For the last day in Italy, we went to visit San Marino. I was here also over 10 years ago and I couldn’t remember it, so I was really curious to see if going back and walking down those streets would bring back memories (sadly, it didn’t but that meant that I could live the experience brand new). San Marino is the capital of the Republic of San Marino and it is situated at a high altitude, thus giving us the opportunity to see breath-taking views.
After we said our goodbyes to Disneyland we had to get back on the road for a long ride. As we wanted to relax for a couple of days we decided to stop at Merano, where our favorite thermal spring. We stayed at an amazing hotel with an amazing view both during the night and during the day.
Last time we visited Disneyland we didn’t have the time to visit the second park, the Walt Disney Studios, so we did it this year. It doesn’t necessarily have the same magical vibe but rather a more technical one, if I can say so.
This is the entrance to the studios and inside you will find a big hall with shops and restaurants.
We did that “quick detour” to France just to visit Disneyland. My sister had not seen it and it also was the 25th anniversary of the park, so we thought it was the perfect time to visit it. As for me, I visited Disneyland when I was little (over 10 years ago) so I didn’t quite remember it but Disney always brings joy and happiness in my soul as it is my childhood as it is to many people. If I’m now considered an adult that doesn’t not mean that I’m not still a child at soul and cannot let my imagination free.
From the parking lot, where I could hear Disney songs, I got excited and a wave of nostalgia came over me.
The biggest surprise of this holiday is that we made a “quick detour” to France. Can you guess where we wanted to go? If not, you’ll find out in the next blog post. The road trip from Italy to France was kind of long as we traveled by car but along the ride we got to see a lot of nice scenery.
It’s finally that time again! Travelling is one of the most amazing things to experience. For me it’s an opportunity to get out of my city, to get inspired, to relax and just absorb every new thing I can. This year me together with my family went to Italy and visited the small town Marina di Ravenna. It is right on the east coast and has access to the Adriatic Sea. For the first day after the arrival we went for a couple of hours to the beach. They have here a rather long beach coast and nice water.
The owner of the house in which we stayed for the time being in Italy has recommended us to go visit a city called Sankt Ulrich/Ortis and take the funicular Raschötz to get at the top of the mountain and see the panoramic view.
We chose to get the funicular one way only and return at the base of the mountain by foot. I have a fear of heights and even though the funicular is like a train it still made me a little bit nervous.
After we reached the station up the mountain you still could hike for half an hour to see a big cross on top of the mountain. What helped us a lot and made the hike easier were the trekking poles. They are like the poles you use when skiing but these are especially made for wandering on trickier grounds.
Although it was a difficult hike it was really nice to admire the view and nature around you and breathe in the cold and clean air. There weren’t many persons around and it was pretty quite.
Near the top of the mountain, on our way we found this little dude hanging around. It’s a prey bird (I don’t know exactly what it’s called) carved in wood and it was beautifully done.
After catching our breath and hanging around at the top of the mountain I took some photos of the view. I am sorry for so many photos but it really was spectacular and beautiful and I just couldn’t help myself.
Those mountains which you can see in the background on the right side are called The Dolomites and they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They look so special and have and uncommon form next to the other mountains and they look so empowering and massive.
We still had to begin our hike down the mountain to go back to our car. The hike ’til the base of the mountain were 2 and a half hours downhill. It didn’t sound that bad, I mean your just going downhill… at least, that’s what I thought at the beginning. The hike wasn’t that bad but we had to be careful because the road we took was full of small stones and you could easily slip and fall. On the way down I didn’t take many photos because it still was an exhausting trip.
We always were on the look for some shortcuts through the woods and sometimes we found some and it felt like we were on some adventure. One of the shortcuts looked like this:
Anyway, we managed to reach our car after those 2 and a half hours and we wore so tired, this even wasn’t the worst part. The next day we all had muscle soreness, I just couldn’t walk without feeling my poor muscles “scream” and the muscles from my waistline were exhausted but it was worth it and I would do it again.
P.S. As you can see in the title I also added day 6 in this blog post, that is because after our exhausting hike we were so tired and could barely move we decided to go to the thermal springs in Merano and I already wrote an article about it.
dreamling 