Mood:
happyOn Saturday we got up early and made our way to Outdoor Rec. We were signed up for the Via Ferrata trip. For those of you who don't know- “Via Ferrata” is Italian for “iron way” and the trip we were signed up for was something akin to rock climbing but with fixed iron cables, rungs, ladders, and bridges built into the route... a bit like rockclimbing for dummies. We arrived early and got decked out in all the requisite safety gear to check for fit, and then we sort of stood around and waited for the others to arrive. At some point one of the guys in charge decided to ask our names so he could cross us off his list – only to realize that we weren't on his list. Eventually, he did manage to find our names...on the list for the JULY 6TH trip and not the June 6th trip – aparently some sort of clerical error, but enough to temporarily wipe out our plans for the day due to a limited number of ropes available for use. So, as we headed back to the Jeep with a backpack full of water, lunch stuff, spare clothes, and cookies – we were a bit bummed at the prospect of facing a whole day with nothing to do. The consensus was that we had everything we needed to spend the day somewhere; we just weren't quite sure where. So, Ryan asked for suggestions and I threw out San Marino. We had attempted this trip previously by train – before we realized there were two San Marinos, only one of which has anything worth seeing...and not the one we saw. The Republic of San Marino was just three hours down the road, so we programmed the GPS and headed south. After a few hours of driving we spotted a large mountainous region off to our right with towers and we felt pretty confident that we had found the correct one this time. We parked the car and found a trail that led up. As Ryan always says, “If up is an option...”. We followed the trail to a picnic area with a great view and had a glimpse of the third of San Marino's three towers. The third tower had a great view of the second tower – which we were able to go into and check out the different rooms and cases of old weaponry. From there we could see the first tower, which is the biggest of the three. We were allowed to enter this tower as well. I've read that on a really clear day you can see all the way to Croatia from the tower, but it was a bit too hazy for us to be able to do that. The views were still amazing. We left the tower and followed the cobblestone streets into the town which had an odd mixture of souvenir shops, liquor stores, and stores selling swords, ninja gear, and air soft weapons. San Marino is the world's smallest republic and it's oldest sovereign state, and it certainly has retained its old world charm. For an impromptu trip thrown together at the last minute, things came together beautifully and we had a fantastic day.
- Kimberly
