Holidaying with the Italians

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Thursday 12^thAugust



Negotiated myself a train ticket to Rimini and after the hour journey I arrived, took a taxi to the hotel and found I couldn’t check in as my room wasn’t ready so dumped my suitcase with them and sat out in the sun for a while. Amazing location of the hotel, right on the main strip full of bars, restaurants and shops and opposite the beach. By the time I could heck in I got changed and headed over to the beach and just lay on a sun lounger for 3 hours. The breeze was amazing and made the hot sun really bearable. That evening I went for a lovely long walk up the main strip, there were street markets and shops open selling all sorts of trinkets and I found a lovely outdoor restaurant and had pizza and a beer.





Friday 13^th August



Very cloudy this morning so the beach was off the agenda. I got the bus up to the main part of town instead and got myself a map which allowed me to walk to the Arc de Augusto. From this there is a huge road which goes through the town all the way to the river. On it there are most of the main sites including a huge indoor food market which was one hell of a sight. Every type of fish you could imagine along with fresh fruit and vegetables. By mid afternoon most of it is sold and they just close up so I’m glad I came this morning and saw it. Visited the Tempio Malatestiano, a shrine/church which is huge but virtually bare inside. Following the road up to Piazza tre martiri there were nice towers and statues including an amazing one of Julius Ceaser, as Rimini was a Roman stronghold for many years, hence all the connections. Piazza Cavor was lovely with the municipal buildings and the huge church. Following the road behind it I got to the Castle which was quite disappointing really as the area surrounding it is now used as a giant car park and doesn’t allow it to show off its glory. Backtracking and taking the tiny streets I finally came to what is the most famous sight in Rimini - The Ponte Tiberio. I walked across it and stopped for a lovely Cappuccino before heading into a largely residential area where I picked up a bus which took over an hour to do a circuit of the outskirts of Rimini and passed many of the smaller sections of beach that belong to hotels and passed mini Europe (a miniature version of many of the great sights in Europe) which has a theme park near it too. By early afternoon the rain settled in and although it was still very warm, the heavens opened and it was lashing it down so I took refuge back at the hotel for a few hours, a real waste oh holiday time but nothing I could do. By later afternoon the weather cleared and I took a walk along the main promenade towards the port. The Fellini gardens would have been lovely to sit in had everything not been so damp because of the rain. Before arriving at the port I came across the dolphinarium which had a show about to start so I paid and went in. Unfortunately the only seats left were on the front row…. Great view but I know why no one wanted to sit there as the dolphins dive bomb the water and huge waves cover who ever is sitting there… hence my broken camera which I had to replace with one from a shop next to the hotel at great expense about an hour later!!! I walked to the port and then back to the hotel before heading out to dinner.

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