San Marino
The microstate San Marino is surrounded by Italy and it's one of the smallest countries in the world, only 33 000 people live there. It's the only country with more vehicles than people and when we arrived by bus to the mountain that forms the capital, we noticed that some kind of classic cars race was going through the country. People were standing on the side of the roads cheering while the drivers waved to them.
The city was founded by Saint Martinus and several Christian refugees in the year 301 and quickly became the center of Christian refugees that fled Roman persecution. The city on top of the mountain Titano was guarded by three towers that was constructed in the 11th, 13th and 14th century and they are now the main tourist attractions. More than 3 million tourists invade the country each year and me and my friend Andreas was two of them.
It was a really bad day for going to San Marino since the view is the main thing and we went there on a rainy and foggy day. I couldn't even see where I was going and maybe that was for the best since I suffer from vertigo. I walked an old narrow cobblestone bridge and all I could see on both sides was fog and it felt like I was walking a bridge up in the clouds of heaven.
The whole capital is mostly cobblestoned streets and it's very charming, and when the weather finally cleared up we could see the fantastic view. It was both amazing, and scared me when I was too close to the edge.
I felt San Marino was a bit like Las Vegas in that sense that it's a one trick pony, and when you have experienced the view you don't have the need to go there again. In my opinion it should just be a part of Italy nowadays since it's mostly a mountain and not a country, and it's weird that San Marino has such a lousy football team since Italy is so good. But then Andreas pointed out why, there's no flat surfaces for them to play on, it's just uphill, just as in the matches they are playing.
When we had seen everything twice we got ready to leave and I would just need to go to the toilet first before the bus ride back to Rimini at the coast of Italy. Andreas went to a liquor store to buy a souvenir and I ran around all over town to find a toilet. I finally found one and it turned out to be a hypermodern one. I paid to get in and the whole place was dripping wet and I couldn't understand why, it's not even possible to pee that much. To spare you the details I did what I had to do and then I understood that you would only get 5 tiny tissues to wipe with, to save the environment as they would claim. It got out automatically so it was impossible to get more, and there I was thinking of how I would get out this mess, because it was impossible to use only those, not only for me but for every normal person. The sink was to no use since the water didn't ran so I had to turn the tiny map of San Marino that I had picked up earlier to toilet paper. Why couldn't the country be bigger so I would have a bigger map to use?
In the end I understood that it was mission impossible and that I had to pull my pants up anyway and leave, people were starting to que outside and the bus was leaving soon. I felt so nasty and I couldn't even find a button for the toilet to flush down the map and the tiny tissues. I just gave up and went outside and when I closed the door behind me I understood why it was so wet. The bathroom cleans the whole place automatically every time someone leaves. So modern, yet so dumb, because it didn't even have the basic things you need. We ran to the bus and I sat quietly in shame the whole bus ride just waiting to get back to the hotel in Rimini to our old fashioned toilet where you can actually feel clean after you have used it, and to change underwear.
* Best things about San Marino – the picturesque city is cozy even if it's a bit too adjusted nowadays for tourism, and the view is amazing
* Most mediocre thing about San Marino – the small size makes it charming, but at the same time it makes you want to leave after a couple of hours since you have seen everything twice by then
* Worst things about San Marino – don't go there on a rainy and foggy day like us, and don't use the "modern" toilet, worst experience ever
Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. Croatia
2. Montenegro
3. Andorra
4. Cyprus
5. Greece
6. Italy
7. Monaco
8. Malta
9. Netherlands
10. Iceland
11. Denmark
12. Lithuania
13. Macedonia
14. Portugal
15. New Zealand
16. Ireland
17. Belgium
18. Poland
19. Estonia
20. San Marino
21. Kosovo
22. Romania
23. Finland
24. Latvia
25. Norway
26. France
27. Bulgaria
28. Luxembourg
29. Liechtenstein
30. China
31. Bosnia And Herzegovina
32. Albania
The city was founded by Saint Martinus and several Christian refugees in the year 301 and quickly became the center of Christian refugees that fled Roman persecution. The city on top of the mountain Titano was guarded by three towers that was constructed in the 11th, 13th and 14th century and they are now the main tourist attractions. More than 3 million tourists invade the country each year and me and my friend Andreas was two of them.
It was a really bad day for going to San Marino since the view is the main thing and we went there on a rainy and foggy day. I couldn't even see where I was going and maybe that was for the best since I suffer from vertigo. I walked an old narrow cobblestone bridge and all I could see on both sides was fog and it felt like I was walking a bridge up in the clouds of heaven.
Before...
The whole capital is mostly cobblestoned streets and it's very charming, and when the weather finally cleared up we could see the fantastic view. It was both amazing, and scared me when I was too close to the edge.
...and after
We quickly walked through the picturesque city and saw some art exhibition outside that consisted of gigantic insects and animals. Some more permanent statues added value to the artistic side to the town.
I felt San Marino was a bit like Las Vegas in that sense that it's a one trick pony, and when you have experienced the view you don't have the need to go there again. In my opinion it should just be a part of Italy nowadays since it's mostly a mountain and not a country, and it's weird that San Marino has such a lousy football team since Italy is so good. But then Andreas pointed out why, there's no flat surfaces for them to play on, it's just uphill, just as in the matches they are playing.
When we had seen everything twice we got ready to leave and I would just need to go to the toilet first before the bus ride back to Rimini at the coast of Italy. Andreas went to a liquor store to buy a souvenir and I ran around all over town to find a toilet. I finally found one and it turned out to be a hypermodern one. I paid to get in and the whole place was dripping wet and I couldn't understand why, it's not even possible to pee that much. To spare you the details I did what I had to do and then I understood that you would only get 5 tiny tissues to wipe with, to save the environment as they would claim. It got out automatically so it was impossible to get more, and there I was thinking of how I would get out this mess, because it was impossible to use only those, not only for me but for every normal person. The sink was to no use since the water didn't ran so I had to turn the tiny map of San Marino that I had picked up earlier to toilet paper. Why couldn't the country be bigger so I would have a bigger map to use?
In the end I understood that it was mission impossible and that I had to pull my pants up anyway and leave, people were starting to que outside and the bus was leaving soon. I felt so nasty and I couldn't even find a button for the toilet to flush down the map and the tiny tissues. I just gave up and went outside and when I closed the door behind me I understood why it was so wet. The bathroom cleans the whole place automatically every time someone leaves. So modern, yet so dumb, because it didn't even have the basic things you need. We ran to the bus and I sat quietly in shame the whole bus ride just waiting to get back to the hotel in Rimini to our old fashioned toilet where you can actually feel clean after you have used it, and to change underwear.
* Best things about San Marino – the picturesque city is cozy even if it's a bit too adjusted nowadays for tourism, and the view is amazing
* Most mediocre thing about San Marino – the small size makes it charming, but at the same time it makes you want to leave after a couple of hours since you have seen everything twice by then
* Worst things about San Marino – don't go there on a rainy and foggy day like us, and don't use the "modern" toilet, worst experience ever
Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. Croatia
2. Montenegro
3. Andorra
4. Cyprus
5. Greece
6. Italy
7. Monaco
8. Malta
9. Netherlands
10. Iceland
11. Denmark
12. Lithuania
13. Macedonia
14. Portugal
15. New Zealand
16. Ireland
17. Belgium
18. Poland
19. Estonia
20. San Marino
21. Kosovo
22. Romania
23. Finland
24. Latvia
25. Norway
26. France
27. Bulgaria
28. Luxembourg
29. Liechtenstein
30. China
31. Bosnia And Herzegovina
32. Albania
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