Hotel Vittoria Pesaro

... lanes around to find ever more wonderful views, interesting shops eg... guns and rifles in all their glory!! (yep - off the shelf), palace, church and a huge race track where they do trials (we could hear them in the background). It was like a rabbit warren in a way, but going up instead of down.

We went for an early morning walk to see the sunrise the next day. It was magnificent!

John

As I wrote in the title, I had ...

We are on our last day in Rimini, and we're both quite glad of it. Not that we haven't had a good time (though the hostel has been a bit rubbish).

The journey down here from Munich was a real slog! It took 8 hours, though that didn't really bother us too much. 8 hours of discomfort on a cramped Italian train however, that was what made it difficult. It was a compartment style train (6 seat per compartment, 3 on each side facing each other) which seemed great when we first sat down ...

... the world) it was one of the more enjoyable and relaxing days we have had. Also pretty funny was when we went grocery shopping they actually had their own vats of wine in the store but funnier than that was when Jen got caught by the armed security gaurd taking a photo and he started ranting in Italian at her. Not much else to say just a real different kind of beach town that has a historic center. Very relaxing and fun. Now it is off to Verona the next morning...

No program for the afternoon so we planned our escape to the beach by the pool. Whilst it is difficult to leave the pool adventure is a foot. Cagli was an option but the beach had the greater pull. about a 45 minute drive to Fano. Denis Hieke Mandy & I set off after lunch but the clouds were set to close in on us as we headed towards the coast.

Fano is a topical Italian beach resort town. I have never seen so many beach umbrellas and ...

We left for Urbino after breakfast for a quick trip (Birth place of Raffaello - painter) of course coffee & gelati was part of our plans with some sights thrown in.

Nice place and worth the trip. No time to view the museo a bit of a shame as there is a section with Rafael.

We had some great views going over the mountains going to/from Urbino. Mandy is handling driving the larger car just fine.

Ciao

We arrived in Ca Le Soure for our one week yoga retreat. I wasn't looking forward to it with my hip and back issues. The place is on top of a hill surrounded by fields of wheat & grape vines and olive groves. We also found a forest of oaks where they harvest black truffles.

The accommodation is cottage style and comfy, a separate building for breakfast, lunch & dinner all vegetarian style food and very tasty - difficult not to go back for seconds as there is ...

... the track prices were so high for the gear and we got it for joining the fan club. From here we went to the town of Rimini and tried to find the Italian National motorcycle Museum. The GPS had us in the area but we couldn’t find it , even asking around was fruitless so we drove around the local airport side road amongst farm houses and came upon it tucked up a side road with very little signage. The man was heading out for lunch but also told us ...

... minutes early - but we could still catch the changing of the guards before we left if we could be back at the top of the mountain in 5 minutes.   Held up in the narrow, winding roads by a flock of Japanese tourists we came panting and wheezing into the Piazza della Liberta just as the last fancy-dressed guard finished his last silly walk. Dejected we slumped on the fountain to recuperate, when we were treated to the co ...

The best thing about Rimini is Federico Fellini. He was born here and revisited periodically in his films, most notably 'Amarcord'. A full twenty years before his death Fellini was already mining his memories for material, because for him Rimini was not so much a place as a 'dimension of memory'. Ahhh... thank you, Federico, for foreshadowing me. How many times have I used that same phrase without knowing its ...

... I arrived at Montebello at 12pm in the afternoon (thinking that before the fortress opened at 2.30pm I could have lunch somewhere and walk around the town). But when I arrived it was like a ghost town. There were no places to eat, no shops - nothing! A true outpost of civilisation. Except a path to walk along. So I took a walk for an hour, and got myself lost again (nothing unusual). Then I couldn't think of anything else to do so I ...