If you're ever wondering, you don't need more than a day in San Marino. It's small enough you can see all it has to offer in one day...although I would recommend staying overnight, because it's so lovely once all the busloads of tourists have gone. For our third day, we asked our hotel to make reservations for us at a spa that was about 20 minutes down the mountain. Since the bus only runs every hour, we got there early and had to wait...only to find out that the reservations had been a fail, and there was nothing open until that afternoon. Back up the mountain we went.
It looked like there was going to be a bike race that would finish in town, so we got a table front and center at a cafe near the finish line. Maple and I ordered two lattes...and learned a valuable language lesson when they were delivered. Latte = steamed milk. Cafe latte = steamed milk with coffee in it. The cafe owners were gracious and replaced our drinks for what we wanted for no extra charge.
Maple had to leave early to catch a flight, but Whitey and I stayed for the rest of the day and one more evening. After saying goodbye to Maple, we walked around the old city again, looking in souvenir shops for something to represent our awesome weekend. As we passed the lowest lookout point, I loved how the light was shining on the part nearest the water's edge on the horizon.
We walked and talked and I took photos of doors.
Whitey wanted her picture taken with this cool part of the city wall behind her.
More doors...
We returned to a restaurant we'd eaten at the day before, since we knew it to be good. I was so stuffed by the time dessert rolled around that I couldn't even finish.
We walked the city some more that evening, and it was so awesome. I loved seeing how empty and deserted it was.
I mean, how often is it in Europe that you encounter no people at all?! Amazing...
Just delightful.
Okay, so there were just a few other people wandering around like us, but not many!
That's the view of one of the towers from our hotel.
After going to nearly every single shop in town, we'd given up on finding a souvenir. Everything in that town was kitchy, and not worth spending money on. I was happy to settle on a framed photo of me with my two friends. Then, right as we were headed back to the hotel, we decided to look in the store directly next door. We'd walked by it a million times, but I thought the stuff in the window looked cheesy. Once inside, however, I saw that it truly had some beautiful artwork. There were paintings, sculptures, and tiles. As we looked around, I saw a sculpture of the Three Towers. I'd been using the hashtag #ThreeTowersforThreeFriends all weekend, and thought the sculpture beautifully represented the weekend. Whitey and I bartered with the man, and got him to come down on the price, since we were buying three: one for the each of us. Whitey and I gave one to Maple as a thank you for planning the whole thing.
It is carved out of stone from San Marino, and is hand carved by the artist. Each of our three is slightly different. I absolutely love it.
I think I'll still frame a photo of the three of us to put with it on a shelf. It's a weekend I'll never forget. Thanks, friends!
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