san marino

The next morning i was up early so i could start making my way to another town (and country!) ...my first train left meran at 0602...it left on time, thank goodness...it was a tiny little regional train that runs pretty regularly to the closest 'big' city, of bolzano (known as bolzen in german)...from there a train to bologne, then a train to rimini, a city on the coast...

i dropped my bags at the information office close to the train station, and asked questions...they told me how to get to san marino, which was my real goal for the day...

san marino is the world's oldest republic...according to lonely planet it has a very high GDP (over $50,000 i think)...san marino is the only former citystate that didn't get swallowed up by the formation of modern italy...how it survived as independent and the others didn't, i don't know...if i didn't actually KNOW i was in san marino, there was nothing to give it away as being somewhere different from italy...they speak italian, and use the euro as currency...

anywho, there are a few small towns within the borders of san marino, but there is only one place people actually visit...it's the area on top of a hill...to get there you take a bus from rimini, and its putting it mildly to say the road is not straight...i was quite motion sick when i finally got off the bus...the chance to walk the rest of the way up the hill was a welcome way to get rid of that feeling...there are tours offered on a little train, i was very keen to walk...

i was a bit disappointed when it seemed that almost everything i could see was geared toward tourists...there were plenty of shops, but nothing 'local'...lots of electronics, or souvenirs, or things along those lines...there were heaps of restaurants, and hotels for those who want to say they slept in such a tiny country...one thing i did like was there were no touts trying to get me into shops or tours or restaurants...

i'm shallow enough to admit that the biggest reason i came to san marino was to get another passport stamp...and to add another country to my list...

it's hard to get stamps from countries in the schengen zone...it says in the guidebook that you can get the san marino stamp by going to the information office and paying for the stamp...i did so, cheesy as that is...i've been to a fair number of countries, but getting a new passport stamp never gets old...i don't think it ever will...

there are a few castles/fortresses/protective towers on this hill, all of them have entrance fees...i paid to go in just one, since they all seemed the same...not a lot to see, but the views over the surrounding area were pretty awesome...

the changing of the guard takes place in front of the justice building (i think) every 30 minutes...(geared toward tourists obviously)...the guards are willing to have their photos taken, but i'm guessing they don't love the russian tourists who go for sexy poses next to them...it looks tacky...i wonder if these guards have physical requirements for the job just like other well known guards do around the world...

the bus ride back to rimini wasn't great either, but i made it through :)

there isn't much to say about san marino...if i had a car, i would go back so i could stop in one or two of the other towns, just to see what 'real' people live like...i have no idea what you call someone from san marino...are they san marinese?