Italy - Rome, Florence, Bologna, San Marino and Venice

[hangchoi]

Walking up the hill you will find a square, a nice view looking down. Next to the square is the tourist office of San Marino. In there you can get a stamp of their country into your passport. It is the official tourist visa given by a country San Marino, although you have already been in the country.

[hangchoi]

Next to the tourist office is a chruch. A small but solemn church. Passing the church you can walk up to the landmark place of San Marino, the three towers.

[hangchoi]

Three towers are three different tower buildings on three different hill. They are the hottest photo spots in San Marino. Most of the time people only take pictures for the first two, because the third tower is relatively small and you have to wall a small bumpy path to it.

Another point is that you have to stay somewhere near the first tower to take picture for the second tower, and vice versa.

This is the first tower, I took this picture from the ground floor level of the second tower.

[hangchoi]

The first picture shows the footpath you walk from the first tower to the second tower, and somewhere in the middle of this path is the place where you want to take picture of the second tower.

The second picture is the second tower.

[hangchoi]

The third tower is rather small, like a lighthouse. You need to walk a longer footpath there.

[hangchoi]

We spent about 4 hours in San Marino and then we went back to Rimini by bus. We still have time to take a quick look of Rimini, a city in east coast of Italy famous in breach. This city in the time of Roman Empire was a port. We walked into the old city area to have a look.

Straight into the city center is Piazza Tre Martiri, on the way you will pass by a church Tempio Malatestiano.

The third picture is a digging work showing the floor level in Roman time with the marble floor and wall finishes.

[hangchoi]

Arco Augusto, an arch for King Augustus. There is a stand telling tourist about the evolution of the arch. It was somehow renovated quite a lot.....

[hangchoi]

Next day we went to Venice, our last stop. From Bologna to Venice the train travel time is about 1.5 hours. Some people would like to stay away from the Venice island because the room rate is cheaper and less crowded, but we had booked a guesthouse for our stay inside the Venice island. The flat is quite large and I think it can accommodate at least 4 people. My room has a nice canal view too.

[hangchoi]

We arrived at early morning, so we decided to go the outside islands of Venice. We took the water bus to Burano and Murano.

Murano is famous of its glass making, you can visit a glassware factory there.

[hangchoi]

Burano is more popular. To go to Burano, you need to change the water bus at Murano. So..... a long queue again. The far end of the picture is the ferry to Burano.

The journey from Venice island to Murano is about 15 minutes but from Murano to Burano is 30 minutes.