Savoy Pesaro

... heard of San Marino but as Sue mentioned it is an independent state named after a Christian stonemason Marinus from around 300 when he hid in the mountain peaks to avoid persecution by the Romans and started a community there. It must have been a case of too small a fish to worry about as today, the mountain state exists as the 5th smallest country in the world. The buildings and scenery were breathtaking. Well worth the long bus ride to get there

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 ...

... front. The beach is broken into sections each section has a restaurant, sporting stuff (basketball hoops, Volleyball, Gyms, etc.) lounge chairs and umbrellas. Some even have an outdoor gym. The beach is actually sand, which is a novelty for Italy. We picked up some of the free bikes from the hotel and rode all around the city. I stopped and had a quick swim, Outside of the fact both of our asses were completely numb and bruised afterwards (not the best bikes ...

... 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 ...

... Naturally we got a t-shirt and the man showed us then his own garage with bikes he owned which was really special. He invited us for coffee but we had to get moving on. What a top day we had. Heading north we finally left the lowlands and reached the Dolomite mountains and camped by a lovely lake, Lake Garda. The lake is famous for windsurfing most of the year and the campsite catered for them. The views were beautiful of the soaring mountains behind us.

... bike home with Jie on board. A moment of indecision around a lamp-post set in the middle of the path resulted in a pile of blood and twisted metal, all set to the soundtrack of cheers from the school playground that we had wisely chosen to crash immediately opposite. San Marino is a tiny country (smallest republic in the world - and oldest) that now encircles its original fortresses on Mount Titano, about 25km inland ...

... the Internet I can surf, right in the privacy of my room. That's convenient. Price is almost the same, except Net instead of TV. There's no heat, but that shouldn't matter. Rimini doesn't come alive until summer, you see, so heat's not an issue except in the 'aperto tutto l'anno' places. Many shops and restaurants don't open until summer. It must be zoo-illogical by then. Of course the weather turns cooler the ...

... out we were in the wrong place. There was a required passport checkpoint before boarding the ferry, and there were tons of people already lined up. Unfortunately, the three busloads of Italians returning from a religious Croatian pilgrimage got that memo before we did (the ticket agent clearly left that out when we asked about boarding). We took our place in line and dreaded what was going to be a race for a place to sleep. As we tried to get onto the boat, we were pushed aside and ...