Last month the husband and I took a quick overnight trip to a small country surrounded by Italy. San Marino is the 3rd smallest country in Europe.
It was about a 3.5 hour drive from Aviano which meant it was a little too long of a drive (for us) for just a daytrip. We were worried about not having enough to do while we were there, but we were pleasantly surprised at what there was to see and do.
We stayed at Hotel Cesare, which to be honest wasn't that great. We booked a standard double room, and when we arrived we were told we were being upgraded. Well, the upgrade ended up being that we were given a jacuzzi bathtub that was in the bathroom. If I would have know this I would have denied the upgrade. We have a jacuzzi bathtub in our house, and it's NEVER been used. I have a weird bath phobia. It's mostly just because I think taking baths is gross....not sure why either. Because we had a bathtub it meant that the bath/shower had one of those "lovely" half shower doors that we've had in some hotels in Europe. Our bathroom was FLOODED by the time the husband & I took our showers. There were also NO electrical plugs in the bathroom, probably because it floods if you take a shower! And the only plug I could find was across the room from a mirror! I ended up looking like a hot mess that day. Another thing, the beds were probably the hardest beds I've ever slept on, and I like hard beds!
It was about a 3.5 hour drive from Aviano which meant it was a little too long of a drive (for us) for just a daytrip. We were worried about not having enough to do while we were there, but we were pleasantly surprised at what there was to see and do.
We stayed at Hotel Cesare, which to be honest wasn't that great. We booked a standard double room, and when we arrived we were told we were being upgraded. Well, the upgrade ended up being that we were given a jacuzzi bathtub that was in the bathroom. If I would have know this I would have denied the upgrade. We have a jacuzzi bathtub in our house, and it's NEVER been used. I have a weird bath phobia. It's mostly just because I think taking baths is gross....not sure why either. Because we had a bathtub it meant that the bath/shower had one of those "lovely" half shower doors that we've had in some hotels in Europe. Our bathroom was FLOODED by the time the husband & I took our showers. There were also NO electrical plugs in the bathroom, probably because it floods if you take a shower! And the only plug I could find was across the room from a mirror! I ended up looking like a hot mess that day. Another thing, the beds were probably the hardest beds I've ever slept on, and I like hard beds!
Anyway, after checking into our not so great hotel we decided to go exploring. San Marino is on top of a mountian (Mount Titano) which meant there were AMAZING views!
Only one of the 3 towers was open while we were there, and it didn't disappoint.
There was a small "museum" inside of the castle with various old weapons on display.
We climbed up to the highest point of the tower & I looked down. Not a good idea!
We tried a local beer brewed in San Marino.
And a had a panini made with piadina which originated in San Marino. It reminded me of a tortilla & flatbread put together. Very tasty!
We ate dinner at Cantina di Bacco, and it was very good! We got a bottle of local wine, 3 small portions of different pasta, a few different grilled meats, and panna cotta with berry sauce for dessert.
The next morning we got up, had breakfast, and walked to one of San Marino's many museums.
We museum that appealed to us the most was the Torture museum.
After spending some time in the museum we decided to head home. We tried to make a stop in Rimini to check out the beach, but there was tons of traffic, so we decided to skip it.
Now I want to go to San Marino! How fun! Thanks for the review on the hotel—if we make it there I'll make a note to check out a different place. That beer looks mighty tasty, by the way!
ReplyDeleteWas the piadina like a pita? It looks like a pita to me.
ReplyDelete