Well we didn't have to worry about music coming in through the cabin. The first thing to wake us, just before 7am, was a muffled sound from outside asking people to get to their cars. The kids were not impressed as we scooped them from their bunks and started pulling clothes on them. We had no need to worry though as we wouldn't have ended back in Croatia, just as we were getting dressed someone opened the cabin to come in and start cleaning!

The drive to San Marino isn't too long and on the paid motorway takes just 1hr30. The coast road may have been nice but didn't want to have an extra hour of driving just for that. Especially as we've only got a single day in what is said to be the world's oldest surviving republic and 5th smallest country in the world.

We've found free motorhome parking just a short (but steep) way from the cable car and the views are beautiful. It takes us a bit longer to set off as we meet the first British campers we've seen so far on the trip. They've come from Scotland and travel in their motorhome for 3.5 months of the year. Perhaps something Al and I will get to do once we've got the whole kids and work out of the way 😜

The kids find the cable car very exciting as its another different form of transport for us. At the top the views are spectacular and we buy the state museum and monument pass.

On the way to our first stop we pass a Christmas shop, our second of the trip, so we are guaranteed our San Marino bauble.

Our first stop is the public palace which is still used as Parliament today. We're in luck as there is no council meeting today so we get to go inside the council room itself.

Unfortunately the second tower which dates back to the 13th century and houses the museum of ancient weapons is closed today so we're only able to visit the first tower that was built in the 11th century and here we climb to the very top to get the highest views of the day.

Around every corner we're searching for the shade, I've been away many times before in the summer but I can't remember it being this hot. Of course there's one thing that might make things slightly better and that's trying the local ice cream.

In my mega planning spreadsheet I had listed the vampire museum as a worthwhile stop and the kids agreed it would be interesting. The history of werewolves and vampires and the real life stories of those who practiced satanic rituals really were interesting. I thought the kids might be a bit scared by some of the displays but it turns out not and Robert thanked us for finding it and taking him.

Afterwards we got back to our list of state museums and the coin and stamp collection was next. It was more interesting than I suspected with displays and explanations of the memorial coins / stamps made to celebrate people and events. They now use the euro, despite not being part of the EU, and have a limited edition of their own coins, although unlikely to find many in general circulation due to their limited numbers and people who collect them.

The last museum on the list was the state museum displaying archeological and artistic artefacts related to the legend of the founder Saint, the history of the Republic and its institutions. The kids (and us) were a bit museumed out by this point so it was a bit of a whirlwind tour getting the kids to choose their favourite thing on each floor to show us.

We'd been promising the kids some real Italian food ever since we started planning this trip since last year when we had just a day in Italy and had our rental van broken into we missed out on trying the food and spent it in the police station instead.

We got a table right outside the palace so we could see the changing of the guard and afterwards the kids got their photo taken.

With it being such a late night yesterday and an early start today the kids were really flagging so as much as we'd like to have stayed to see the old town all lit up at night we came back down on the cable car to get the kids an earlier night. This did at least give me the chance to complete a brutally hilly 3 mile run and I'll likely have an early night myself as we head to Moderna in the morning.