Day 21. Urbino

Urbino delivered. In spades.

It’s a UNESCO site and it’s main claim to fame is that Raphael was born there. Those turtles certainly got around didn’t they?

For a small amount of time, it was a Renaissance cultural centre and it’s university was founded in the 1500’s. I do enjoy old university towns, they always have a vibrant feel to them and today was no exception as it’s graduation time.

Tradition dictates the wearing of a wreath once you have graduated and the girls looked gorgeous in theirs, along with their stylish outfits of course. Families followed them around Urbino, filling up glasses of wine on the hoof. There was much singing and rowdiness until they all disappeared around 1pm, either for a snooze or a massive meal.

Urbino’s historic centre is very beautiful, every building is stunning. I particularly liked the Duke’s palace. It definitely gives Ludwig’s castle in Bavaria a run for its money.

Lunch was yet another piadina. Now we’ve discovered them, we are completely addicted. S went Turkish with his and had chicken kebab, mine had a Middle Eastern theme with falafels. They were so filling that I managed about a third with Steve finishing both his and mine. When it came to dinner, We didn’t eat until 9pm and there was no complaining from S about being hungry. That is a first.

After another dawdle around Urbino we set off to explore Fano’s beaches. Unfortunately it was not quite the success of Urbino and we ended up back at our favourite spot in Marotta.

On Friday, we start winding our way home. We’re not in a hurry and have built in a number of 2 night stops to get us used to the thought of normal life resuming.

First stop will be in Tuscany with a visit to Siena. Temperatures are apparently going to rise to 38 degrees!