At this point in our journey, we saw areas I knew very little about, so I was excited as we made our way through central Italy again. Our first stop of the day was Padua. Known for having the second largest square in Europe (second only to Red Square in Russia), we had the chance to explore the concentric circles connected by bridges making up the square, which led to a fountain in the center.

We walked to the Cathedral of St. Anthony a few blocks away. Mass was happening, but visitors could enter on the left, walk behind the alter, and out the other side. The tomb of St. Anthony was in a chapel on the one side, and just beyond that was a wall of relics carefully displayed and numbered. This was an amazing structure to visit.

Back on the bus we headed South for about 2.5 hours to the micronation of San Marino close to the Adriatic Sea. This hilltop destination measuring about 2,500 feet above sea level offered amazing views when we arrived. Still, clouds and fog moved in quickly, obscuring our view of the valley that stretched far below. Our first order of business was to eat lunch with a fixed menu before heading out to explore.

A few of us wanted to search for the tourist office to obtain our novelty passport stamp. We learned the office relocated to the Stamp and Coin Museum, but thankfully it was only one street away. We paid five euros, handed over our passports, and walked away with a wonderfully cheap souvenir. On the way back to the bus parking area we strolled by streets loaded with souvenir shops selling some common trinkets. We saw magnets, novelty euros, local alcohol, and MANY perfume shops.

Later that night we made a quick stop in Gubbio. We passed an ancient theatre to the right of our parking area, but we could not walk to the ruins. We hiked up to the top of a hill to see the church, but it was closed for repairs…and then it started raining. It was meant to be a short stop anyway, so we grabbed some photos of the hillside streets and then walked back to the bus to head to our hotel.