San Marino

   There is something fascinating and unique about city states. The first one I ever visited was Monoco, almost 20 years ago. It was a new experience to me, coming as I do from an extremely large country. I find the combination of a special police force/palace guards, money, and the number plates charming as they are created for such a small area usually entirely surrounded by another country.

   On this trip we visited two such places, Vatican City and San Marino. The two were very different from each other, the one being accessible and opulent while the other was perched high atop a mountain surrounded by it's fortified walls. Yet they shared, unsurprisingly, the scaled down infrastructure necessary for independence. A post office, bank, etc... In this post I will be focusing on San Marino.

 

   Leaving Italy and approaching San Marino, the road winds, folding back on itself and steadily climbing, toward a fortress on a long flat mountain. The weather was hazy as we approached and the outline shimmered in the distance, just out of reach. Almost 20 minutes after turning off toward the city we arrived about 100 meters below the walls in a sleepy medieval town sporting a church tower and a prominent Gondola station around which all of life revolved.

    Expecting to find at least a cafe at the top in which to relax we took the gondola and were delivered a brief time later into what appeared to be a bustling town center. The old, the new, the material and the absurd where combined to create a seething stream which pulsated in an upward direction. Following the masses, we headed toward the cathedral, as yet, still unaware of the size of the fortress. After a few twists and turns, a number of restaurants, shops, steam punk aficionados, Disney princesses, renaissance knights, and tents filled with pirates, we reached the small square in which the cathedral was located. From its steps the battlements cut a key pattern into the blue sky.

   San Marino is simple, the cathedral was almost entirely composed of white marble and the walls and houses of the city are of a warm brown stone. Everything is in good repair and the gardens are lovely. This is a place where there is money but not extravagance. At least not where the prying eyes of tourists are allowed to roam.

   The shops tell of the story of the unique tourists who choose to visit this place, far from the sand beached, and overfilled museums. Here one can buy 'normal' souvenirs along side cosplay/renaissance/ steampunk themed memorabilia. Designer brand accessories snuggle up against hand painted pottery, providing good deals and unique momentos to bring back.

   Forgoing the cafes we sat in a small park in the center and ate slices of pizza followed by crema di cafe. The food was reasonably priced and the people quite friendly but time was running away and we had several hours yet to go to get to our next destination so we were soon back on the road.

 As always I took several reference pictures and have a sketch in my traveling sketchbook which I will be showing in it's own post in the near future.
  Have you been to San Marino? What about other small nations? Do you enjoy visiting them? Let me know in the comments.

 

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