During the 2002 Olympics in addition to the all the Russian speaking countries I managed, I was lucky enough to get a few single athlete countries - Andorra, Monaco and
San Marino. Admittedly, I had to look on a map to see where all of those countries were located. I was smitten and vowed to visit them all someday. I made it to Monaco during the Games and so the "island" country of San Marino was next - the main reason I stayed in Bologna for 2 nights.
San Marino is an enclave city state surrounded by Italy. To get there, I had to first take a train to Rimini. Mainly a beach town, Rimini was dirty and otherwise non-nondescript. It was, however, full of Russian tourists (and a really nice waitress at Burger King - I know, yuck. But I have learned to utilize clean bathrooms at fast food restaurants for the price of a drink.) After a windy bus ride up the mountain, I encountered even more Russians in San Marino. They were all bundled up against the 55 degree weather while I was pealing off layers and even got a bit sunburned. Some things never change! To be fair, the Italians were just as bundled...it must just be a Utah thing. I am finally getting the hang of the Italian train system and even ventured out to get my own tickets from the self-service machines. I love trains!
I have always been drawn to walled cities with towers and winding cobbled streets. San Marino had all three! Most of the shops were closed with so few tourists around, but that was just fine with me. I was there for the sights not the shopping and it was nice to be one of maybe 50 tourists climbing the steps between towers. And climb I did! Amazing how the aches and pains of the day before seemed to disappear long enough to huff and puff my way up and up and up. It was an unforgettable sight!
A hazy day made for fuzzy photos, but it was still spectacular to be up on the mountain top hiking between these two imposing towers. The actual town of San Marino had streets no wider than the ones in Venice, but were far steeper and harder on the knees than were the bridges over numerous canals. I stopped back into Burger King before catching the train back to Bologna. I talked a bit with the same waitress, her broken English being far better than my minuscule Italian. I tried some non-traditional chicken wings and jalapeno-cheese bites - she even threw in a bag of kid-size french fries for free. Pays to be nice! Now I have to make it to Andorra...
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