Today’s journey to Ravenna, took us through a part of Italy we have never before visited – the Po Valley. The landscape seemed most un-Italian to us. Most of Italy is mountainous, or at the very least hilly, but today we spent the entire journey on a flat plain. It was so flat at times it strongly reminded me of my birthplace, the fens in Lincolnshire. A major difference was the snow peaked mountains in the distance.
The Po Valley is also the home of some major Italian cities and brand names. Parma, Modena and Bologna. Lamborghini, Ferrari and Ducati.
We slowly made our way on trunk roads through or around each of these cities. The drive was slow and tedious although one member of team Basil got slightly excited as we drove past the Lamborghini factory. There was nowhere to stop, but neck craning and eyes not on the road, I hoped to see one of the these iconic cars. But no. The car park was packed full of Audis (Lambo’s current owners) but not a Raging Bull to be seen.
Sarah’s effort from a moving Basil – It’s the Lambo factory – honest
The Po Valley also seems to be a hot bed of fruit cultivation. Endless rows of fruit trees and we assumed those already with pink blossom must be this season’s cherries.
Today was supermarket day. I had programmed a LIDL into SatNav and when we arrived our alternative plan for Mabel was put into action. We just left all the curtains open and left her and Melek to run riot while we did the shopping! We returned with some trepidation, but apart from paw prints and fur everywhere, and nose smears on the windscreen, no harm appeared to have been done. We hope this is the solution.
Usually when we plan to visit a city there is just one aire available for motorhomes. Ravenna, on the other hand, has a plethora. Our first choice had been a free one, for obvious reasons, but on arrival it was right next to Ravenna’s small port (not usually the best part of any town), there were no other motorhomes and a man was scavenging the rubbish bins. We decided to try another option.
We finally ended up in a pleasant car park (44.414379, 12.188260), with authorised motorhome parking, unfortunately we had to pay – €2.25 for 24 hours!! The car park is only 500 meters from the historic centre. Well done Ravenna.
Basil’s spot for the night
Random Sculpture
Random Church next to our overnight spot
We’ve taken the dogs out for a longish walk and will explore Ravenna’s delights tomorrow.
One late update. On settling down in Basil I found I had an email from our insurers, Comfort, asking if they could consider using some of my Italian photos as part of their 25th anniversary celebrations. They want photos on the theme of places to visit in your motorhome. They are not guaranteed to be used, but it is nice that they stumbled across them on this blog.