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Published: August 7th 2010
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Why write a blog about San Marino? Well at the time of writing, on this website, only fifteen others had previously done so; making research into what to do there a little frustrating. The same number of blogs has been written for Somalia and more than double that have been written for North Korea. Surely San Marino deserves a bit more attention. Or does it? I had to go there to find out.
So what do we know about San Marino except that they have a national football team that everyone wants in their qualifying group and that they pretend to host a formula one grand prix? (It’s actually held in Italy):
San Marino is the fifth smallest country in the world with an area of only 61km2. Isn’t that reason enough to visit?
Or how about that San Marino is the oldest sovereign state in the world having been founded in 301AD? Again a reason to visit?
That it was founded by a Christian stonemason called Marinus who ran up a hill to escape religious persecution?
Actually I went there for the view. San Marino sits high on a rocky outcrop with a commanding view
of the surrounding plains and down to the Adriatic coast. Italian friends told me that this was the only reason to visit, given that the town itself is exactly the same but not quite as pretty as many Italian towns. This may be true, but there is still the novelty value of being in a whole new country.
As you will see from my photos, on the day that we chose to make the long drive from Slovenia, the view was less than spectacular. The fog wasn’t sufficient that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face but it wasn’t far off.
Therefore we had to discover the delights of San Marino town rather than the vista from the towers and cliffs:
If you are thinking about starting a militia and need somewhere to buy arms then this is your place. Three shops in four sell weapons ranging from horrific looking knifes and chuck stars to sniper rifles. If the 29000 residents of this tiny land ever got really annoyed about everyone taking the piss out of their football team they are sufficiently tooled up to conquer Europe. (Incidentally San Marino does have a volunteer
army of eighty who, despite what is on offer in their shops, arm themselves only with crossbows and funny hats).
Otherwise the little cobbled streets and houses are quaint, the beer is nice, pizza is pretty good, modern bizarre sculptures are fantastic and I bet you won’t meet many other people who have ever been there; which is always a valid reason for going anywhere.
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