May 13, 2007 - Circle Tour in Romagna - the Malatesta lands

May 13 - Circle tour in the 'Malatesta Seignory' (Rimini & area) Bellaria to Santarcangelo di Romagna, through San Marino (another country), to Montegridolfo, back through Coriano to Bellaria We left Bellaria about 10 a.m. (very early start!) to drive through the hills and valleys that are inland from Bellaria. We stopped on the road to let the runners cross the road: there is a marathon race around Bellaria today. The first 10 kilometers of our drive was through flat farm country to Santarcangelo di Romagna, on the northern edge of the...

May 12, 2007 - A quiet day in Bellaria, on the Adriatic coast

Bellaria has a lovely location on the sea. Our hotel is a few yards from a long beach of fine sand and shallow, warm water. The fishing boats enter the harbour and moor on the canal at the mouth of the river. The fresh fish and shellfish are sold right at the marina. This is very much a tourist town, but since the tourists have not yet arrived (with a few exceptions) it is quiet, restful and lovely. Tomorrow we will visit some of the hill towns to see the medieval fortresses. The next day, I hope to go to Ravenna for a day. It was the...

Apr 27, 2007 - The Most Serene Republic of San Marino

It is truly serene. We had a wonderful stay in the booming Castello of Serra Valle in a B+B which turned into our own private apartment as we were the only ones staying there. You can't tell, or rather we couldn't tell, when we left Italy and entered the Republic of San Marino (RSM). There are no signs, no "Arrivederci Italia, Benvenuto a Republica di San Marino", no sudden change in architecture, language/signage, or stores. Ah, stores, maybe that is the indicator. When you start seeing discount warehouses and outlet stores you are...

Jun 26, 2006 - Italian Irony?

Ciao. Do Italians do irony? I'm not sure, but I came across a close example of it last night. After I'd gone out for a meal (a proper meal, not just pizza and salad) I thought that I'd take a walk down to St. Mark's, and enjoy it at night (when I was there last year it was in the middle of a spectacular thunder storm). At a couple of the coffee shops which surround the square, they had string quintets playing, and the first was so romantic because there was an elderly couple who had got so swept up in the music that they were doing a waltz...

Jun 24, 2006 - Cannibal pigeons and other stories

Ciao, Sorry for the lack of an entry yesterday, but I had planned to put an update up on in the hotel (and no, that is not a spelling mistake; I did actually stop in a hotel on the outskirts of Siena last night; and I found it a totally inferior experience to hostelling because in a hotel room you are separated from your fellow guests by the four walls of your bedroom and so there is no one to talk to), but when I got back at 10pm and asked at reception, the internet connection was out of order. Anyhow, Siena was a very revitalising city,...

Jul 5, 2005 - Urbino

Again another lengthy drive (you can tell we are on the return portion of our trip!!) to Urbino. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun. Next day we decided to walk into town - the scenery was gorgeous and the town very pretty. The lonely planet (our bible) had said that it is the prettiest medieval town in Italy and although they were somewhat right I have to say that we were a little disappointed and think that we have been completely spoiled by the medieval towns we saw in Tuscany. However, it was obviously graduation day and there...

Jul 4, 2005 - San Marino, Italy

We were about 30 km away from San Marino, the third smallest country in the world after Vatican City and Monaco, and even though it wasn't really mentioned in our guidebooks, it was recommended to us by the hostel staff so we decided to check it out. We were really glad we did! The country is just sort of a mountain with a city on it, and a castle at the top. I would say the total size of the country is about 4-5 times the size of Manhattan. After a good breakfast at the hostel of hard rolls, ham, fruit, jam, and coffee we headed over to...

Jun 11, 2005 - Rimini

Olaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, ja estamos com muita saudade de todos os nossos amigos e familiares!!!! Hoje fomos para praia e ficamos o dia todo...estamos roxos...O sol daqui engana, pois venta muito e vc nao sente queimar. Rimini nao tem muita coisa para falar, mas hoje na praia refletimos bastante sobre nossa vida. Nos brasileiros costumamos valorizar muito o que vem de fora e hoje ficamos surpresos nesta praia de Italianos. Notamos diversas pessoas vestidas com roupas e acessorios com a bandeira e dizeres do Brasil, mas que nao eram brasileiros....

Jan 18, 2005 - La Dolce Vita ....

Arrived in Rimini - a small town that is kind of shut down for winter but still a nice seaside town. Checked in and went for a walk - this is the birth place of Felini - here is a hero around here - my hotel is kind of an homage to him (check the photo of my room out later). Found the Grand Hotel and and some lovely streets. In the evening my phone is running hot - someone from Anzano but I am too tired to get it. We'll see in the morning. In the morning I did another round with the car and headed off for Milano. The call last night was...

May 19, 2004 - May 19, Cesenatico

Ciao, I thought I would have some photos to post this time around, but the computer in this internet cafe doesn't have the softare to download photos. That's a bummer, because I think I have some good ones to share. Maybe next time... Since our last posting, we came out of Perugia, which was REALLY tough - the directionals were incomprehensible and traffic was...awesome! Less said the better. From Perugia we pointed north toward San Giustino and San Sepolcro and encountered foul weather - sideways rain and the wind to go with it. Mostly...