Oasi San Nicola 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 were glad when we arrived in Rimini.

It rained the first few days we were here, but the past 2 days of sunshine have made up for it! Our hostel has great rooms but a really awful atmosphere, so we were so glad when the sun came out and we could spend all day at the beach, or in the town. Relaxing in the sun is just what we've needed! I'm still embarrassingly white though. I'd even call it offensively white. It's going to take more than 2 days of sun to bring me even to human ...

We got to Rimini later that night after Pompeii. It was another 6 hour drive so again we were exhausted. We checked into the hotel and it was perfect. Nicer than the last one we were at. We had booked in advance for the night and the rate was 30eros cheaper than the next night so we (I) thought we would just get there and tell them we wanted another night at the same price. Unfortunately they played me harder than I played them and said they had no availability ...

... in my life on one beach. There was even a beach shower at the waters edge (advising us not to use shampo (their spelling not mine).

The water temp was cooler than in Sicily but still pleasant enough. by this time the sun had disappeared behind rain clouds. We headed back into town for coffee & shopping. Mandy found a ring but didn't buy it. I think she regretted it as for the next few days she wanted to head back to Fano.

Ciao

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 ...

... photos and memorabilia of Rossi’s career and along with the other geeks we checked it all out. Across the road was the Official Rossi Fan Club headquarters and we strolled in to see his bike which he won the 125’s on and lots of career photos. We joined the fan club for 40 Euros each which gave us a t-shirt,cap and bumbag and keyring. The people there also gave us posters hearing we had come from Australia and been to the races. We were stoked ...

... countryside from up on the peak, where you can walk along the fortified walls linking its three defensive forts.    For some reason the town itself is full of gun and crossbow shops. Also we were disappointed to discover that the (in)famous San Marino grand prix is actually hosted miles away in Imola, Italy.  Caught in a flap about catching the right bus back we raced down the mountain to the bus stop to find we were ...

... ephemera, e.g. beachwear, fast food, and playgrounds for kids. There are even British pubs here, one of the U.K.'s most famous exports, along with pot-bellied pub owners. They've also got automats here; remember them? You probably don't if you never lived in New York City in the 1960's. I never saw them any other place or time... until now. I can vividly remember that being one of the first things we went ...

... even those were completely booked up. By the time dinner was over, we made a B-Line for a booth to get some sleep. Successfully squirming my way through bigger, slower people, I got us a booth and we settled in for the night. We played cards and had some snacks for dinner. Eventually, we curled up in our booth and got a few hours of sleep. I was promptly awoken at 6 a.m. by an elderly man taking the chair from under my feet. It seems he wanted to use it and didn't really care that ...