Entries about italy2016

Checking out of the hotel and making our way across the city to the station, we jumped on another cheap train with locked windows, for an hour's ride to our next destination - Pisa.

Pisa is relatively small, and after dropping our bags off at the station, it took just 15 minutes or so to walk across the city, over the River Arno again, to the main draw - The Leaning Tower.

Although not the most leaning tower in the world (that record going to the tower of Suurhusen, that I had trekked two hours across rural North Germany for a five minute view four years previously) it was still an iconic attraction that I'd always had on my list, which with it's close proximity to San Marino I had tied into a tour.

Unlike a lot of well known attractions that prove underwhelming, the leaning tower was as amazing as expected. Although the grounds were small, it was fascinating and well worth the visit - lovely weather and no admission charge to see the outside.

After having lunch, we then made our way back to the train station to collect our bits and then head towards the airport with plenty of time to spare. A nice relaxing end to the trip that was as good as planned and well worth it.

Going back to the train station, we boarded a train back to Bologna, this time having a mooch around before our onward trip.

Dropping our bags off at the luggage storage in the station, we walked into the city centre, taking in the ambience of the historic Italian city, arriving at the Piazza Maggiore, taking a walk around the main square, towards the two leaning towers, before making our way back to the station. Quick, but enough to see the city itself.

After obtaining our bags we found out that we should have prebooked our onward travel, Unlike the other trains which were all regional and cost around €10-15, this was an express train whisking us through the central mountains, of which all second class tickets were already sold out.

Either we wait an hour to take a slow train that wouldn't arrive until 5pm, or we pay €40 and go business class for the half hour trip arriving in the early afternoon. We went for the latter and after briefly enjoying reclining chairs in AC, we arrived in the birthplace of the Renaissance - Florence.

The city is full of historical architecture, housing works by Michelangelo and da Vinci amongst others, and after dumping our stuff off at the hotel, we took a walk around starting with the Duomo cathedral, before making our way down to the Piazza della Signoria, where a copy of Michelangelo's David stands in it's original place.

David

Palazzo Vecchio

Walking down towards the Arno river, we crossed the Ponte Vecchio, towards the Pitti Palace, before walking back along the riverside to the hotel.

A busy hot day much like the previous, we chilled out in the room before grabbing a pizza and having a relaxing evening before our final day of the trip...

We had planned a trip across the width of Italy to visit San Marino, Florence and Pisa, but as the only way to San Marino was to fly via Bologna or Ancona from Stansted, this meant a long first day of the trip.

Leaving home just after five I drove via Luton to Stansted early on Saturday morning to make our plane to the Italian city of Bologna, where after arrival we would then make our way to our hotel in Rimini. It was already very hot and in no time at all we were already disgustingly sweaty - what a contrast to the weather just a few hours ago at home.

After getting our tickets sorted we boarded our train, but after a fifteen minute delay it turned out there was a problem with our train, and so we had to board the following train. Unfortunately, this one was far busier and we ended up having to stand, crowded with a bunch of Americans who told us that things would only get worse - yesterday it was 98 degrees in Siena...which after translating is 36˚C...

Arriving in Rimini, we quickly checked in changed into summer attire, and made our way down to the bus stop for our hour ride to our third country of the day - San Marino.

After an hour in a lovely AC bus, driving through the Italian countryside, crossing the border and then making our way up Mount Titano, we arrived at the entrance to the Most Serene Republic's capital, taking in the quaint ambience and views over the nearby countryside, and the coast.

Mount Titano

Quaint San Marino

Reminiscent of Andorra, but with much less commercial tax free luxury goods, and more general tourist tat, we had a mooch around the 'city' for an hour and a half, paying for a tourist stamp and entering the castle before making our way back to Rimini, for some quick food and a relax before our last trip of the day, to the sight of Rimini - the beach.

Finding that a local event was going on we walked onto the beach to feel the warm Adriatic water before making our way back to the hotel for a well earned rest....