Got up at 06:00 to make sure we got the 08:10 train, the station was only 30 minutes away but we were travelling in peak hour and not sure what the traffic would be like. Got the bus at 07:00 and it got to the station at about 07:15 so no need for me to worry, but I hate the thought of missing any transport.
Went through security gates – there is a lot of security around the stations, including army personnel with machine guns. I hope no Melbourne ticket inspectors come here, they might get some ideas.
Smoking is allowed on the stations in Italy (Switzerland as well), which is really annoying because you’re constantly walking through clouds of smoke or horrible vape flavours.
The Italian trains were better than the Swiss ones – nicer seats, plus a free bottle of water and a snack (biscuits or small sandwich).
The train was 10 minutes late, which only gave us 5 minutes to change, should be plenty of time. Little did I know that Bologna station is massive and we arrived at platform 18, I looked at the board and our train was leaving from platform 5. Ran up 2 flights of stairs, along various corridors, up a couple of escalators only to find it went from platform 4 to platform 6 – no platform 5. WTF? Asked someone, who pointed back down the stairs, but we couldn’t see it. Luckily there was a departures board – platform 6, where we were standing. The train was 5 minutes late, so I must have seen that and not the platform number. Luckily it was leaving platform 6 and not platform 44 or something. The train was eventually 17 minutes late, but if it had been on time we would have missed it.
The scenery was pretty dull but the journey was only 40 minutes so just read.
Turned out the left luggage office at the station was shut permanently, but there was a bike storage place opposite that also stored luggage so dropped the bags there. It also turned out that the bus timetable on the internet was wrong and the buses didn’t run as often as it said. Basically there was one bus there and one bus back that allowed us to get there and back in time for the train to Genoa, not leaving us much time to do stuff. We had a couple of hours in San Marino which should be plenty, but we were hoping to eat in Rimini but wouldn’t have enough time so we’d have to find something in San Marino.
The bus took about 50 minutes, climbing as we got closer. San Marino town is built on a hill. I looked at google maps and told Song we needed to get off, we were near the cable car, but she said to stay on. Just as well because we carried on for another 10 minutes and arrived at the castle. If we had got off when I said we would have been in the middle of nowhere.
We were lucky again with the weather, bright and sunny and about 15c. As we got closer to the castle there were views back over the surrounding countryside that were amazing.
We headed up towards the castle, up steps and steep slopes, the higher we went the more fantastic the views. There were quite a few restaurants, although if you didn’t want pizza you were out of luck, plus jewellery shops and a disconcerting number of shops selling pellet guns and knives.
We carried on, going as high as we could, still stunning views all around.
We didn’t have time to get something to eat so headed back to get the bus back to Rimini. On the way back we were passed by several soldiers in traditional uniform, including a rather feathery head dress.
If you’re in the area I’d recommend spending a few hours in San Marino, but pick a day with good weather to get the most out of the views.
Got back to Rimini with about an hour to the train, picked up the bags and found a cafe and had some rolls and a coffee. Went over the road to the station only to find the train was delayed by 30 minutes. This meant that we would miss our connection. Went to the ticket office and the lady spent 20 minutes rearranging our tickets and got us sorted, and we arrive an hour later than originally. Annoying but can’t be helped.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, we got a taxi to the hotel (why do so many taxis have terrible suspension?); the hotel was very nice, a big bathroom and lots of room.
We were thinking of going to Cinque Terre tomorrow, but it would mean catching more trains and we’ve been on the move since we arrived in Paris so we’ll just roam around the town tomorrow and find a good seafood restaurant.