July 14, 2012
Entering the Serene Republic: Ravenna - Rimini
TODAY we visited the Serene Republic of San Marino. And I have a stamp in my passport to prove it.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Not that you need a visa but the country - which is surrounded by, yet far older than, Italy - is such a tourist trap that it will sell a colourful but unnecessary visa for five euros. And I'm not going to turn down that. No matter how much Steph disapproves...
I can't say why I wanted to go there. I suppose it is just an absurd idea that it exists in the first place, along with its own government, army, police force, international soccer team and, er, tourist office. It stands at the top of a traffic-heavy hill that rises to 600 metres from not far above sea level.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
It's the world's oldest sovereign state and constitutional republic. It has one of the world's highest gross domestic production for its population (30 000), no national debt and a budget surplus. My five euros have helped secure all that.
If that weren't novel enough, its former citizens include Abraham Lincoln. San Marino gave him nationality after he wrote a nice letter about "a government founded on republican principles capable of being so administered as to be secure and enduring."
I can't say it was really worth the effort and fumes to get there. I'll bet Abe never went on a loaded bike. And yet I'm glad we did.
There are two parts to the capital: the new town and then the centro storico far enough up a cliff that none but the courageous would get there by anything but cable car. At the entrance to the busy but car-free roads is a statue of an anguished mother clutching her child. It marks the day San Marino was bombed by the British after Churchill mistakenly believed it had sided with the Germans. In reality, it had stayed neutral.
The country is only 61 square kilometres, half the size of Liechtenstein. The raid killed at least 35 and San Marino has never forgotten. Perhaps by chance or as a result, it had the world's first democratically elected communist government, from 1945 to 1957.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |