The center of Ravenna is very favorable for a visit especially in spring, since the whole city is easily traveled by bicycle and only few kilometers away from the seaside resorts of the Adriatic coast.

The Basilica of St. Apollinaris Nuovo in Ravenna is a beautiful church, like nearly all the religious buildings of this fascinating city full of lively and colorful mosaics.

The three aisles, which is divided the church have different ranges of decorations, made at different times but all of them from the blinding beauty.

This basilica fits the more conventional appearances of a church being a more rectangular shape than circular. It was gorgeous, and again the outside does not do the inside justice. The mosaics inside are huge, and they were done by multiple people working at the same time.

It was comissioned for the emperor Theodoric depicting religious martyrs on one side and his palace on the other. The altar area looks as if it doesn't belong inside this basilica since it doesn't have any mosics in it at all and is decorated in a completely different style from the rest of the church. It is adorned by frescoes and ceramics on the walls and ceiling instead of mosaics.

The decorations are certainly one of St. Apollinaris Nuovo features that you can not miss, and so are those of the Basilica of St. Apollinaris in Classe, located about 5 km outside Ravenna city centre and for visiting which you probably would better leave your bike unless you want ride a bit. St. Apollinaris in Classe has got a fantastic decoration of the vault of the mosaic, not to be missed with its amazing cross that represents a beautiful gemmed sky.