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I woke up early to take the cable car. Just getting there is already quite a climb. The ride is short, but rather cheap and wonderful, as you see more and more of the coast as you reach the top.

The streets of Città di San Marino [City of San Marino] are so empty and quiet at this hour, it’s quiet a privilege. The cable car got me straight into the lovely old city. It’s magnificent! All in white stones, narrow, steep streets winding down the mountain top.

I went to a shop to get my San Marino keychain, and after getting my change back, I asked if she had some San Marinese coins. Yes! I know it’s borderline cheating, but still, I didn’t buy them. That’s fairplay in my book.

The reason I came that early is something that attracted me like moth into flame: get on board the Treno Bianco Azzurro: an old 1930s electric train. It’s the only remnant of the San Marino railway line, which was built in two years in the late 1920s, sponsored by fascist Italy, to link  to Rimini. The train ran for the first time in 1932, through a series of tunnels and bridges, but stopped suddenly in 1944 when the country, despite its neutrality, was bombed by the United Kingdom.

One train, a locomotive-carriage car, entered restoration decades later, and it was in an awful state. Basically only a skeleton left, with nothing at all remaining from the inside. The association in charge of the repairs did an amazing job at rebuilding it from scratch. Just look at the pics.

They also restored about a kilometer of rails, through the Montale gallery. That’s where the train took us. It was just four of us tourists and five crew members. One of them gave a load of information, but all in Italian, so I only caught a glimpse.

But that’s ok. I TOOK A TRAIN IN San Marino! WWhat about THAT?

After some more information at the « terminus », we climbed back aboard good old AB03 (it’s its name), and came back to the starting point. That was a great experience, and one of the crown jewel of this trip!

Check out the work of the association here: https://www.facebook.com/share/F5rjijF1rmRNXhFh/

I’ll upload some footage soon.

After that, I headed back in the old town, and climbed to the foot of Montale, the Third Tower, and the only one that can’t be visited. But what a view! Monte Titano is the highest (I think) peak of the area, and you can see far into Italy and the Adriatic from there.

I picknicked there, then went to Cesta, the Second Tower. I bought a multi-Museum pass, which, for a mere eight euros, will get you to six different museums and monuments in the city! This time, it was possible to climb all the way at the top of the tower, with stuuuuuunning views. I repeated the operation at the First Tower, Guaita. Città di San Marino is very likely to get a free entry into the top tier of my capital cities list!

The next stop with my pass was the Seat of the Government! Yes, you can enter the chamber of the Parliament to visit!

Luckily for me, one of the museum included in the pass is the Stamps and Coins museum. There I marvelled at the old San Marinese coins, but mostly at some shiny perfect euro coins. From what the museum employee told me, only the four bigger coins have ever been put into circulation, although some sources suggest a small amount of 1-10 cents circulating in the early years. Anyway, when I payed for a stamp (who will be the lucky one?), the employee gave me back exactly one coins of each, from 20 cents to two euros! Later that day, I sat on a random bench and found another 50 cents coin. Turns out, I got a total of nine different coins and all of them were from different value/years. That was really my lucky day!

My last museum was the State Museum of Art, showcasing artifacts from Antiquity, Romans and Egyptians mostly, as well as paintings up to the Renaissance.

It was already 4 PM by now, and my batteries started to deplete. I decided to retreat to the hostel to recharge, and climbed back up for the sunset. However, just the way down was exhausting, and my poor legs were in shambles. I stayed at the hostel, chilling in front of the sea view.

What a great day!