Italy with Kids - San Marino

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18 Sept 2008

After our not so enthralling visit to Bologna, where we just didn't seem to get the combination right, we were at odds as to what to do today. We didn't want to spend all day at the campground because Ky and I would soon get bored, and the day was not looking amazing, even though it was a little warmer. So shortly after lunch we drove out with the aim of going to Rimini, south of Ravenna, and perhaps stopping at the beach.

We took the now familiar roads south past Ravenna, but once reaching the bypass to Rimini I was expecting a smaller town, and suddenly didn't feel like trying to find my way around yet another strange town (which I found later Kylie also felt the same, she having been doing the excellent job of navigating these visits). So I noticed a tourist info (brown or "marone") sign to the "Grotte", which I remembered was somewhere inland and proceeded to head thataways. Well, the Malatesta country signs were as persistent as the "Centro" signs in most towns and cities: they started a long way out and guided you all the way. Kylie, whom had deduced where I was headed, informed me that the caves were probably an hours' drive away, based on our current winding speed. That was ok as I'd missed a turn and we eventually ended up in a hillside town called Coriano. There we stopped and picked up a beautiful guidebook in english for the province of Rimini (so-called Malatesta Country), which included all the hills inland of Rimini and surrounding the Rupoblic of San Marino. We checked out its well-cared for remains of a castle, and then followed the map to look at Montecolombo and Montescudo, before ending at the castle of Alberto. The castle is very small, and with people still living in it we didn't feel like intruding. Joseph and Liam again tried to adopt some stray-ish looking two very large dogs that were hanging around, but they seemed to have more sense...

So we had, I think, a reasonably enjoyable drive around the hills, and the occasional stops seemed to keep the boys interested as well as the very steep and windy roads that they remarked upon. The caves being a little too far to the south, we crossed over to San Marino, hung a right, and suddenly found ourselves driving out of it again. Well I was sure San Marino was bigger than that, and as it turned out, our faithful and switched-on navigator redirected me to San Marino proper. We ended up driving up this hill. Not having read up on San Marino, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I saw a sign to a cable car and turned in to park, thinking that the kids would enjoy a ride. It turned out the be the cable car to the centre of Castle and church of San Marino, perched way up high on the hilltop.





What a marvellous little town! Loads and loads of souvenir shops, selling trinkets from all over the world. The boys were particulary impressed with the katanas, swords, real armour, and for Joseph he loved the real bow-and-arrow and crossbows that were sold there. I guess the laws in San Marino are different to Italy and Australia? We headed for the armory museum, but it had already closed (at 5:15pm), so we ended up back at a rooftop restaurant with magnificent views over the countryside. There we finally had the dinner I had been looking forward to.






The day ended up beautifully, thanks to a sunny drive through the hills and pleasant evening to round it off.

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