Category: San Marino

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April 11, 2018

After breakfast we went over to the Palazzo Pubblico.  Yesterday we couldn’t go in because they were in session but luckily we were able to go in today.

The legislature of the republic is the Grand and General Council.  The Council is a unicameral legislature which has 60 members, elected for 5 year terms.  Every six months, the Council elects two Captains Regent to be the heads of state.

The building in which they govern is beautiful inside and out.

After a look around the Palazzo Pubblico we dragged our suitcases down the hill to the bus stop and caught the bus back to Rimini.  At Rimini we took the train to Bologna and from Bologna we took another train to Venice.  We almost got on the wrong train in Bologna but luckily we realized before it was too late. The countryside along the train tracks was very green.

We left San Marino at 10:30 and arrived in Venice at 3:20.  But wait, we weren’t done with the public transportation yet . . . Once we arrived in Venice we had to take the vaporetti, the public water transport system, to our apartment.  The vaporetti took us down the grand canal so we enjoyed this leg of our journey too.  It was 4:30 by the time we got to our stop.

We were met at the vaporetti stop by our Airbnb contact who showed us the way to our apartment.  It wasn’t too far and luckily there was just one bridge so we could roll our suitcases most of the way.  Our apartment is very nice and comfortable.

Once we were settled I purchased tickets online on a different water transport system to the airport for the next day.  My mom was leaving the next day and Rick, Nancy, and Mike were arriving.  I planned to go to the airport with mom, then met the others, and show them the way to the apartment.

Mom and I walked down to the San Marco stop to convert the voucher to tickets.  There are a lot of tourists in Venice and we were just two among millions.  But we walked by San Marco square so that was nice for mom to see.

After relaxing for a few minutes at the apartment we went out for a very nice where we met another couple from Easton, MA who had just arrived in Venice.

It was a nice day even though it was primarily a travel day.

Posted on

April 10, 2018

Today we wandered around San Marino.  All the streets are either steeply up or steeply down.  The main attractions are the towers which protected the city.  We visited two of the towers and just took pictures of the third from a distance.

The town itself is quaint and looks very old with what look like very old stone walls.

The streets are lined with stores and many people come here to shop since the tax is about half of what it is in Italy.  There are many weapons stores, guns, swords, etc.  I asked why there are so many gun stores and the answer was it is legal to sell them here but not legal to sell them in Italy.  Apparently Italian citizens need a permit which requires a lot of paperwork in order to buy a gun.  There are a lot of scary looking, automatic guns. 😖

We also walked to the Palazzo  Pubblico.  Sammarinese calls it ’‘the heart of San Marino.’’ It was built between 1884 and 1894 and is the official government building as well as a town hall of the capital city.  We couldn’t go in because the government was in session but should be able to go in tomorrow.

There were fanastic views from the palazzo.  Although the weather wasn’t great.  You could see all the way to the Adriatic Sea.

That evening we had a very nice dinner with Kassandra who had done pretty much the same things we did.

Posted on

April 9, 2018

Today we leave Ravenna.  I would definitely suggest a day trip to Ravenna if anyone is coming to Venice!  Here are some general pictures of the town.

After breakfast this morning we went to Domus die Tappeti di Pietra.  The remains and floor mosaics from a house, dating back to the 5th and 6th century, were unearthed when they were digging to build a parking lot.  Here are a couple of pictures.

After visiting the museum we went back to pick up our suitcases and headed to the train station.  Buying the tickets and finding the train was easy.  We took the train from Ravenna to Rimini where we got a bus to San Marino.  The bus ride was about an hour and did not take us all the way to the top.  There were a number of people on the bus including us that stayed on the bus expecting it to go higher.  The bus driver eventually kicked us off the bus.  It had started to rain during the bus ride.  There was another American woman on the bus who is staying at the same hotel.  Turned out we had to hike the rest of the way up the hill.

After checking in and getting settled, I went out to explore the hotel and ran into the other American woman, Cassandra.  She and I went to the tourist office and got our passports stamped.  (Rick Manser – I got the country of San Marino and you didn’t!)

We didn’t go out to explore further as it was raining.

That evening we had a very nice dinner with Cassandra in the hotel.  After dinner Mom and I played several games of dominoes and I beat her decisively.