EUROPEAN VACATION, THE FINAL PART: ITALY WITH A SIDE OF SAN MARINO

Many apologies for the delay on this final observation of my life-changing European adventure. Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Holiday season. After the New Year’s, the seasonal flu struck my family, and it has delayed much of my writing. So many things have occurred including the inauguration of a new president and over the next few months, there will be a few blogs regarding what has happened so far culturally and politically.

My first steps into Italy were on the port of Ravenna, Italy. Ravenna is south of Venice approximately 80-90 miles. The city is also about 50 miles east of Bologna. Ravenna sits a few miles inland from the Adriatic coast. Upon walking onto Italian soil for the first time, you realize that Ravenna maybe the most unimpressive port in Europe. The port is currently under construction. Upon leaving the port and going into the city, Ravenna is very industrial. There are wetlands surrounding the area. Many oil refineries and manufacturing buildings litter the landscape. There are a couple of beautiful basilicas and churches in the city. But if given the option on the cruise ship to do something outside of this city, take this option. Venice to the north, Bologna to the west, and the independent country of San Marino to the south are a better way to spend the day than walking around this coastal mosquito fest. My partner and I decided to do the latter.

The ride to San Marino takes you through some of Italy’s nicest agricultural areas. From a tourist perspective, there is not much to see other than these farms and lots of grasslands, wetlands, small towns and an amusement park far off into the distance. But once you arrive with the signature Mount Titane (Mt. Titan) standing majestically off into the distance, you realize that San Marino is a special place.

San Marino was founded by a Dalmatian named Marinus who grew up on the island of Rab off the Croatian coast. During Emperor Diocletian’s reign, Christianity began spreading throughout the Roman Empire. Diocletian soon began persecuting Christians as he saw their beliefs as a threat to his rule. Marinus fled this oppression and settled as a hermit on Mount Titane where a thriving Christian community began to develop. Marinus preached the idea as a devout Catholic of simplicity, humility, peace and religious freedom to his neighbors. The foundations of the country of San Marino were laid by his teachings and he eventually became a Catholic Saint. San Marino is recognized as the oldest and at one time, smallest republic in the world (Until the independence of the island nation of Nauru in 1968) and has existed as an independent nation state for over 1700 years. San Marino is the 4th smallest country in the world and the 3rd smallest in Europe after Vatican City and Monaco. There is a small retail area once you enter the country, and the oldest part of San Marino is built like a step ladder with the stone streets rising in elevation towards the mountain peak. Located at the top of all three peaks of Mount Titane are medieval forts which have protected this nation since its inception.

Before diving into more of San Marino, a quick history lesson on Italy that will explain why a nation that is smaller than most large cities exists on an Italian mountain. Before Italy became a unified nation in 1861, the territory that makes up the present-day country was broken into city-states. These cities were so wealthy that they formed independent governments and were often run by wealthy families. Most famously, the Roman Empire remains the most powerful city-state to have ever existed while ruling over large areas of Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Upon the Roman Empire’s collapse, Rome became a papal state and the headquarters of the Catholic religion with over one billion followers. The Venetians based out of Venice began to thrive after the Roman Empire fell and became one of the world’s first maritime republics and had over a century of peace with the nearby Byzantine Empire. Other famous city-states were Florence ruled by the Medici family that embraced art and was a hub for banking and textile production. Naples, Milan, Genoa and Pisa also became their own republics during specific periods of the Renaissance era. When Italy became a nation, the seven remaining city-states that formed the new nation were:

• Papal state of Rome
• Kingdom of Naples
• Kingdom of Sicily
• Kingdom of Sardinia
• Duchy of Savoy
• Duchy of Milan
• Grand Duchy of Tuscany

Knowing this history, you can argue that Italy has never been the same since it centralized. These economically powerful city-states during the Renaissance are what allowed this region to have such a strong influence inside Europe for over one thousand years. While still an economically strong nation, Italy has not remained the global powerhouse and centerpiece of ideas during the Renaissance that it once was.

After Italy unified, San Marino remained an independent country. The country’s motto is LIBERTAS and respecting the idea of freedom is the foundation of what the nation is about. San Marino is very cheap. If you are looking to embrace human consumption, this is the best place in Southern Europe to do it. While the country does use the Euro, it does not pay the often-high VAT taxes that other EU nations are burdened with. This tax-free, low regulation environment allows products to be sold at bargain basement prices. Guns are sold in about a dozen shops at 80 to 90% less than they are in the United States. You can find real leather wallets for ten Euros. Anyone can have a wonderful authentic Italian dinner for eight Euros. The forts on top of the mountain must be seen and the city is loaded with beautiful and scenic vistas overlooking the Italian countryside and some interesting museums like one filled with ancient weapons, another that dissects the vampire myth, and my personal favorite, a very detailed display of the torture devices that existed during the Middle Ages. Behind my day in Krka National Park and the beaches of Split and our wonderful day in Albania, San Marino was one of the highlights of the trip.

Going back for our final evening on the cruise ship, we woke up the next day in the port of Trieste, Italy where our ship permanently docked. The train station that would take us to Venice, Italy (Where our flight left in two days) was a one-mile hike north along the Trieste coastline. During this walk, we got to see probably the two most famous locations in this city, the Piazza Unita d’Italia which is a stunning square facing the ocean. This square was seen as one of the most important locations in Europe when it was a seaport for the Austrian Hungarian Empire and the buildings inside the square still have that influence. Many famous artists have given concerts, and many famous political figures have met inside of this square as a backdrop for negotiations. The Slovenes who surround this city on three sides still call it THE GREAT SQUARE. Trieste does not look like an Italian town. Despite being in the nation of Italy, the nearby Slavic and Austrian people have left a legacy on its appearance. The final tourist spot was the Grand Canal of Trieste before we reached the train station. Not counting Athens, Trieste was probably the poorest of the cities we got to experience. It was the only other place that had a large homeless population living in a park near the main train station. The city had lots of construction and appears to be under development.

Upon catching the train to Venice, my partner and I got to understand firsthand why train travel is preferred in Europe. First, the trains run on time. Second, the seats inside these trains are like flying first class on a domestic American airline. They are incredibly comfortable, and waiters do come around and give you a snack and drink every other hour. The train ride from Trieste to Venice took a little over two hours as we ran around the top of the Adriatic Sea to arrive at one of the most famous cities in the world.

What can really be said about Venice? Is it overpriced? Yup. Is it grimy and stinky in places? Yup. Is there a lot of graffiti scattered around the entire city? Yup. But experiencing the city is something that everyone who has the time and money should do. From the beautiful towering basilicas and churches overlooking the water on small islands off Old Town to the famous structures like the Palazzo Ducale that are on every postcard to the incredible food and coffee to seeing an opera in the evening while overlooking a canal to enjoying tea at the oldest tea shop in the world to taking water taxis all over Venice including to the island of Lido and having one of the best custom alcoholic drinks at the local bar while realizing that no one in this part of Venice spoke proper English, there is no other city in the world where you can have this interesting of an experience. At 11 pm when my partner and I were in a water taxi heading back to our hotel near the famous Rialto bridge and we passed restaurants that were mostly empty but had haunting candle lights on each table reflecting out onto the water, it was one of the most beautiful memories of my life. Even though there are downsides to Venice like overpriced hotel rooms that a family of rats would not have enough space to enjoy, there is something very magical about this city. And one other thing that will remain the most baffling experience of my life. On the previously mentioned Lido Island to the east of Venice, my wife and I needed to go to the bathroom. The toilets in every establishment including the bar and restaurant that we ate at were basically ground toilets with nothing to sit on. You just squatted and emptied the contents of your bowels into this open toilet pit. It was the most bizarre restroom experience of my life. And one more thing. All public toilets, no matter what country you are in, will cost at least one Euro to use. The good news is that these toilets are clean and not disgusting like most public toilets you find in California on the beaches, parks and inside rest stops.
 
On the last day, I decided to buy a tour run by a Venetian couple that would take us into the famous Dolomites. On my bucket list of things to see in Europe, the Dolomites were in my Top 5. The Dolomites are only ninety minutes north of the city of Venice. So, after grabbing my warm cup of coffee early in the morning, we met our fellow tourists in the bus plaza in Venice at 8 am. The one downside of this trip. We apparently traveled on a day that was a national Holiday in Italy, so the Dolomites were VERY BUSY with lots of tourists. But once we got into Dolomites National Park, there is no mountain range on this planet that has more incredibly scenic vistas than this section of the Italian Alps. I have been to the Rockies, the Appalachians and my personal favorite mountain range, the Sierra Nevadas in California with its multiple national parks. None of them can beat the Dolomites. From Lago di Braies and its sparkling, clear water to hiking under the famous Tre Cime peaks at over 7000 feet to experiencing the sparkling lake of Misurina, the Dolomites do not fail to impress in all their majestic glory. The limestone peaks stand out throughout the multiple nature parks we hiked through and the valleys between the peaks with alpine trees, beautiful dark green grasslands and ponds and lakes with clear water that you can see one hundred feet down into never fail to impress. Scattered around the Dolomites are little Italian towns that have been under these peaks for centuries that are bursting with character and history with the most famous being Cortina d’Ampezzo where my partner and I had the best desserts on our European trip. Near Lago Di Braies, the Austrian influence takes over again as the architecture of the buildings gives the region an Austrian look. Even though we scraped the edge of Austria, we never crossed the border into the country despite being able to see it from the Tre Cime Peaks. My only regret about visiting the Dolomites. No snow had dropped yet so the ski resorts that line the mountains had not opened. But without a doubt, this mountain range and the surrounding valleys and agricultural land that lies against these wondrous peaks is the most scenic region of Italy.
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After returning late in the evening from our mountain adventure, the vacation was over. We took a water taxi directly to Venice International Airport and began our trip back to the States the following morning. Visiting southern Europe was a life changing experience for me. I hope to someday return and spend a longer amount of time diving deeper into the culture and history of the area. Until then…I hope you enjoyed my experiences. Thanks for reading.