It was a long, rough 14-hour sail from Ortona north to Pesaro. Only six of us (out of 26) made it out of bed and down to breakfast. The Artemis finally docked at 11:30 AM in this small seaside town. Windsurfers and kitesurfers were out and pedestrians lined the dock waving and taking pictures of our ship.
After lunch on board ship, a small bus took us to Urbino. It was a rainy, cold day but it is an interesting old hill town. Urbino rivaled Florence as a Renaissance city and the University of Urbino still has an outstanding rating.
The streets are narrow, hilly, cobblestoned, and slippery when wet. Our guide says the view of the countryside from the walls of Urbino was the model for the background of daVinci’s Mona Lisa (maybe).
Our tour took us past the Teatro Sanzio (Raphael’s family name was Sanzio); to several oratorios or small chapels: of the Five Wounds of Christ, of St. Joseph, and of San Giovanni (St. John the Baptist); and to the house where Raphael was born and was first taught by his father to draw and paint.
The sea as we approached Pesaro
In the harbor at last!
The windsurfers and kitesurfers were loving it
Entrance to the walled town of Urbino
Ducal Palace
Teatro Sanzio - (Sanzio is Raphael’s family name)
Don't come out this door on a dark night!
Church of San Giovanni Battista
Challenging walking, especially in the rain
Up and then down
Urbino Obelisk
Duomo - from the rear
Raphael's Birth Home
Monument to Raphael
We entered the Duomo - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral - and later found a small cafe in which to drink cappuccinos to warm up during our “free time for local discoveries.” The drinks cost only 1.60 euros - less than $2. Puts Starbucks to shame!
Duomo - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (2016 photo)
Tile floor of the Duomo
Dome of the Duomo
Ceiling above the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the Duomo
Dinner was at an agri-tourism establishment and included appetizers, a small lettuce salad, roasted chicken, potato and biscuit, and an apricot pastry for dessert. It was not the Mediterranean diet! A local red wine and two strong aperitifs - one was limoncello, were also served. It was rather disappointing given that it was supposed to be all farm fresh food.
Mon., 10/11 - Pesaro - San Marino
San Marino is the third smallest country after Vatican City and Monoco. It has an area of only 23.6 square miles. San Marino is an independent republic completely surrounded by Italy. A hermit stonemason settled here and built a chapel and monastery in 301 AD on Mt. Titano. He was canonized as St. Marinus and the State of San Marino grew up from the center created around his monastery. St. Marinus and the people of the community pledge to never be beholden to either a king or a pope. The mountain top and community was “gifted” to the people as an independent state. When Italy was unified in 1862, the treaty confirmed San Marino’s independence.
San Marino has an interesting government. Two townspeople share the presidency for a one year term and then revert to private citizens. This means nearly everyone gets to be president at sometime. Currently two women are presidents. San Marino has the highest GDP in Europe and lower taxes than Italy. They are not in the EU but use the euro as currency as a carry over from using the Italian lira currency before the euro was adopted.
Location of San Marino
Flag of San Marino
San Marino License Plate
Looking up (throught the rain and fog) at one of the three towers of San Marino
Our bus drove us part way up to the old city. The funicular and some walking on cobblestone streets (wet) brought us to a high point that provided views all the way to the Adriatic and to beautiful countryside - some assumptions are being made here as it was rainy and foggy.
Funicular station
Those back and forth street are switchbacks up the mountain
View from above
It was very windy, as well as rainy and foggy
Cava San Marion Balestrieri stadium - used for festivals to watch crossbow archery.
In the 2020(1) Olympics, San Marino won three medals in crossbow!
"Winged creatures"
Saint Marinus country's founder) and the Bear
Decorated violin and case
"Apparently, San Marino has the most liberal gun laws in western Europe and so buying your weapon of choice here is not at all hard." (Quote from Google citation)
We saw a number of well-stocked gun stores during our tour.
Gun store
Another gun store - two doors from the first one
The crest of San Marino has three towers and three feathers meaning defense and peace.
Parliament Buiding
Statue della Liberta (Statue of Liberty) in front of the Parliament
Basilica di San Marino
The church is also used to inaugurate the San Marino presidents. They do, however, maintain a separation of church and state.
Ceiling inside the Basilica di San Marino
Organ in the Basilica di San Marino
Some of us walked in the rain up to two of the three towers overlooking the countryside and from which you can see all the way to the sea (on a non-rainy day). The towers are Medieval structures built as a defense agains enemy attacks. They are located on each of the three peaks of Mount Titan.
Walkway up to the towers
Public water fountain
After the walk up to the towers, and even though we had on our complete rain suits, we were cold enough to finally sit down inside for a warming hot chocolate which was like a melted candy bar with no milk added. It was very reviving.
The group gathered for an included lunch in a restaurant in San Marino. Lunch included salad, bean soup, chicken with mushrooms, potatoes, and an Italian cream dessert (undoubtedly zero calories).
After lunch we bused back to the ship (briefly) and then went back out to shuttle into Pesaro, the town where we were docked. It was another cute old town with a pedestrian street and lots to look at.
Yacht basin
Birthplace of Gioachino Rossini - the William Tell Overature (the Lone Ranger) and many wonderful operas (39, in all)
Statue of Rossini at the Post Office in Pesaro
Teatro Rossini
Post Office in Pesaro - Rossini is on the left hiding
behind the light post
Ankle turners!
I suppose they could as well be elevator shoes.
A visit to the local grocery store
Local grocery store - this was before no one could get Philadelphia Cream Cheese
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption with Roman mosaic flooring preserved under glass under the sanctuary floor.
Roman mosaics
Roman mosaics
Tonight was a lengthy Farewell Dinner. The extremely slow eaters at the captain’s table caused us to wait so long for the baked Alaska dessert that our ship was back out at sea and the sea was very rough. It was so rough that we could not shower or pack and just left everything as it was and got into bed as the captain had advised. The ship rocked and pitched so much we both got very sick (along with just about everyone else on board), even with sea bands and Dramamine. It was (not) a lovely last evening!
The good news is that we passed into calmer waters after about 2 am and the rest of the trip into Venice was relatively smooth.
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