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Published: June 14th 2013
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We left City Camping Milanoyesterday and having considered the routes we went for the option of three and a half hours on the toll roads instead of the seven and a half hours on the smaller roads, no contest with the temperature gauge in the 30’s.
Woolly says – it was a boring day, the journey seemed endless, Zoe slept, I dosed, Jo sat in a trancelike state and Ian drove, Ollie loved every mile and spent the hours happily purring away as he took mile after mile of tarmac. Eventually our end destination was in sight and we were more than delighted to book onto Camping Centro Vacanze San Marino for the night at 31 Euro’s (approximately £26.70 GBP) for us all. it wasn’t the cheapest but it was the closest to the city. The debate on city or pool took all of five minutes to solve and we all changed into our swimming togs and went for the pool. A nice afternoon of sunning and splashing was a great way to end the day.
The campsite was pretty good, our pitch was ok the only real problem being that Ollie was parked on
one tier and we had to pitch on another, very laborious when you have to lug everything up steps. The facilities however were brand spanking new and lovely. An early up and we found ourselves winding up the tiny roads towards the old city of San Marino.
Woolly says – it looked pretty good from the bottom and being an UNSECO site I was looking forward to discovering more about this Principality. Its origins are linked to Saint Marius, a stonecutter from Dalmatia who sought refuse in nearby Rimini. Seeing the location of Mount Titano he decided to flee there and founded his own community back in 301 AD. The city is still classed as a sanctuary to this day, I might take refuse from Ian, Jo and Zoe!!!!
Parking was easy and we entered the city through the gates of San Francessco to find ourselves in small cobbled streets, it reminded us of Carcassonne in its structure and layout. We made our way to the Palace and to watch the guards, unfortunately as it was early they hadn’t really started the day and were stood round having a chat.
Woolly
says – I loved the Palace, it would suit me to a tee, the guards however would have to be going a bit earlier for me! We wandered further up the steep tiny streets and found the Garibaldi Bar, it was just like being home again and in the pub we used to run. Guispesse Garibaldi stopped here in 1849 while fleeing from the Austrians, I just hoped we didn’t have to start pulling pints!
It was a coincidence but made us all smile. The Baslica del Santa Chiesetta di San Pietro was next, a beautiful building set in its own square, I popped in to see the prices and took a snap only to return to Ian, Zoe and Woolly who were pointing at the ‘no photo’s’ sign – oops!
Woolly says – Once we had stopped laughing we continued upwards towards the First Tower. The first of the towers to be built in the 11
th century it was a must see. We paid our 3 Euros each (approximately £2.40 GBP) and entered. Our first view was of a flower decked courtyard with a small chapel to the side, in front of us
were the tower and the battlements. It has had many renovations during its history, it was definitely pretty spectacular. We visited what was once the prison with its weathered wooden doors leading into what would have been the cells, one cell still contains art work on the walls and ceilings, awesome. Next came the tower itself with its domed ceiling there was a staircase leading upwards, Zoe tried it first before Ian disappeared to the top and reported that after the two more flights of steep stairs the wooden floors and shutters at the top had been well worth a view. With my paws, on those ladders? I thought it best to stay at ground level!!
With the heat rising and the tourists arriving by the coach load we made our way back out of the city and gave a regretful look as we left. Such a beautiful place and well worth a visit, we were so glad we had been. Oliver was raring to go and we sped off down the ridiculous bendy roads to the bottom. Onto our next destination, a bit of a drive and we had gone for the non-toll option, unfortunately there
was not much to see, it was nice but nothing to write home about….
Woolly says – the highlight of the journey was the Romanian transit van in front of us that was pulling another transit behind, He spent several hours taking daredevil decisions on overtaking anything and everything in his path, regardless of the lorries hurtling towards him, Two hours later and we watched him lock his back wheels on the towing axle, hit several cones and nearly come to an early end. Ian and Jo were taking bets on if he would make it back to Romania alive! We started to see signs for Camping ca’Savio long before we reached it, and once booked in we set out to explore. Zoe described it as an Italian Butlins and she is spot on! Hundreds and hundreds of people camping, a huge pool, kid’s entertainment, reps to mention only a few things. It’s defiantly the biggest site we have stayed on but it’s the nearest to tomorrows place of interest – Venice.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Great view
Lovely tower