The beaches near Ancona and San Marino
What it's like to visit a crowded Italian beach, walk around the beautiful San Marino with a view all the way to the Adriatic Sea and finally come across a medieval feast with the best archers in the country, read in the next part of our trip with Camper to the Western Balkans and Italy.
BACK TO THE PREVIOUS TRAVELOGUE –> Day 11: Camper Travel: Lost in Tuscany - Part 2
More information about the route, costs and all travelogues of the trip can be found HERE.
Day 12: Ficulle – Sirolo (Urbani Beach, Ancona) – 200 km. ( 3:00 AM)
This day can be described in just one word - path. First we took the distance from Tuscany to Ancona. It turned out that the road from Ficulle to Perugia was in a deplorable state. Yes, and in Italy there are roads that are not maintained, for the reassurance of all Bulgarians :). After Perugia, we got on a high-speed road, where we wondered if we were driving on a highway or on a first-class road, because on some sections, for example, a speed of 140 km/h was allowed, which is speed for the highway, and at the same time it was missing emergency lane or there was no toll. Also, on some maps this time it was marked as a highway, and on others - as a first-class road.
Near Ancona is the town of Sirolo, where I had marked a famous beach, namely Urbani Beach. This beach was recommended in many places on the internet and we expected it to be something really wow. The town was overcrowded and the parking lots were full. The parking lot I had chosen turned out to be without a single free space, so we found another one that was even closer to the beach, but the free spaces were also running out there. We parked and then we found out that the fan hatch on the ceiling in the camper had broken down. We let Charlie guard the camper with prayers to find him alive when we return from the beach. This parking is paid for 2-3 euros per day and for probably 15 minutes we fought with the payment machine. The coordinates of the parking lot are as follows:
43.519693, 13.619029
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Urbani Beach
Urbani Beach can be reached on foot along a steep path through the forest. It can also be reached by car, but the parking lots down to the beach are forever filled. There is also a city bus that goes directly to the beach. So, we walk down the many steps and end up on the so-called Wow beach. Well, what can I say, in Bulgaria the beaches are better... complete disappointment. A horribly crowded beach. Umbrellas, sunbeds, towels - everything is next to each other. There is a restaurant on the beach and paid toilets. The sea water was nothing special, it even seemed to me that there was some greasy stain further into the sea... The only good thing on this beach was that there were many pebbles in different colors and shades along the shore.
Soon we got tired of sitting on the beach and decided to go home to the camper and check if Charlie was alive. Well, the puppy was alive, albeit a little thirsty.
Sirolo – San Marino – 130 km. (2:20)
We continued to San Marino. We got on the highway from Ancona to San Marino, but then regretted it, as we saw that there was a first-class road along the highway, on which there were fewer cars, they were driving at a slower pace than we did, but they didn't have to. They pay a fee. Anyway, we never felt when we officially entered the state of San Marino, as there is no sign, no inspections, etc. The first thing that struck us was the presence of intersections with traffic lights. Italy is known throughout Europe for its endless roundabouts and lack of any traffic lights, and suddenly in San Marino lined up one after the other, traffic light after traffic light.
The Holy Republic of San Marino is one of the smallest countries in the world (with an area of 61.2 sq. km), which places it in third place after the Vatican and Monaco.It is completely surrounded by Italy, and is only ten kilometers from the Adriatic Sea. Its capital is the city of San Marino, which has a population of 4,493 according to the last census. The city was founded in 301. San Marino is the oldest republic in the world. It was founded in September 301.
The locals are not called Italians, but Sanmarians. An interesting fact is that San Marino uses his own calendar, which begins with the founding of the republic.
Not to be missed Museum of Curiosity. It has three floors and has models of various strange objects and inventions. In the museum you can also see wax figures of the tallest, fattest, shortest man on the planet, as well as the woman with the thinnest waist and the heaviest newborn. Entrance costs 7.50 euros, and for all the curious it is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The parking lot where we parked is located at the following coordinates:
43.940701 12.4406
N 43°56'26.52″ E12°26'26.16″
It is a medium-sized parking lot located on several levels with many trees that make shade. It is about 5 minutes from the lift to take to the Old Town of San Marino. When we parked there there were only 2 more campers, and in the morning, when we woke up, we saw that the whole parking lot had been filled, and that - only with campers.
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So, we parked and we were gone. 🙂 We took the super steep lift to the Old Town, which was located on a 600-sea high cliff. From there the view was striking. We could have covered the whole of San Marino at a glance, and in the distance you could see Italy and the Adriatic coast. A very beautiful country with lots of greenery everywhere.
We walked along the narrow cobbled streets. Charming atmosphere everywhere. We have been impressed by several types of shops that we have probably never seen so much located anywhere else in the world. One type was the pistol and rifle stores. I asked the salesman if the guns were real, and he laughed at me and said they were for paintball. We never found out what the truth was. Also, there were bow and crossbow shops everywhere - that's what San Marino's national sport is archery. They even have a stadium created especially for this sport. And last but not least, we were also impressed by the stroller stores - yes, there were several stores, the whole thing full of small strollers. Our son Crisco felt like he was in heaven 🙂 My dear, he was looking at them through the window and wanted them all 🙂
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We continued to the 3 towers that were still visible from Italy. They are located in the Old Town of San Marino, located a few hundred meters from each other and all on the edge of the high cliff. Very interesting place.
After that, the stomachs called us and we started looking for a place where we could eat. We chose a restaurant right next to the edge of the cliff with a great view. Unique. We ordered pizza, pasta, lasagna and ice cream. Unique food. A unique sight. A unique sunset.
We had already gone home to the camper and shortly before the lift station we came across some great event. Unfortunately, the batteries of all the phones and the camera were exhausted and we were unable to capture it, which we are very sorry for. The event was attended by many locals - about 150-200 people, all but one dressed in medieval costumes, sitting at several long tables and eating different dishes. Even the so-called Waiters were dressed in costumes. There were bows left in many places along the tables. It was a very noisy and cheerful environment. When we were asking one of the waiters what was going on, he said they were celebrating the winners of some archery competition.
San Marino is one of the most beautiful cities we visited during our camper adventure. We definitely liked it very much and would happily stop by another time we come to Italy.
To the next travelogue —-> ДЕН 13: ВЕНЕЦИЯ СЛЕД 9 ГОДИНИ
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