As I'm deep in exam season, I'm already fantasising about summer holidays, so thought it was time to share my Easter road trip with you! After Merryn headed home, I only had a day to help get the house ready before our family friends stopped in. They were our heroes, coming to house and dog-sit while we headed off to Le Marche region in Italy.
The great thing about Geneva is how easy it is to get out of Geneva- it takes 3 hours on the train to Paris (well worth it, simply for the double-decker train) and on a good run, Milan is 3 hours from the Mont Blanc tunnel. Despite these amazing places being a decent drive away, we decided to head off on a 9 hour slog to our first location, San Marino. The Book Thief audiobook was the only thing that kept us sane.
It was our first experience of real italian food for a long time, but paled in comparison to what we were going to eat further along the holiday. The Hotel Ceasare was nice, but pretty average- my room was tiny, but the beds were comfy and the breakfast was good.
We only had the following morning in San Marino, so we went for a quick explore around the hilltop old town.
San Marino isn't actually part of Italy- like the Vatican, it's an independent country/state- it has it's own government and some amazing architecture. We only looked at two of the most imposing buildings- the first and second tower of the fortified walls. These imposing buildings had sheer drops on either side of them- making dramatic scenery and giving me jelly legs.
The First tower resulted in me having a bit of a wobbly, simply because what I thought was simply a steep staircase was a short ladder through a trapdoor to get to the top. I have a real thing about ladders and heights and since travelling with my parents acted like such a wimp climbing back down again. The jelly legs were there to stay. How embarrassing.
Anyway, my dad and I continued to the second tower and he managed to take some pretty dramatic pictures of the first- the main advantage, because both towers were pretty similar-though it did have a weapons museum inside, which Dad enjoyed.
Anyway, it was on to Ancona to pick up my sister from the airport- she managed to get a RyanAir flight from Stanstead out to Ancona for less than £1oo! I think it was around the £30 mark for one way (£50 with check in baggage).
Ancona was the planned lunch stop, which caused some concern because when we drove in it looked like a very industrial ferry port and nothing more. However, my sister approached a couple once we had parked and asked them where was good for lunch- resulting in a hilarious conversation that highlighted how we knew no Italian, and they spoke no English. We finally got a vague sense of where to go and stopped for some amazing pasta- a solid feature of this holiday and I forgot to take a picture of any of it! Stupid me. Anyway, unless you have to stop there, I wouldn't go to Ancona- asides from the impressive Cathedral that they have there, it didn't really enchant me- that being said, if you follow the staircase down from the Cathedral into a small square there's a little wine bar that does the most delicious stuffed pasta. Tortelli, I think it's called (the pasta, not the bar).
From there, it was on to our final stop- Casa Ginestra in San Vernanzo...
The great thing about Geneva is how easy it is to get out of Geneva- it takes 3 hours on the train to Paris (well worth it, simply for the double-decker train) and on a good run, Milan is 3 hours from the Mont Blanc tunnel. Despite these amazing places being a decent drive away, we decided to head off on a 9 hour slog to our first location, San Marino. The Book Thief audiobook was the only thing that kept us sane.
It was our first experience of real italian food for a long time, but paled in comparison to what we were going to eat further along the holiday. The Hotel Ceasare was nice, but pretty average- my room was tiny, but the beds were comfy and the breakfast was good.
We only had the following morning in San Marino, so we went for a quick explore around the hilltop old town.
San Marino isn't actually part of Italy- like the Vatican, it's an independent country/state- it has it's own government and some amazing architecture. We only looked at two of the most imposing buildings- the first and second tower of the fortified walls. These imposing buildings had sheer drops on either side of them- making dramatic scenery and giving me jelly legs.
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| The First Tower |
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| Mum and I after the terrifying trapdoor |
The First tower resulted in me having a bit of a wobbly, simply because what I thought was simply a steep staircase was a short ladder through a trapdoor to get to the top. I have a real thing about ladders and heights and since travelling with my parents acted like such a wimp climbing back down again. The jelly legs were there to stay. How embarrassing.
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| Still stir crazy from the Car journey |
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| The Second Tower |
Anyway, it was on to Ancona to pick up my sister from the airport- she managed to get a RyanAir flight from Stanstead out to Ancona for less than £1oo! I think it was around the £30 mark for one way (£50 with check in baggage).
Ancona was the planned lunch stop, which caused some concern because when we drove in it looked like a very industrial ferry port and nothing more. However, my sister approached a couple once we had parked and asked them where was good for lunch- resulting in a hilarious conversation that highlighted how we knew no Italian, and they spoke no English. We finally got a vague sense of where to go and stopped for some amazing pasta- a solid feature of this holiday and I forgot to take a picture of any of it! Stupid me. Anyway, unless you have to stop there, I wouldn't go to Ancona- asides from the impressive Cathedral that they have there, it didn't really enchant me- that being said, if you follow the staircase down from the Cathedral into a small square there's a little wine bar that does the most delicious stuffed pasta. Tortelli, I think it's called (the pasta, not the bar).
From there, it was on to our final stop- Casa Ginestra in San Vernanzo...
Some gorgeous pictures here!
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