Cesenatico & San Marino

Left Alberobello to make the long drive back up Italy to Venice. Decided to break it up in bits otherwise it would be about an 8 hour drive. Spent a night in Loreto Aprutino. No, I’d never heard of it either. Looks like a farming area in the middle of nowhere really. Quite scenic though, very similar to Tuscany. Stayed at a family run hotel which had the most amazing food, and loveliest owners, unfortunately we didn’t get much sleep though because there was some man snoring in the room next to us, keeping us awake from about 2.30am. No windows open – the racket came through the bloody wall!! Woke me even though I had my earplugs in too!

Next day we drove in a sleep-deprived stupor to Cesenatico, a popular seaside holiday destination on the Adriatic Coast. If you Google “Cesenatico”, the first pics that will come up are of the Porto Canale Leonardesco. It’s like a mini-mini Venice, one small canal running through the middle of the old town, lined on either side with restaurants and bars and vintage sail boats, contemporary sailing boats and fishing boats moored in the canal. Very pretty!

Had another shot at going to an Italian beach and were finally successful and can report as follows …
The Pros:
It is awfully convenient to have loungers and an umbrella that you didn’t have to lug to the beach;
It’s wonderful to have a lounger instead of lying on a towel, getting covered in sand every 2 mins;
There are showers, change rooms and a restaurant/cafe
You can have cocktails delivered to your spot;
There is a walkway down to the water, so you don’t have to walk on hot sand.
The Cons:
You can’t even see the beach from the road. They build the restaurants, kids play parks, etc between the road and beach – if you don’t pay to get on beach, you can’t even see it, never mind go for a walk on it;
Some places play loud music and/or have kids playgrounds (read: screaming kids);
You have to pay to go to the beach;
Smoking is allowed on the beach.

We stayed at another family run hotel – which was lovely, the owners and staff were lovely and SO helpful and the breakfasts were delicious. All the restaurants reasonable and the food good however … can’t say I’d recommend Cesenatico as a holiday destination as it is very touristy – for the Aussies, it’s like the Gold Coast (blech) only tiny in comparison. I would recommend stopping in for lunch or even overnight on the way to Venice though. And if you do … stay at Maree Hotel.

Whilst we were on this side of Italy – we decided to add another country to our ever growing list, so took a drive to San Marino for the day. Officially know as the Republic of San Marino but also referred to as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino. Which it is, especially in comparison to Italy!

The capital is also called San Marino, and sits on top of Monte Titano which gives you views for miles and miles. The unfortunate part is that there was no parking to be had at the top, (or even half way down) so we had to park at the bottom of said frigging mountain and climb a vertical stone path to the top.

It is another very quaint, scenic town with piazzas, cobbled streets, alley ways, old buildings etc. Can recommend a visit here too. They are, however, a tad obsessed with replica guns (Umarex) and weirdly there are plenty of shops selling everything from hand guns to AK-47s as well as knives and cross-bows too.