Day 2: BOLOGNA - RIMINI - SAN MARINO - RIMINI - BOLOGNA
Friday, October 12, 2012
Today we woke up a little later than we usually do while on vacation, but it is a special day where we will meet San Marino and Rimini from Bologna.
The journey from Bologna to Rimini by train and leaves at 9.28 in the morning, so we have given ourselves the luxury of getting up at 7.30 in the morning.
After breakfast at the Hotel Nuovo Porto, very well by the way and with just over 30 minutes to reach the Bologna Central Station, although there is just under 5 minutes walk, we have set off.
We thought the station was going to be bigger and more messy because we had read that it is one of the link points in Italy, but at the entrance there are some informative panels that help with train numbers, platforms ... So it has been much easier than we expected.
We would be thinking that it would be like our Khajuraho-Varanasi train a few months ago.
Before going to the platform, we stopped at a kiosk to buy a few postcards to take advantage of the train time in writing them and we took the opportunity to stock up on a couple of bottles of water.
The journey in train from Bologna to Rimini We do it in little more than an hour and as we see, it begins to get dark and rain harder, so, at the last minute, we decide that it is best to go to San Marino first, hoping that it does not rain so much and then return to visit in a couple of hours Rimini.
And so we do it. Just outside the station, on the left is the Tourist Office, where they tell us that right in front and at that time, the bus from Rimini to San Marino and if we don't take this we will have to wait an hour and a half !!
So ... feet so I love you !!!
After paying the 9 euros per person for a round trip ticket, they can be bought at the same office or where for the bus that have a small paradita mounted to sell them, we have given ourselves a good race, crossing the road in front To get to the bus.
The journey is 45 minutes, but it takes just over an hour, because as soon as we reach the San Marino area we find what we would never have imagined.
Every time the bus catches a curve and we ascend, we see that the fog becomes denser.
In the windows we have some stickers of ads that subtract us a lot of visibility, but we intuit that it is also raining 🙁
When we get off we cannot believe what we are seeing, it is not seen more than 2 meters away. The fog covers everything.
We don't want to think about it anymore, so we take out the umbrellas and we don't even go in search of the elevator that they say is right next to the bus stop, we walk on the stairs in front.
When we go out to the street after climbing a few covered stairs, although nothing is seen, we intuit that we must continue to the right and after a few meters we find the San Francisco Gate, the most famous access to the medieval city in The one we found.
At the moment we have not removed the cameras, waiting for the fog to go down and this remains as an anecdote to tell about this trip.
But once we go through the door, it still looks less! San Marino It looks like a ghost town.
San Marino among shadows. San Marino and Rimini from Bologna
I think all the tourists we are in today San Marino We have the same face of disbelief.
We decided that when the weather is like this, we will start by going through everything calmly, without following the planning that we brought from home.
We began to travel the city without a fixed direction, that although we would like it difficult we would have it since you don't even see the cartels with the names of the streets!
Posing to record that we have been !!San Marino and Rimini from Bologna
It's still raining ... Republic of San Marino
Although having this day is not something that we like, we have to say, that trying to get the positive part, to look for something, is that we are really liking the environment that is created around the fog and drizzle and the photos we like how they are looking ...
Some color between black and white in the Republic of San Marino
Lonely San Marino
The streets of San Marino They are full of shops, almost all of various souvenirs, jewelry, jewelry and weapons. Something that surprises us very much and we will look for its meaning when we return tonight to Bologna and we can connect!
Tents in the shadows.San Marino and Rimini from Bologna
Will it stop raining?San Marino and Rimini from Bologna
Details of San Marino
The idea of taking the plane to follow a fixed route we are discarding more and more and we decided that we will go through the streets with the idea of bordering the medieval city and then crossing it inside, traveling the interior streets that, although we do not see them Too good, they look lovely.
San Marino Map
San Marino among shadows
Terrace to the shelter of the fog.San Marino and Rimini from Bologna
And so we spend the morning, without the weather improving. We see that going to the Towers and seeing nothing is not a good idea, so we discard the idea, thinking that one day, when we return to the area, we will return to see San Marino with sun and to see the landscapes that until now we had seen in photos and that from today will continue to be like that.
It's a little after 1 pm, so we look for a restaurant to eat. After several laps, we end up in one where they advertise free Wi-Fi and you have to go down some stairs.
We ordered a pizza and a pasta dish, plus a coke and a water, plus 2 coffees for 24 euros.
Pizza in San Marino !! We must load forces!
Pasta with shrimp and vegetables.San Marino and Rimini from Bologna
Not bad to be San Marino, although food has been quite fair. The bad thing has been that once we ask for Wi-Fi, they simply tell us they don't have it, without further explanation.
It is these things that we will never understand. But well ... what are we going to do. The idea was to stay here for a while making time for the 14:30 bus San Marino to Rimini, but it will be that we will leave before here ...
We have thought about going back to Rimini, hoping that there is good weather there and so spend the afternoon in that area.
When we leave, the weather seems to have improved a bit, it doesn't rain anymore, although there is still a fog, even denser than before.
But this time we took the cameras with more courage, with the idea of taking at least some photos to take the memory.
Streets of San Marino among shadows
Basilica of San Marino among the fog
One of the streets leading to the Basilica
And so we are cheering again to tour the city, which is not that we see much more now, but we intuit again the same as this morning, it is a very commercial city, but at the same time it has a special air.
Details Republic of San Marino
One of the many restaurants that we meet along the way
When we see that there are ten minutes left before the bus leaves we plug the turbo in order to catch it, but when we are less than 2 minutes from the stop, we remember that we have left the umbrellas in the restaurant !!!
If the weather had not been like that, we would have left without them, but with the threat of rain, anyone takes a chance.
So we get back on our feet, determined to go pick them up and take another lap until 15.45 the next bus leaves.
It is clear that San Marino He doesn't want us to leave ...
Piazza della Libertà, with the headquarters of the Government of the nation in the background
And again starting over the cobbled streets. But this time we discovered a place where we had not been before and that seems like a very nice corner of the city.
It is a park, full of sculptures. The problem with the fog is that it is so dense that it does not show more than a couple of meters, so we rarely see a set of things, landscapes ... We can only see a detail of the whole.
One of our discoveries ... Republic of San Marino
Do you see me? Republic of San Marino
After having a good time in this area, we go back up to the top to take some more photos.
Streets of the Republic of San Marino
We come back ?. Republic of San Marino
The idea of going to the area of Borgo Maggiore With funicular we totally discard it and leave it for the next visit we make to this city.
You always have to leave something pending so that the return is made with more desire ...
Images of the Republic of San Marino
So we spent that time until we go back down to the parking lot to take the bus from San Marino to Rimini.
It takes us an hour and a little to arrive and when we leave we see that here the weather is much better than in San Marino.
The initial idea of devoting more time to the first one, perhaps it has been a mistake and we should have come here before ... But hey, it is done, so let's enjoy what we have.
Now we come up, we take the camera, the plane and there that we are going to tour the city of Rimini.
The first thing we do is go on the way to the Central Market, where we do not enter because being the time that is already the positions are closing and we prefer to go to the center.
We let the Amphitheater pass to go around if it gives us time.
From here we go to Via IV Novembre where we find the Malatestian Temple.
Calle IV Novembre in Rimini
We are walking quietly, since we still have a few hours to leave our train and we want to go quietly and enjoying.
Here we do follow a medium planning that we have established to see some of the most interesting things in the city.
From here we reach the Piazza tre Martiri to meet the Arch d 'Augusto.
Arch of Augustus in Rimini
Here we sit for a while to rest and while we think whether to eat an ice cream or not, we set off, this time, towards the Ponte de Tiberio that is just at the opposite end of where we are right now.
The center of Rimini is quite small and is covered in a short time, so we do not take it in any hurry.
Rimini
Ponte de Tiberio
Once this is seen, we retrace our steps and arrive again at Piazza tre Martiri.
Piazza tre Martiri
Our train back to Bologna departs at 20.33, so when it's 7 and afternoon and after seeing that most of the bars serve the famous aperitivi, we decided to enter one of them and take one.
A martini and a coke, plus everything they put on it, for 8 euros. It's not bad at all.
Mmm ... Apetitivi !! Rimini
We left there with a full belly on the way to the station.
Piazza tre Martiri. Rimini
Our train leaves 20 minutes late, but we don't care too much because we're not very hungry 🙂
After another hour of travel we arrive at our base city, Bologna. And it's good weather !!!
Hopefully hold on for tomorrow!
With the time it is and after what we have eaten, we are not hungry, but just in case, when we see a McDonals just outside the station, we take a couple of menus in case we later go hungry in the hotel.
And at 11 pm we are entering through the door of our room, ready to lie down and rest until tomorrow.
It has been a long day ... but full of incredible things.
Day 3BOLOGNA
