We're off to San Marino!
But first, some beach shots of Rimini.
It was breezy so there were lots of flags/kites about.
More umbrellas! Also, I like the progression of the black bathing suit. Short, mid, long.
Okay, onto San Marino for real.
San Marino!
Welcome to the ancient land of freedom.
San Marino is mostly built on Monte Titano and a little land around it.
It encompasses 24 square miles.
Map of old San Marino. San Marino is both the country and the capital.
And then we found this crazy sculpture.
Which was once a plane. And you can get inside of it.
Apparently it's by two sculptors who do lots of things like this.
Check them out at Wrekon.
The scales were neat.
Ryan also wanted to get in the weird lizard sculpture.
"At 50 years from the bombing, the memory of the innocent victims and the offense to neutralize 100,000 refugees into San Marino, will not fall into oblivion. They renew the demand for peace and solidarity among all peoples."
A neat...horse tie-up? It's not on a door, so it's not a door-knocker.
A piazza piccola!
With a ball fountain.
"The mountain welcomes me is sheltered
To get me back to the summit
To suggesting humble things
Soko is often the most valuable"
I'm not sure what Soko is, other than a town in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Look! I was there!
Heather was there too!
Lotta di vespe by Bino Bini (1977)
This is the Crossbowmen's Quarry and Loggias.
We found more views. That's the Adriatic Sea out there.
Flowers! and Sculptures!
Old city, beautiful landscape. Woo!
BIG landscape!
Nest of Life also by the giant lizard people.
San Marino claims to be the world's oldest republic.
More flowers!
Dan's panorama!
Hi family!
The streets of San Marino.
So if you go to the tourism office, you can get a fancy San Marino stamp for your passport. We were all excited about this, but I think Heather was the most excited.
In 1985 San Marino opened its first University.
The Basilica of San Marino opened on February 5th, 1838.
This saint is hiding behind her cross.
Candles! We lit some for the grandmas and Maggie.
It's a beautiful little basilica. This statue is of Saint Marinus, the founder of San Marino.
I think this is the baptismal font.
"If one does not recover from the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
Yes, definitely the baptismal font.
Such a pretty window!
Being built on a mountain with three peaks, San Marino is a little higgledy-piggledy in its build construction. There are lots of stairs and things and stuff.
Tourists looking into the abyss.
And by abyss, I mean the beautiful view.
Dan also took a nice panorama of the area near the bridge.
San Marino has tons of quirky little alleyways/stairways that are stupidly picturesque.
Finally! The Castle! Oh wait, it's just the first tower.
It was first built in the 12th century.
I don't know what we're discussing, but more proof that we were there!
Just inside the entrance is a small church dedicated to Saint Barbara, patron saint of artillerymen.
Flowers and fortress and fields oh my!
Here you can see the second tower.
Artsy photo!
The tower was more of a complex than just a tower.
Once upon a time, the heart of San Marino's army, was the Crossbow Corps.
Now it's only eight volunteers.
The walkway wasn't very big (being designed for one person).
You had to wait to pass people in the little guard huts.
Also there was an art installation going on at the time. Il Viaggio by Sisto Righi Scultore.
Dan got an awesome lens flare. It makes me think there's a huge moon or something lurking.
The second tower from a slightly higher vantage point.
Ryan was very excited to be here.
Hydrangeas!
I couldn't decide which I liked better, so...here's the vertical and horizontal versions.
A higher view of the first tower also known as Guaita.
The second tower is Cesta, and is on the tallest peak of Monte Titano.
To get the above photos, we climbed the to the top of the tower, by way of this "staircase."
It was very steep and very narrow.
Back on the ground, Ryan found a cannon. BOOM!
The cannons were made in Naples!
Dan thinks he's funny.
Also you can see through the cannon.
I feel like James Bond should walk by any minute now.
This is a bit of the walkway between towers.
A very cute wall.
This one IS a door knocker.
This is the Public Palace. It was built on the foundations of the ancient Domus Magna Comunis.
It is the town hall and the current building was built in the late 1800s.
Artsy photo!
The Public Palace had some sweet doors.
These are the Guard of the Rock.
The Guard of the Rock are a front-line military unit and a border patrol. They also are also all enrolled as Criminal Police Officers and help the local police with investigating major crime.
This is a less touristy street in San Marino.
This is the underside of the piazza piccola we were at earlier (the one with the ball fountain).
It's the Altar to the Volunteers.
140 volunteers who fought and (some) died for the unification of Italy and WWI.
A little carved symbol of the citystate's crest plus some other things.
I don't know who Pietro Franciosi is.
Some neat chain that Dan wanted an artsy photo of and also the last photo of the day.
This concludes our adventures to San Marino.
We went back to the same restaurant again tonight. The waitstaff, of course, remembered the boisterous Americans and had a good evening joking with us.
This concludes our adventures for today.
