italy exports round the world. In the UK, new ‘craft’ breweries just seem to produce similar over-hopped beers, whereas their Italian equivalents produce a more interesting range in my opinion, reminding me of some the beers which used to be made by local British breweries 50 years ago, but which have now largely disappeared. In the evening I found an interesting pizzeria, which had a good selection of beer. I had a pizza topped with meaty chunks of sausage that had been cooked in stout, accompanied by a lovely malty draught beer.
Day 9 – Thursday 24th September 2026 – Ravenna
My hotel provided a lovely breakfast. The selection was not wide, but it made up for that with the quality of what was offered, including freshly baked bread and home-made pies and cakes. Surprisingly, given I was in Italy, the quality of the coffee was a little disappointing.
When I went to Padua the previous year, I had missed out on seeing the interior of the Scrovegni Chapel by leaving trying to book tickets for it until a week beforehand. I was determined not to make a similar mistake in Ravenna. In Ravenna, you can book a combination ticket for five of the sites still owned by the Catholic Diocese of Ravenna, but you have to specify the times that you will be visiting. I booked this when I first arranged the whole trip. When I came to look at my ticket again, although I know that I had some logic for the times that I had chosen to visit the various sites, this logic now escaped me, as it seemed to require me to criss-cross across the city centre several times to visit them in the order specified.
I went first to visit the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, where I had a ticket timed for a 09:30 entry. I arrived well in time, but discovered that you could only get to it by using your ticket to enter the grounds of the Basilica of San Vitale, but as it turned out, neither were busy and nobody seemed concerned about the time shown on the ticket. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is a small squat cruciform building, constructed in the 5th century. Galla Placidia was the daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius – however, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is misnamed, since she is buried in Rome, not Ravenna, and the building is an oratory chapel, and as far as is known nobody is buried there. The interior of the mausoleum is covered with rich mosaics, some depicting biblical scenes, while the ceiling has a more abstract pattern.
The Mausoleum is next to the Basilica of San Vitale, which is where I went next. It was constructed in the 6th century, initially when Ravenna was under the rule of the Ostrogoths, but completed by the Roman Emperor Justinian I. It is Byzantine in design and the interior is truly breathtaking, being completely covered in mosaics.
I then crossed to the other side of the city centre to the Baptistery of Neon. Built in the late 4th or early 5th centuries, it is the earliest complete structure still standing in Ravenna and is the oldest surviving complete Christian baptistery in the world. On the outside, it is a plain octagonal building, but inside the ceiling has a glorious mosaic depicting the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist.
Next to the Baptistery is the Cathedral of the Resurrection. This church is an 18th century Baroque construction on the site of its predecessor. When I looked round they were getting ready for a wedding by placing bouquets of flowers by the altar and tying white bows to the pews. They were also starting to put out the order of service booklets, from the covers of which I learnt that it was to be the wedding of Michele and Grazia. When I saw the first guests starting to arrive in their smart clothes, I realised that it was probably time for me to leave the cathedral.
Adjoining the cathedral is the Archiepiscopal Museum. This was the only one of the five sites on my combination ticket to quibble slightly that I was trying to enter at a time different to that shown on my ticket, but they still let me in. As well as ancient artefacts, within the museum is the Chapel of St Andrew. This tiny chapel, which has a mosaic ceiling, was the private oratory of the Archbishop of Ravenna.
The final place included in my combination ticket was the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. It was built in the 6th century by the Ostrogoth king, Theodoric, as his palace chapel. It gained its current name in the 9th century when remains of St Apollinare were moved to it from a church near the coast because of fears that the original location would be raided by pirates. This rectangular church has mosaics along the length of the upper part of its walls.
Probably because it was later in the day, the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo was noticeably busier than the other sites I had been to earlier. As the Basilica was near Ravenna’s main art gallery (MAR), I went there next, which was much quieter. MAR occupies four sides of a building round a central courtyard and contains art ranging from ancient religious paintings to that produced by contemporary artists. On a wall outside the museum there is a re-creation in mosaic by a local artist of a Banksy wall painting and, given the tradition of mosaics in the city, it is no surprise that there is a collection of contemporary mosaics. Gustav Klimt drew inspiration for his distinctive golden paintings from visiting Ravenna in 1903. Within the museum there also is a gallery devoted to photographic portraits by Paolo Roversi, who was originally from Ravenna.
After I had finished in the art gallery I went to sit in the park that lies behind it to plan the rest of the day. But within a few minutes, I had to move on as I was being bitten by flies which swarmed round me while I was sitting.
Being Italy, some of the major attractions have weird opening times: closing for lunch or only being open in the morning or afternoon depending on what day of the week it is. For example, the National Museum of Ravenna had been closed when I arrived in the city, being closed on Wednesday afternoons, but on Thursdays it is only open in the afternoon. I had intended to visit the Arian Baptistery next, but had overlooked that it closes for the day at noon on Thursdays. Fortunately, I would have an opportunity to visit the following morning.
Instead I made my way to a park on the edge of the city to visit the Mausoleum of Theodoric. Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths for more than 50 years in the 5th and 6th centuries. He ruled an empire from Ravenna, which at its height covered what is now most of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Allegedly, Theodoric personally chose the site of his last resting place. There is a small exhibition about him and his mausoleum where you purchase tickets for the site. From there you walk into the park to access the mausoleum. It is two-storey cylindrical building, with not much decoration. Unlike the Mausoleum of Gallia Placida that I had visited earlier, Theodoric had actually been interred there. His sarcophagus is still there but his mortal remains have disappeared.
I walked back to the city centre to go into the National Museum of Ravenna which had by then opened for the afternoon. It is near the Basilica of San Vitale that I had visited earlier, being situated in the former Benedictine Monastery of San Vitale. It has a very extensive collection ranging from Roman times to the Renaissance. There are also a collection of detached 14th century frescoes by Pietro da Rimini that have been moved to the museum from Santa Clara church in Ravenna. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the National Museum of Ravenna.
Since it was the last night of my trip, I thought I would splash out and I booked a table for dinner in traditional osteria. Here I dined on cappelletti al ragu, followed by lamb chops with greens, and pannacotta with peach and almonds for dessert, all accompanied by a carafe of Sangiovese.
Day 10 – Friday 25th September 2026 – Ravenna to London via Bologna
After another nice breakfast in my hotel, I set off to the Arian Baptistery, that I had missed out on the previous day, to arrive when it opened at 9am. To enter you have to buy a ticket from a machine outside the baptistery. The Arian Baptistery was built by Theodoric at the end of the 5th century. Arianism was a branch of Christianity of which Theoderic was an adherent. Its main doctrinal difference is that it believes that Christ was created by God and is distinct from God. Arianism is considered heretical by the Orthodox and Roman churches. Fairly small and plain on the outside, the Arian Baptistery has a superb mosaic ceiling depicting the baptism of Christ.
After a short time gazing in wonder at the Baptistery’s ceiling, I walked the short distance to Ravenna station, arriving in good time for the 09:43 train to Bologna. The train was on time and arrived at Bologna Centrale just over 70 minutes later.
I had visited Bologna in 2019, when I spent two days (and one night) there, having managed to get a pair of very cheap flights to and from the city. There was plenty to do on that occasion, and I would not be attempting to revisit all the museums and galleries that I saw then. I walked from the railway station to the heart of the city along one of the covered colonnades that line many of Bologna’s main thoroughfares. The heart of the city is the Piazza Maggiore, flanked by Bologna City Hall and the Basilica di San Petronio. In the Piazza Maggiore there was a stage set up in front of the Basilica with rows of seating in front of it, as well as a number of tented stalls on one side of the square. These were part of a Franciscan Christian festival that was taking place that weekend, with other events taking place at different locations.
I continued to walk around the centre of Bologna via a number of its notable squares and buildings. When I came in 2019, I climbed to the top of the Asinelli tower, which, at about 100 metres high, is the taller of two adjacent towers, both of which lean alarmingly. It is no longer possible to climb the Asinelli tower, as it is believed to be in imminent danger of collapse. While they have barriered off a small area around the base of the tower, should it collapse without warning the cordoned off area would offer little protection against the likely devastation.
When I got to the Palazzo Pepolo on my walk, I decided to pay it a visit, even though I had been here in 2019. Within the Palazzo Pepolo is the Museum of the History of Bologna, which last time I had thought was excellent. I am glad that I went to it again, since while the ground floor was as I remembered it, the exhibitions on the upper floor had been expanded. I downloaded an audio guide on my phone to accompany my visit. The exhibition starts with pre-history and the Etruscan settlement of Bologna, charts its development as a centre of learning and music, before concluding with its more modern history. These modern history sections were new since my last visit. Here I discovered that Bologna has its own language which only started to be replaced by standard Italian once television became ubiquitous in people’s homes in the 1960s.
On my previous visit to Bologna, access to the interior of the City Hall and its art collections was inexplicably closed, so I decided to put that right. While the large collection of paintings was nothing to get too excited about, the interior of the City Hall, and in particular its ceilings, were amazing.
The University of Bologna is the oldest in Europe, being founded in 1088. When I was there previously it was graduation time, with raucous celebrations going on all over the city. Back then some of the new graduates were in fancy dress, while others wore smart suits and dresses, often with proud parents in tow. When I went through the university area this time, everything was much more sedate.
I remembered that, even by the rip-off standards of most airports, Bologna airport charges extortionate prices for food and drink, so I decided to have an early dinner before heading to the airport. As proper Italian restaurants don’t open for dinner until quite late, my early dinner would have to be pizza. Unfortunately, while eating the pizza, part of one of my teeth fell out, necessitating an emergency visit to the dentist on my return.
In 2019, you had to travel to and from the airport by bus, but now a direct monorail from Bologna Centrale station has opened. You can pay for this by just tapping your credit card on the barriers at each end, although the price of the seven minute journey was nearly double that of the 70 minute train ride from Ravenna that I had taken that morning. The monorail does not have through carriages, and the tiny pod that I managed to squeeze into was very crowded.
I arrived at Bologna Airport just after 6:30pm for my 20:30 flight to London. There were no queues for security nor for passport control. If you are departing to a non-Schengen country, such as the UK, after security you are directed immediately to passport control to enter the non-Schengen departure area. This is rather cramped and has few facilities, which made it not the best of places to wait, as there were also flights to Turkey, Serbia and Morocco departing at about the same time as mine. Everybody was on-board the plane by the due departure time, but because there were a lot of flights landing and taking off, it took some time before we were airborne. The plane landed at London Stansted Airport about 10 minutes late just before 10pm.
When I fly, I usually pay a little more to ensure a window seat near the front of the plane. This provides me with views on the journey and a reasonably speedy exit upon arrival. I was not best pleased, therefore, when the Italian sitting next me was still playing on his phone as passengers started disembarking from the plane. He let several rows of people behind us go past before he let me out. This delay caused me to just miss the next train from Stansted Airport, so I caught the one after at 22:28, meaning that I got home just before midnight.
Conclusion
This was another trip where I jumped all over the place. It visited four cities that I had not been to before (Sarajevo, Mostar, Split and Ravenna) and four cities that I had (Gothenburg, Ancona, Rimini and Bologna). In my previous post, I reflected on my overall impressions of Bosnia & Herzegovina. I am glad that I came to Ravenna, as the early decorative mosaic art here is very special. It also did not feel swamped with tourists, in the same way that Split did, which did detract a little from the pleasures of Split. I realise I am being hypocritical saying this, because I am a tourist myself – but, at least, I do not travel around as part of large group nor talk loudly while wandering the streets.