Through the expanses of Emilia-Romagna with a guide. First experience. Rimini and surroundings
On the eve of the upcoming summer holiday season, we suddenly remembered our wonderful trip to Italy in July 2011 and thought, suddenly, our experience will come in handy for someone now...
So, that year we firmly decided to organize an independent voyage to wonderful and charming Italy. I wanted to enjoy its beauties and atmosphere without tedious sightseeing races for a while. At first, we were afraid of many things: who would meet, greet, entertain, and so on. We were even more frightened by going to the embassy, fantasy drew stuffy hours of queues... Sorry, the heavy legacy of the Soviet era.
In fact, our acquaintances, who have long been freed from the fetters of group tourism, inspired us to this feat. They gave several tips, advised a guide in the area where we were going and blessed us on a good journey.
It is also worth noting one important point, both of us are not friends “with the steering wheel” and are not always well versed in the terrain, but during our two-week stay we wanted not only to warm, as they say, “bones” on the beach, but also to travel around the cities and weigh. Therefore, the idea to use the services of an escort with a car, and even charming, according to our friends, and an Italian who speaks Russian well, finally inspired us.
Well, first things first.
We have chosen the district of Rimini, not quite it, but the resort town of Cervia, the Adriatic coast of Italy, the region of Emilia Romagna. We used to rest in Milano Marittima, we liked it and wanted to return. But the prices for the summer season "scaled" for those hotels that we noticed on our last trip. And we chose a town 3 km from MM.
The trip was scheduled for July, preparations began in May.
We booked tickets on the Vim-Avia website. It cost 16tr per person both ways. Paid on the site with a card, received an electronic ticket.
We booked a four-star Universal on the booking. com website, chose it based on reviews, and of course, the price came out at about 900 euros for 2 weeks per person. We contacted the hotel, they confirmed the reservation and offered us a transfer from the airport for 70 euros, we agreed without hesitation, since there were no other options.
A visit to the embassy, or rather to the visa center, which scared us so much, seemed to us a pleasant surprise, all the formalities: waiting, communication with the inspector, took us about half an hour. And a few days later we were pleased to receive our passports, but the number of people in the waiting area had already increased significantly, due to the approach of the summer vacation season.
We also contacted Andrea, our future guide, told him about us and our creative plans, he confirmed to us his readiness to be our guide. The quoted prices were fine with us. It was decided to meet upon arrival in the lobby of our hotel and discuss the route in detail.
They will not describe the flight, stuffy and crowded Domodedovo. We flew normally, we were met by a taxi ordered by the hotel. I will note one thing, the weather upon arrival was not very good: + 22 degrees, strong wind, rain, storm, and so it was in the next few days, in Moscow at that time there was something around 30 degrees. Our confusion knew no bounds. . .
We were also a little embarrassed by the hotel reality, obviously not 4 *, something somewhere around 3.5 *, if you remember the insane friendliness and helpfulness of the staff, and so solid 3 *. The hotel itself is a little old, very modest breakfasts, the contingent is quite mature people, families with children and grandchildren. The hotel provided a discount for a nearby beach. The beach itself is clean and well equipped.
We ate and dined at restaurants in the town. I would like to mention a good family restaurant behind the Gambrinus hotel, alas, I don’t remember the name, but for lunch it’s what you need, especially at the height of a hot day, within walking distance from the beach and our hotel. Very tasty pasta with seafood, mushrooms, pizza from the oven, it was especially good for my taste with gorgonzola, well, and other simple joys of Italian cuisine. For two, they fit into a maximum of 40-50 euros, including wine, water, coffee. We dined often at Al Pirata, mostly enjoyed seafood, I won’t go into details and descriptions of dishes, so as not to lose the opportunity to finish this story and not die, choking on my own saliva.
Now about our guide Andrea. Our acquaintances did not deceive us, in the evening, the next day after our arrival, we were met with a pleasant smiling man. The atmosphere of the first communication placed us at ease and a little dispelled our doubts from the series “you never know what? ”. I will make a reservation in advance, we came to the meeting prepared. Thanks to the efforts of your humble servant, who was not too lazy to spend time and “scroll” the vast expanses of the Internet for reviews of tourists who have visited this region of Italy. Many thanks to everyone on this and other similar sites who share their impressions and make the tourist life easier for me and others like me. Our plans were Bologna, San Leo and Gradara. Andrea approved the choice and suggested Ravenna with its amazing mosaics, Faenza, Brisigella with the surrounding towns, and of course Florence. Well, for dessert, looking ahead, it was decided to allocate the remaining time from the rest, of course, for shopping. The plans were Napoleonic, the time was only two weeks, and there was also a beach and an alluring sea nearby, which also cannot be ignored. But the stars were so formed, in the first week we were disastrously unlucky with the weather, and the next sea did not warm up right away, there was absolutely nothing to do on the beach. And we, many times thanking the sky for sending us Andrea, arranged a deep immersion in the world of history and culture of Italy. On the way to the sights, he regularly amused us with stories about Italians and Italian life. We managed to visit almost all of the above cities, visited San Marino, and we also liked the town of Cesena, about 20-30 minutes drive from the town where we lived. The description of the beauties and atmosphere of these beautiful cities deserves a separate work, and I hope that inspiration will not leave me in the future.
As souvenirs, we brought Sangiovese wine, purchased on the advice of our Italian friend, worm salt, which is produced by natural evaporation from sea water, and all kinds of knick-knacks.
After a couple of years, the emotions from this trip do not leave us. Italy at that time opened up to us even more and deeper, and now I do not hide my boundless devoted love for this country.
I hope our experience will inspire someone else, and someone like us, perhaps, will discover all the delights of individual tourism. With pleasure I will recommend our guide Andrea, who has now become our friend, who took care of us all the time of our stay, albeit not disinterestedly, but, friends, those emotions, impressions and discoveries that we made on the trip - isn't it priceless !! ! Although it is possible we're just lucky.