Ravenna/Italien + San Marino

19.6.2024 Ravenna + San Marino

Today's excursion started at 10 a.m. In the theater I was given my bus number, 1. Shortly afterwards we boarded the corresponding bus.

I had booked the "San Marino - World's Oldest Republic" tour with Royal Caribbean. The trip took about 1 1/2 hours. However, we only saw the port and industrial area of the city of Ravenna.

But we saw a lot more of San Marino. A city guide was waiting for us there and showed us the main sights, such as Freedom Square, churches and government buildings. After that we were free to move around until 4.30 p.m. and choose our next destinations ourselves using a city map that everyone had received. There are some strange museums there, for example a vampire museum and a torture museum. According to the reviews on the internet, the "Museo delle Creature della Notte - Vampiri e Licantropi" was not worth a visit and the "Museo della Tortura" would almost certainly have dampened my good mood.

So I chose a restaurant with good reviews and had a good beer and a delicious pizza, generously topped with little sea monsters.

Refreshed, I looked at the many shops, including a surprising number of gun shops, and found a supermarket where I bought drinks and pastries. I also strolled through deserted streets that made San Marino seem like a ghost town to me.

There was a lot of hustle and bustle at the meeting point because not only our group was preparing to leave. But everything went smoothly and we started the journey back.

On the way there, our tour guide had pointed out that we would be crossing the Rubicon River. I hadn't noticed anything and wanted to be careful on the way back. After all, I still remembered the Rubicon from Latin class. "The die is cast!" Caesar had said when he decided to cross the Rubicon and thereby start a war. Our crossing was peaceful and I only saw it on my smartphone because the river was not visible from the bus.

In the evening there was an event on the ship with ten musicians: "Rondo Veneziano". Baroque music in baroque costumes. Very nice!