Ahmet Erkun

Woke up on our last morning in San Marino to find the valley hidden behind clouds. Within 30 minutes, the clouds were disappearing, being replaced by blue skies and sunshine.

With our check-out scheduled for 11:00a, we took our time. Breakfast was unhurried … with a second cup of tea as we read for a while. It didn’t take long to pack our carry-ons, put away the last load of dishes when the dishwasher finished its cycle, and take one last look around the apartment to make sure we weren’t leaving anything behind. By 10:45a, the apartment door was pulled closed behind us and we were walking the short distance to the Hotel Rosa lobby to check out.

We’d arranged for an 11:30a transfer down to the bus station, but the car was available and the driver was ready, so we asked him to take us down once the formalities were completed.

Our timing gave us to see the single-car antique train that runs to Borgo and back … a 20-minute ride we were told. While we still had 50 minutes before our Bonelli shuttle departure, we decided not to risk it. Antique train after all 😉.

Instead, we went to the café overlooking the colorful roundabout with its rearing horse statue. A light snack to tide us over … cappuccino for me. Ooops! I forgot it was past 11:00a until after Mui had placed the order. Oh well … we were in San Marino, not Italy. Perhaps the “no cappuccino after 11:00a” rule could be excused this time.

Our bus ride down the mountain road and through the castelli of San Marino can only be described as a “bus rally” … fast! It was obvious the driver was an old hand on this route. We made a few stops to pick up passengers waiting at stops along the way, but otherwise an uneventful drive brought us to the Rimini Train Station on time.

From a text message I had received while we were waiting for the Bonelli shuttle departure, we already knew that there was a delay posted for our InterCity train to Bologna … 25 to 30 minutes … due to slow traffic on the rail lines.

Hoping to get on an earlier train, we went to the ticket counter where the agent looked up various solutions. He came up with two — the Frecciarossa high speed train … completely sold out … and is it turns out, running behind schedule as well; and a TTPER regional train, which required a change. Weighing the pros and cons of switching to the TTPER, we decided to stick with our existing tickets. The agent even managed to change our seats to sit us facing each other by the window, laughing when Mui told him that we’ve been doing so for 45 years now!

Rimini 55, a café across the street, turned out to be a good place — if a bit windy — to while away a bit of time before returning to make our way to platform 2.

InterCity 608 departed Rimini Station at 2:15p … 28 minutes behind schedule … a delay that grew to 39 minutes by the we detrained at Bologna Centrale.

I know the exact delay because the conductor announced it as we pulled up to the platform. They do this because depending on the type of train you are on, and the delay time, you are eligible for a refund on the fare. No can do for us. On InterCity trains, the delay has to be 59 minutes or longer to be eligible for a refund calculated on a sliding scale. Now, had we been on the Frecciarossa train, those 39 minutes would have netted us a 25% bonus to be used on another booking. Oh, well.

Leaving Bologna Centrale, we hopped on bus #25, hopped off at the Via Ugo Bassi stop, and walked home from there. By 4:30p, we were relaxing with our feet up.

We get to rest and do chores — and maybe a little sightseeing — before our next trip … 11 days hence.Les mer