Riccione

Our plan was to leave Jesolo early so that we could escape the heat of the midday sun and we were very pleased with ourselves when at 8.30am we were all set to go, I went to reception to finalise our departure and Harry went to the hole in the wall on site to get some pennies - big mistake. The ATM gobbled up Harry's card and declined his request to offer up any money. Some 3 hours later, having enquired at reception - walked to the bank in town - no joy there - walked back - stopped for a caffeine fix. We eventually left at 11.30am not having achieved very much and had the pleasure of driving in temperatures of 35C + for the next 4 hours. Card cancelled - new one ordered - but the moral of the tale is if you use an ATM, use one that is attached to a bank where staff can get access to gobbled up cards. We used a stand alone ATM which although the same bank as the one in town, is serviced by an outside agency and staff were unable to access it.

So, that's our public service advice to travellers - now for the history lesson - only joking, that comes later!

This week finds us on the outskirts of Riccione (south of Rimini) on the Adriatic coast. This is very much a holiday resort for Italians with very few foreign tourists, but with lots to keep everyone entertained. During our evening strolls we have enjoyed listening to a live band with people dancing, red indians playing native music and dancing, puppet show and especially watching the children racing round a go kart track. Harry reckons this is so they can ' perfect' their driving for when they are old enough to go on the roads!

San Marino

We discovered that San Marino was not too far away so we booked on a coach trip to visit it. San Marino perched on the top of a 657 metre lump of rock, the 61 sq km  Republic of San Marino is Europe's smallest state after the Vatican and Monaco. Again it was a very hot day and walking up to the top was quite strenuous at times but well worth it for the views.

Another trip we did this week was to the hill town of Urbino. Urbino is classed as a world hetritage site. The patriarch of the Montefeltro family created the hippest art scene of the 15th C. It is also the birth place of the artist Raphael and you can visit the 15th C Casa di Raffaello where Raphael spent the his first 16 years.     

We also visited the Basilica in Urbino which was not as ornate as some of the other Churches we have visited on our trip.    A world heritage site it may be but the historic town has been taken over by the town's university with various faculties and 24 thousand students and at times we felt that we were walking around a campus and were more than disappointed to see grafitti on some of the old buildings. We know things have to move on but sometimes things are worth preserving, so as well as a future we have a past. 

While waiting for the bus to take us back to the camp site, we sat at a pavement cafe and ordered  a glass of wine and a beer. it is customery in these parts to receive nibbles with drinks but on this occasion we were presented with slices of focaccia with delicious fillings and sprinkled with rosemary - yummy.

We will need to stay a bit longer while we wait for Harry's card to arrive but that will give us plenty of time to plan our next destination which we hope will be more inland, up in the hills (brown bears and all!)

So until next time - bye from Kath and Harry xxx