“Militarily Irrelevant”

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The logistics in the large breakfast room at the hotel are a bit interesting. The designers apparently thought it was a good idea to put the milk as far away as possible from the cereal, and the butter and marmalade as far away as possible from the toaster, so I guess they figured the main priority should be for the guests to get some early morning exercise. At least the toaster’s next to the bread, but that doesn’t mean an end to the morning’s challenges. The toaster’s one of the stranger contraptions I've come across in our travels. You’ve got to load the bread into a steel clamp type arrangement before putting it into the toaster, and if you only remember to turn on one of the elements it comes out only toasted on one side. I guess it’s possible there might be people who like it like that.

We head head out for a quiet peaceful stroll along a wide strip of leafy parkland which borders the south side of the hístoric centre. Well that’s what we were hoping for, but the constant threat of being mown down by marauding cyclists quickly puts paid to that idea. The bike path through here‘s like an eight lane expressway for two-wheeled speed freaks. We think pedestrians are supposed to have equal rights, but that minor detail’s not likely to be of much comfort when one of us wakes up in a hospital bed. I remember reading before we got here that everyone gets around on bikes, but I hadn’t realised that meant literally the entire population.

First stop is the impressive Arch of Augustus. We read that this was built in 27 BC in honour of the great emperor’s efforts in restoring the Via Flaminia, the road that linked Rome and Rimini. Based on what we’ve seen of the city up until now I think we could have been forgiven for thinking that it was a modern seaside resort whose main industry was the manufacture and distribution of sunlounges and beach umbrellas. But no, it seems its history‘s long and significant. We read that there’s evidence of human settlement here 800,000 years ago, which I think qualifies as “long”. The Romans “founded” a colony here in 268 BC, and its port then became the empire’s defensive outpost in the northern Adriatic, as well as an important junction of communication lines between northern and southern Italy.

We wander down the main street, Corso d’Augusto, into the very impressive Piazza Cavour. On one side is the Palazzo Garampi, the seventeenth century palace that’s now the Town Hall. Next to that‘s the fourteenth century Palazzo del Podesta. The ever-reliable Wikipedia’s a bit hazy about that one. It mentions the three gothic arches that form part of the facade and then goes on to note that the rope that hung from the middle one was “intended for the hanging of kings”. Huh? I‘m now curious enough to do a bit more Googling, and pleased to see that another source has replaced the word “kings” with “offenders”. I suppose kings could be offenders, but I wouldn’t have thought often enough to have their own dedicated rope. Time to move on I think.

On the side next to the two palazzos is the equally impressive facade of the Amintore Galli Theatre. We read that the original mid-nineteenth century building was almost completely destroyed by Allied bombing in the Second World War. The current iteration only opened in 2018. The works were apparently held up by the discovery of Roman ruins, and the design then had to be modified to accommodate an archaeological site under the stage. I guess that’s probably one of the constant hazards of construction in ancient historic towns.

Behind the theatre is Piazza Malatesta, which is dominated by the formidable looking fifteenth century Castel Sismondo. There’s a “moat” in front of it which you cross via a wooden bridge that leads to the castle door. We hope the original moat, if there was one, was a bit more functional. This one seems a tad on the shallow side, as in none of it could be more than about five centimetres deep. It doesn’t have much of a defined edge, so you wouldn’t want to be wandering casually across the square in your best shoes not taking overly much notice of where you were going. We’re now debating whether or not it’s actually supposed to be here, and whether it still would be if someone unblocked a few drains. Anyway it looks very pleasant - a shallow sheet of wetness with spray misting out into it from under the bridge.

Next up is the Roman era Bridge of Tiberius which we read was completed in 20 AD. It looks like an impressive structure which was probably expensive to build, so we’re wondering a bit why the Romans bothered. The “river” ends about 100 metres upstream, so if you need to get across we can’t see why you wouldn‘t just walk around, or get your chariot to carry you around or whatever. A bit of quick research clears that up. The mighty Marecchia River did indeed used to flow under here, but it was diverted in the 1930s to reduce the town’s susceptibility to flooding. And it seems the Germans were a bit skeptical as well when they retreated from here at the end of the Second World War. They blew up every bridge in sight, except this one, which they deemed “militarily irrelevant”.

We leave tomorrow morning, so we head out for our final Rimini dinner. The staff at reception seem very friendly, and we get a quick succession of “buenasera”s from four of them as we walk out the door … well I hoped they they were being friendly, but after we bumbled our way through with a few words of what we hoped might have been Italian when we checked in I suspect it’s probably more of an attempt at education.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Lovely architecture
This is a nice scene.

[RENanDREW]

Trials and tribulations of hotel toasters
I recently had one-side-toasted toast in Indonesia (because I couldn't be bothered putting in through the conveyer belt griller thingie again) and the texture felt very very odd! In our sillier moments Andrew and I talk about what obscure coffee table books we could produce from our travel photos... a book of hotel breakfast rooms and their various quirks would be fabulous! But sadly, we've never thought to take photos of them :)