Day #270 - San Marino - Pesaro & Ravenna, Italy

View from San Marino

San Marino sunset

Streets of San Marino

Streets of San Marino

Streets of Ravenna

Thursday, December 9th

Today started off rotten, but ended up great.

It all started with a wake-up call at 6:15am. I had a train at 7:22am and needed to catch the bus down to the rail station. The bus left at 6:43am. Ths bus stop was somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 mile from my hotel doorstop. I'm not one to spring up and jump around in the morning - it takes me a couple minutes to get it going. So, I probably rolled out of bed at 6:20am. Showered, dressed, out the door at 6:40am. This means I have to run with my duffle the distance to the bus station in 3 minutes. I get there - nothing. "I missed it". Nope - I look at the schedule and it says the bus comes at 6:33am. What?? Yesterday, everybody told me the bus comes at 13 and 43 every hour. I even took one of those buses. Well -- comes to find out that the first couple buses in the morning leave at 33 instead of 43. Why?? That's probably never messed with anyone before.

Oh well - what do I do? I see that the next bus comes at 7:13am. That's not enough time to get to the rail station. I walk a hundred yards to this convenience shop. I ask them if they could call a taxi. No English whatsoever. They can't figure it out. No other store is open. By this time, here comes the 7:13am bus. I jump on and ask: "When does this bus arrive at the rail station?" Answer - 7:22am --- the exact time my train is set to leave. So - I'm riding on the bus thinking this through. I already know that if I miss this train - I'll be waiting for hours for the next one. We near the station. Dayback on my back, duffle in the hand. Doors open - I hightail it through the station. The train is still there. I jump on board. 2 minutes to spare (the train left late).

At this time, I'm thinking I got the world by the tale. Sit back, relax....... NO - wait! I remember I have a 3 train connection to my destination this morning. My first stop is at Foligno. When is this stop? No clue. That means that I'm wide-eyed awake, searching frantically through the windows at each stop to see if this is it. Excellent - only a couples stops down. But wait, I need to connect to Ancona - when does this leave? I jump off the train - no departure boards anywhere! I scramble down the platform to a board. The connector train leaves......right now! I'm on platform #5 and the train I need is on Platform #1. I look over - I can see it. I snag my bag and run down the stairs. I'm dodging in and out of people. I then grab my bag and run up the stairs to Platform #1 -- my train just left ----- Not so good.

All right - problem management mode. I go and check the board again. Oh - there's another train in 1-1/2 hours, not so bad. I go to buy a ticket, because this is not a regional train, I must pay a reservation fee before boarding. I get to the counter: "Sorry sir, this train does not operate this time of year" What!!! When's the next available train? That's 11:15am sir and that will cost you 20 euro. What!!! (If only the English spoken by the folks here was as clear as I've indicated). It's 8am -- I'm now stuck for 3 hours, 15 minutes and I'm out $28. The better part of my day is shot. Not so happy. The whole thing was my fault. If I would have checked which platform my connector was leaving before my day started - then, I would not have hesitated out of my 1st train to look at the board - and I would have made it. That close ----- horseshoes, hand grenades - train travel.

I made the best of it. I went into this cafe and watched all the people come in and take their shot of coffee. They should just take a needle or something. They come in - the bartender lines their expresso shot on the bar. They down it in 1 gulp in their sippy cups, gorge down a large pastry, smoke a couple cigarretes, and their out the door. Solid!!!

I read some and worked on my computer for the next 3 hours. I drank hot tea -- it's currently my drink of choice in Italy. Coffees are too small -- I need large quantities of liquid. During this period of the day - the tide started turning in my favor. I accomplished quite a bit. I made it back to the train station and got the next train.

My first stop -- Pesaro. This is a small town on the eastern coast of Italy. The train ride into the city was great as you past the beaches and the water. No doubt - this would be a happening spot when the heat is turned up. Due to my earlier comedy of errors, I had 25 minutes in this town. I walked as for as I could with my bag in tow and then double-timed it back to the train. I basically saw nothing. But - I read about it. The run down: it's a big-time sea resort, it has the Rossini Opera Festival every year in honor of Gioacchino Rossini (famous composer who's from here), and it's got a famous street where people hang out --- yaddy -yaddy - yaddy.

Then, things got good. I took the train to the town of Rimini. From here, I decided to catch a bus to my 45th and final country on my journey - San Marino. Who - Dan Marino is here??? I never heard of the place either until I looked at the list of countries in Europe. The country of San Marino is completely inside the country of Italy - between Florence and the Adriatic Sea.

After today, I've been to every country in Europe on this trip except for a list of seven: (1) Andorra (tiny country on border of Spain & France), (2) Belarus (country north of Ukraine - requires complicated VISA), (3) Cyprus (island country below Turkey), (4) Malta (island country below the Italian island of Sicily - off the southwestern tip of italy), (5) Macedonia (north of Greece - logistics didn't work out for me - also dangerous), (6) Moldova (between Romania and the Ukraine - went to Modovian region in Romania - not the country), and (7) Kosovo (between Serbia and Macedonia - some say it's part of Serbia and not it's own country. I was told to stay clear of here). At one point on the trip, I was thinking of making a run at 50 countries. But - it just didn't work out. I wasn't going to pay the expensive VISA to enter Belarus, so I would have needed 5 out of 6 of the remaining group. When I left this travel agent in Athens after discussing possible trip options to Macedonia and Kosovo, he said as I was leaving: "Sir, if you intend to make the trip - just watch your back". That was good enough for me to stay away. From that point forward -- I shot for 45. I feel good about it. My goal many years back was to visit 50 countries in my lifetime - mission accomplished when considering the other areas I've travelled.

Back to San Marino. This place was fantastic. Who would have known? I met this girl while waiting for the bus. She spoke perfect English. Wow - I haven't heard clear English since my sister left. She was awesome - doctoral student in Economics. A little younger than me - not by much. She works for the San Marino government - her mom is from here. She knew everything. San Marino has a population of about 35,000 people - she says it's the 2nd smallest country in Europe to Vatican City. It sits atop this huge cliff. We took the 3pm bus to arrive at 4pm in San Marino. The sun was setting. You could look out and see everything. The mountains to the north, the Adriatic to the east, small towns in between. The girl - Laura - had to get to work - but showed me around first. I then spent the next couple hours walking up and down these incredible streets. A foggy mist was blowing in over the city, while the Christmas lights sparkled in the streets, 4 dudes dressed in Santa outfits played music, and the hot chocolate was flowing. My lesson learned - keep working - good things will come. If I had made my train this morning, I would probably not have taken the bus to the top of this city, because I would not have met this girl from here, I would not have seen the sunset, and I would not have seen the best sites of this country --- maybe I'll miss my train tomorrow????

I took the bus back to Rimini and then caught the 7:30pm train to Ravenna. I'm currently writing this from my hotel room in Ravenna. I don't know much about this place. I went out for a run through the city and it looks pretty awesome. Not many people out however. Ravenna was the last capital of the Western Roman Empire after the fall of Rome in the 5th century. It's home to the most celebrated mosaics in Western art. Good stuff. I hope to see more tomorrow in the daylight before hitting the train.

Good night - here's to "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" - Freddie Fender.