It’s official: I am in the midst of my first ever Euro Trip. What exactly is a Euro Trip? Quite simply, it is a vacation where you visit three or more European countries before heading home (Source = Julia Fiorio). Thanks to San Marino, I am now a European traveller. Wooo!

Wait…San Marino?

That’s right. Remember that country in the middle of Italy? No, not the Vatican City, the other one. Yes, there is another country completely surrounded by Italy: Welcome to San Marino, Home of the Oldest Active Constitution.

I have always had an active interest in visiting San Marino, but I probably would not have visited this tiny country if it wasn’t for my Dad. Many, many years ago, my grandfather was the ambassador for San Marino in America. Impressive, huh? My dad thought so too, which was why he was so insistent on me visiting San Marino this year. Well Dad, this blog post is for you ❤

For the past two days, I have been in Bologna with one of my best Italian friends, Gaia. We met last summer when we studied abroad in the same program in Rome. This semester, she is studying abroad in Bologna. Gaia was kind enough to meet me a couple days before her program starts so we could have the chance to catch up after so long! Being the sweetheart that she is, she was willing to accompany me on my adventure to San Marino.

My lovely friend Gaia

Getting to San Marino is not exactly easy. They don’t have an airport or even a train station. Instead, we had to take a train to Rimini (1.5 hours away) and then get on a bus from Rimini to San Marino (45 minutes). By the time we arrived in San Marino (the capital of San Marino…creative, I know) we were ready to check out what this country had to offer.

Waiting for the bus in Rimini

San Marino is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. The historical center is perched upon a high hill and the views are spectacular in every direction. I had the hardest time deciding which pictures to use for my blog because they were all so pretty! San Marino is home to narrow streets, cobblestone roads and a charm unique to medieval cities. I think we could have spent all day wandering the roads in the town.

Unfortunately, San Marino is extremely touristic. Sometimes it was difficult to feel that spirit of this city because it was overwhelmed by visitors. Surprisingly, there were a lot of Eastern European tourists. Many of the shopkeepers spoke Russian and there were lots of signs in their language as well. Gaia and I couldn’t exactly figure out why that was?? Regardless, Gaia and I made sure that we had proof of our tourist presence in San Marino. Yes, we got our passports stamped! How beautiful are they?!?! (Try to contain your jealousy Patrick)

After walking around in San Marino, Gaia and I stopped in a small square in the center of the city. The radio station of San Marino was broadcasting live from the square and we were enjoying the music and the sun. Not long after sitting in the square, the DJ came up to us and asked if we were Italian. After saying no, but that we spoke Italian, he decided he wanted to interview us. Excuse me? Uhhh…an interview?

This is how I responded:

Except apparently he was serious…

Yep.

Gaia and I (mostly Gaia) were interviewed on the San Marino radio station. How many of you can say you gave an interview that was broadcasted to an entire country? Get on our level. hahaha

After our radio adventure, we figured nothing in San Marino would be able to top that, so we decided to head back to Bologna. I feel kind of bad not writing a blog post about Bologna…but I would mostly be writing about food only 🙂 However, enjoy this clever sign we saw in Bologna. Good old hipster Bologna.

Spending time with Gaia these past two days has been GREAT! I can’t believe she’ll be gone for a whole year abroad, but I’m super excited to follow her adventures. Also, she took a lot of these photos (the good ones)…so thanks for that! 🙂