A quick quiz question! Your task is to guess where I was on the last November weekend. Can we begin – ok, let's go!
It's one of the smallest independent states in the world – the third smallest in Europe and fifth smallest in the world. It's only 61 km2 large and has the population of around 30.000. The tallest mountain is 750 metres tall and can be seen from far away. Have you've guessed already? If I tell you it's surrounded by a single country I've told you everything already. You're tight – it's the pocket country of
San Marino.
On a sunny November weekend me and the friends decided to see the beauty of this tiny little dot on the map of Italian boot for ourselves. If you trust legends, a group of Christians in the mountains of Apennine was founded by a saint named Martin originating from Croatian island of Rab, who was trying to escape the prosecution by Emperor Diocletian and ran to the Titana mountain. Today San Marino is one of the smallest, but also oldest republics in the world. On top of the mountain Titana there is the national capital – San Marino (which is not the largest settlement of the country – it's only third in size). A few hundred feet lower there are other settlements of various sizes and all have village characteristics.
After several hours on Italian highway the signs and blue-white lines warned us we've entered the territory of San Marino. You can easily miss this point as there are no checkpoints and no officials. If you have your passport with you and want to get a stamp proving you've visited this tiny sovereign state you need to ask for it at the tourist office and pay a few coins for it. Maybe you didn't know, but San Marino is not part of European Union, which you'll notice on your cell phone telling you the services for EU citizens will not be turned on, as you've left the Union. But don't worry about it. Anyway this truly tiny country is a paradise for stamp collectors, medieval weapon lovers, and adventurers who want to experience something different.
Let me give you and your feet (you'll need them during your visit) a tip. Go to San Marino early and keep your fingers crossed you'll find a parking space as close to the top of Titano as possible. We didn't cross our fingers hard enough (or went early enough) to get a good parking place. We walked to the main old part of the town, which is above the massive rock with the fortress wall around it. There are three fortresses on the steep cliff of Titano (Guaita, Cesta, Montale), each offering a marvellous view today and all connected by the town wall. There's a trail connecting them from where you get to enjoy the Adriatic coast and the Apennine mountains. If the weather is clear you should not miss the visit to the fortress – two out of three are open for public and the spectacular view is worth all the bother. For 4,5€ (entrance to both fortresses) we had several minutes of fun, exploration and photoshoots with some magic moments captured for eternity.
The old centre was where we walked along the cobble stone streets, with many shops and windows, among other event those with real weapons and knight gear. We also enjoyed the sun on the terrace at the top of the defence wall, where we had our noon coffee break. You should also see the basilica of St. Marin, the town house (Palazzo Publico) which we saw from the outside only and took a group photo there as well. By that time our tummies were already warning us, we should think of them as well, so we had our lunch in the first place that was not a bakery or sold pizza by piece. We had ravioli with cheese and spinach in cream sauce – it was saucer licking good (and we did it) – or was it just that we were so hungry.
Tired of walking and a wonderful day we went to the nearby
hostel in Rimini (just 25 kilometres away), where we hit the bed straight away. Next morning we skipped two alarms and only then headed towards new adventures.
What to know about San Marino?
- The currency is EURO, although they're not part of EU.
- The whole area is "duty free" so the prices are a bit lower than in Italy, but don't let that full you – they are high!
- If you want to get a passport stamp that you've visited San Marino you'll have to visit the tourist office and pay 5€.
- There were over 1000 postmarks printed in the past few decades, making them very popular among collectors.
- You can visit several museum in San Marino, among others the museum of wax figures (Museo delle cere), museum of torture devices (Museo della tortura), weapon museum, stamp museum and numismatic museum.
