Sapphire Waters, Grand City Walls
Ravenna, Italy

Monday, July 15, 2019
The Republic of San Marino

We were excited to get up this morning, because this would be the first of our day trips/shore excursions of this cruise. For us, that’s the most important thing in the week’s itinerary: getting off the ship and seeing a new place. If you look at any of the official notices about this particular cruise you’ll see that the port where we docked was Porto Borsini, along the Italian coast, south of Venice, and the city that port serves is Ravenna, not San Marino. Most of the shore excursions for the day centered on Ravenna and the really amazing ancient mosaics to be found there in tombs and churches. Judy and I had spent some time in Ravenna before, so we had decided to sign up for the trip to San Marion that day, both to visit a new place and to add to our list of tiny countries we had visited. If you want to see some of our photos from Ravenna, you can find them on another pages of this website. But I have to say, you’ll enjoy Judy’s tale of our adventures in Ravenna more.

Our decision to take a bus ride to San Marino looked a bit iffy when we started out, though. The skies were gray, and it was even a bit cool. Going up a mountain side meant we would probably be even cooler before we returned to the ship, so we prepared for cooler weather and a little rain before we hopped on the bus. The bus ride gave us a good look at fields of sunflowers, salt marshes, and even a few flocks of flamingoes. Flamingoes! Who knew. Our route took us largely south along the coast until we got to Rimini, where we turned inland and could see mountains ahead of us. As we got closer our guide pointed out the one we were aiming for: Monte Titano. We saw an almost sheer cliff face, with a few patches of dark green trees breaking up the gray limestone. A cable car ran up the face of the mountain, but it didn’t look like something I would enjoy. I do regret not having a chance to take a few photos of the mountain from this angle, though. It’s really something to see from the bottom, and it even stands out on Google Earth.

When we reached the base of the mountain, the bus followed a road that wound around to the other side, where a much more gentle slop allowed the driver to follow a series of switchbacks up to a place prepared for bus parking. We took an elevator up a couple of levels, and that’s where both our walking tour and the rain started. 

We were in the town of San Marino, one of several in the small country. It reminded me of several small towns we had seen in France, particularly Eze and some of the other villages in the Maritime Alps. For the most part the streets were narrow and suitable only for walking. There were cars there, but not everywhere. And it was raining. Judy stopped about a quarter of the way up and waited for us in a restaurant, but I decided to keep going as far as I could. As it turned out, I did make it all the way up to the first tower, and it was worth the hike—and the rain. I could look over the battlements on one side and see almost straight down onto the town below. I thought I could make out Rimini and the Adriatic beyond it when I peered through the raindrops from that side of the mountain, From the other side, I could see closer roof tops descending to what looked like gently rolling hills and farmland. No wonder the place had remained independent for centuries. Defending the top of the mountain required attention to only one direction. 

I was tired of the rain and more than a little concerned about walking down the steep stone and brick street we had hiked up, so I didn’t stay long. I was unusually careful walking back downhill, and I was really glad when I met Judy at the Ristorante Bolognese. We had fresh pasta for lunch, spaghetti for Judy, Ravioli for me, and enjoyed sitting on a covered patio while more of our group came in to join the party. 

After we finished, particularly enjoying talking with a couple from Philadelphia, we walked a little ways up hill looking for the place to get our passports stamped. We never found it, but we did have a little adventure. We went inside a big stone building that had a sing “Bar” with photos of ice cream, snacks, etc. As it turned out the building housed a private bank, and the bar offered food and drink sort of as a “local” for the area. And for tourists as well, of course. I asked for dark chocolate gelato, and while they were dipping it up, Judy saw a sign for Irish coffee. Maybe because of the chilly weather and nasty rain, that appealed to her, so she asked for one. Wouldn’t you know it? The young bartender on duty had never fixed one, so she had to coach him through the process!

Once all of us had gathered back at the bus, we took a slightly different route back to the ship, giving us a chance to see more of the foothills of the Apennines. Once back on the ship, warmed up and in drier clothes, we spent a little time up in the Observation Lounge, getting better acquainted with the bar there. (Yes, this is starting to sound like a description of a stereotypical booze cruise.)

I do have one more statement to make: For the second day in a row, I didn’t enter a church even to look around, even though I had opportunity after opportunity to do so. That’s a sign of a retired music history professor.

Photos