I awoke at the nice hotel in Bologna knowing I didn't need to get to San Marino right away so took a look around town. I went by Piazza XX Septiembre, Piazza Maggiore, the Neptune Fountain, Due Torri, Via Zamboni and Via Delle Bella Arti. Bologna has lots of nice architecture and at times feels like you should be walking through an art museum.
From Bologna I caught the train to Rimini
. I had a little time before the bus so looked around that town too. I went to Piazza Cavour and Piazza tre Martiri before catching the bus to San Marino.
The bus dropped me off close to my hostel on the outskirts of Borgo Maggiore. There was a guy at the hostel desk but apparently he wasn't able to check me in so I had to wait a half hour for a girl coworker to arrive. She checked me in and I looked around the hostel - kinda cool with foosball tables, tv and good views. No one else seems to be staying here though.
I walked up the hill in the hot sun to the funicular and rode that up to San Marino. That deposited me right by Piazza Della Liberta, the main plaza in town. There was another open plaza with a building (church?) with Roman columns up the hill from there. Then it was off to see the three towers. I was glad I paid the entrance fee to the towers because this is where the best views were from. Great views of the towers on the hill with the scenery in the background
. I took heaps of pictures. Along the way to the second tower there were lots of Russians posing (like really posing) for photos by friends/family. It was surprising how many Russians were there - even the menus on the restaurants in town had a prominent one in Russian. I walked between all three towers, no one was at the third one. After that I went to see more of the town. San Marino also has the low taxes so attracts lots of shoppers. The shops here are all cheesy tourist stores. After wandering around for a while I started checking out restaurants. I ended up at one that had a set menu for €15. I was the only one there at first then a bunch of other people started showing up. I think I should get a free meal for that since my presence attracted other customers. Anyway, I had lasagna, salad and chicken. I told them I was too full for the dessert (tiramisu) but they brought it anyway. I forced myself to eat it ;)
Caught the bus back to the hostel. No one was there running the place, but there was a guy in the dorm room. He was a little suspicious looking. I went downstairs to the bar and had a beer then went back to the room. The guy was gone. The room was hot and I couldn't get the a/c to work so checked the room next door (connected via shared bathroom). The a/c worked in there so I moved all my stuff over there and slept in that room ;)
Touristy hill town
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
San Marino, San Marino, Italy
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2025-02-11