St. Marinus

La Grotta Hotel is known for it’s amazing breakfasts, which are served in an old Grotto attached to the hotel. Filling up on delicious Italian breads and cheeses we once more headed out to explore San Marino City.

The Cathedral of San Marino is unique compared to other European Cathedrals we had seen thus far. It was built in the Romanesque Style with exterior columns as well as white marble columns on the inside. The sanctuary was elegant and tastefully trimmed in gold and simple frescos. The relics of St. Marinus were located under the altar. Seamus even lit a candle and said a pray so he could be a good stonemason and sculptor just like St. Marinus. Marinus is the founder of San Marino, which is named after him. He was a stonemason monk who came from Croatia to help build the city of Rimini in Italy. He then went west 45km and founded a monastery on top of Mt. Titano in 301AD.

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From the church we walked down to the Cava dei Balestrieri, a long three-sided crossbow practice range complete with spectator seating. Crossbow archery is the national sport of San Marino. There is also a crossbowman Honor Guard. The range was built out of the old stone quarry on the side of the mountain.

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San Marino is full of craft and quirky novelty shops. We found some unique souvenirs. Including a robber ducky sop that sold San Marino themed rubber ducks! Liam, Robert, and I all purchased Nico watches. These specialty watchers are handmade of wood, leather, and steel in San Marino.

Having eaten another delicious San Marino luncheon, we headed to the car to begin the long afternoon drive to Ljubljana, Slovenia. We drove up the coast passing by Ravenna, Venice, and north of Trieste. Soon we found driving along the windy, narrow, tree lined, mountainous roads of Slovenia. We arrived at our lovely apartment and met our friendly host. He was happy to learn we were musicians and everyone enjoyed playing the upright piano in the apartment.

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