The weekend before this one, Chuck, his co-worker Zenin and I drove to the Republic of San Marino. It's a self-governing state within Italy that has remained independent for 1,700 years. It would of been faster if we'd taken the train as traffic on the autostrade (highway) was horrendous. And I guess it'll be like this every weekend of the summer as everyone is headed somewhere, especially to the coastline, where we were headed. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Bologna, which normally takes 40 minutes. It is worse than Seattle traffic, more of a stop and go-a-little than a constant movement! Also making the traffic unbearable was the unbelievably hot weather, luckily we had the comforts of an air conditioner.
San Marino is in the eastern part of Italy, close by the coastline. It is in the Apennine Mountains and thus a climb up to the republic. It has a beautiful view of the hilltops, coastline and Adriatic Sea. Unfortunately, our camera's battery ran out of charge and we didn't take any pictures of our own. Zenin took many pictures of San Marino as well as of us and I hope to get a copy of them soon.
One of three towers.
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Palazzo Pubblico.
There are a lot of stores dedicated to the sale of weapons, liquor, and jewelry. Probably because it's duty-free. We bought four varieties of their local (and tasty) beer Amarcord, a bottle of Sangiovese grappa, and absinthe.
San Marino Facts:
1. Population aproximately 29,000
2. Claims to be Europe's oldest existing state.
3. Has the 3rd highest GDP per capita in the world.
4. Its constitution, dating back to 1600, is the world's oldest written constitution still in effect.
5. Not a European Union member.
6. The long climb up to the top of San Marino has become a mecca for road cyclists.
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