Day 8

A new country today. In all my travels up and down Italy, I never stepped foot into the Principality of San Marino. Today we drove up the mountains and into the old walled-city. San Marino, like Monaco, is small, but prosperous. As a young boy who collected stamps, I always remember the elaborate stamps that usually were in the shape of a triangle that came from San Marino. From the top of the mountain where the old city is located, one can see the Adriatic many miles away. It’s a very cool place and worth a visit if you’re in the vicinity.

Driving through the old-city of San Marino

  

The rally: Three Regularities today. Our times were good again; 2 seconds off; 1 second off; and finally 1 second off on the last one.

Even though we have figured out what we were doing wrong on the Regularities, I’m afraid it came too late for us to get a podium finish…but there is always next time.

The weather: Although we’re out of the mountains and driving through Tuscany the weather remains very cold; no rain, but no sun.

Lunch today was terrific. We stopped at a small traditional road-side restaurant, Il Sottobusco, and received a traditional Tuscany lunch. My favorite was chicken and mushrooms on a bed of polenta.

A typical Tuscan lunch on the Rally

Biggest surprise: we have ended our day at a hotel/resort called Il Borro. The developer of this property bought a entire village that was in place for over 500 years. He bought every home; every building; and paid to relocate every resident in the village. He then turned the whole place into a very fancy resort with a spa, golf course, gym, some high-end stores, etc. --- very cool real estate idea. Most of the building exteriors duplicated the former village, but the insides of the various buildings have been upgraded to modern specs. A fun place to spend a couple of nights if you’re traveling in these parts.