italy: rimini

Upon arriving back in rimini, i dropped my bags at the information office, just outside the train station...the lady told me the next bus to san marino wasn't for another hour or so, so i walked a bit into the city centre just to kill time...i learned a lot of people rent bikes to get around the city, i suppose i could've done the same, but walking always feels good to me:)...

rimini is now mostly known as a beach/resort town, but it used to have some importance in roman times...there are still a couple roman ruins to be seen...

there are families who come for a week or more and do nothing more than walk from their hotels to the beach, and back...i didn't spend enough time in rimini for this to happen, oh well...from the photos i saw, the beach here isn't anything special, but the economy of the town definitely depends on beach tourism...

i walked into an old cathedral, i think it was called a temple...it wasn't fancy inside, and felt pretty calm, and real...(if that makes sense)...i liked the feeling of quiet, even though there were a few other people wandering around inside...

after arriving back in rimini, the lady at the information office gave me back my bags, then told me which local bus i needed to get to my hotel...the hotel i'd booked was a street back from the beach, i think the entire street is dedicated to hotels and restaurants...i used the map function of my iphone to keep track of how far down that street i needed to get to find my hotel...

i checked in, then relaxed for a while...(and tried to get rid of the motion sickness feeling that wasn't leaving me as quickly as i would've liked)...eventually i went out walking down the street...

i was looking to see how far i could walk, and find a place to eat dinner...i figured out the answer to both questions :)

the next morning i was up early so i could take advantage of the breakfast included in my hotel price before walking around more of the old city centre...the breakfast was mostly carbs, argh...a croissant, various breads, etc...(this is italy, that's how they do breakfast)

i left my bags at information again, and continued walking...i passed the cathedral/temple from the day before, and made a left at a bigger intersection...

a few blocks down from there i came to one of the old roman sights in the city...an arch...it was pretty, but not hugely impressive...there was a small platz on one side of the arch, but it was early enough in the morning that there werent many people hanging out in the area...i wondered if it ever gets crowded...

i walked through this platz and a couple others on my way to the other roman sight in town...a bridge...still in good shape, cars drive over it all day long...it isn't huge, but i liked it...all the postcards with pictures of the bridge show it at night, when it's lit up...i should've stayed out late the night before!

After the bridge i stepped into a big church...big and airy, a bit darker than i usually like, and quiet...i love the feeling of comfort i get wheneva i step into any religious building, whether it's a synagogue, temple, mosque, church, etc...

from there i went back to the train station and caught my next train :)