Rimini, the summer holiday destination for Europeans, especially Italians, has over 9 miles of beaches with hotels running the length of the beach. Each hotel “owns” the patch of sand in front of it and hires out deck chairs & umbrellas to cashed up tourists, an umbrella and chair costs around €17 - €21 a day. They hire out all types of watercraft and there’s lifeguards on duty daily. A small patch of sand, adjacent to the pier is the “free” beach for people who believe it is ridiculous pay for sitting on sand and soaking up the sun. This is where myself, and my backpacking friends, enjoyed what the Adriatic coast has to offer.
After researching Bologna and not being able to find adequate accommodation, I decided to head to Rimini early and relax before the Misano round of the MotoGP. I arrived Tuesday September 11 from Milan by train, which cost €19 from Milan to Bologna & Bologna to Rimini only €13.50. Sunflower City Hostel is where I stayed and it was fantastic. Apart from the shower flooding (apparently due to too much sand) I didn’t have any problems. The hostel staff were great, the dorms had good ventilation and plenty of space, the kitchen was well equipped and there was a pretty good common area to meet people. I would go back here to party in the summer months, but it’s a pretty quiet place otherwise. The Tuesday I arrived I was told there were only 13 people staying in the hostel, so there wasn’t much happening. It filled up by the weekend. I met lots of cool people at the hostel from all over the world; The UK, Ireland, Poland, Australia, USA, Spain, Germany, Belarus, Austria, Italy, France, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. It was fun to chat with so many nationalities.
On the Wednesday Sian from The UK, Agnieszka from Poland and I went and made use of the “free” beach. It was around 25-30°, the water was clear and felt like a bath. This was my first swim in Europe! We chilled on the beach till late afternoon and made our way back to the hostel. Wednesday nights are Pub Crawl nights and there were around 10 of us from our hostel who went including 8 women, a 35yo Italian bloke who didn’t speak very good English and me. It was fun.
On Thursday sometime after lunch we decided to check out San Marino, the worlds oldest Republic… in the rain. This was the worst decision of the year as San Marino is hilly, high up on a mountain, and is known for the beautiful views. I hold Sian and Aga fully responsible, as I was clearly not in a state to make decisions (after the pub crawl). It was a waste of a €9 bus ticket, although we did have a laugh at lunch, and stole Gelato spoons.
Friday was Free practice for the Aperol di San Marino e Riviera di Rimini. I met Amy, a fellow Melbournian, the night before and she was also in town for the GP. We took the train to Misano Adriatico station and walked to the ticket office, around 1km from the station. Once Amy had her ticket we found out there was no bus to the circuit, so we shared a taxi with a QLD couple (who wouldn’t let us pay… thanks guys). The track was wet and the riders on track were very few & far between. In the MotoGP category only 13 out of the 20 riders took to the track. Most Prototypes didn’t bother as the track was too damp for slicks but too dry for wet tyres. As is the case in Malaysia, on Fridays a weekend ticket holder can sit on most grandstands around the circuit, regardless of the ticket type. We made the most of this and checked out all stands between turns 8 & 16. We took some photos and had a look around the track. From the main straight to turn 7 were off limits for us, but we saw enough as it was. Amy has a habit of hiccupping daily. Every day she would come out with at least one… Hilarious.
Friday night we went out and partied until the early hours with our group of 8 women and me! Haha
Saturday qualifying was great! The track had dried out and the guys were making up for lost time on Friday. Dani ended up on pole just 0.018 of a second in front of Jorge. The General admission seating areas were split into 2 sections, Prato1 & Prato 2. I had a ticket to Prato 2, but was stoked when I could get into Prato 1. The view was so much better, although we didn’t have a screen. We could see the starting grid, from turns 7 to 12, turns 15 to 16 and back onto the start/finish straight. As the GP bikes came out of turn 12 and into 13 they dropped 3 gears in less than one second… It was an amazing sound!!
Since Amy had a grandstand ticket, on Saturday afternoon I met Kerry, Mike & Colin from Liverpool. Colin is Kerry and Mike’s dad and they go to Silverstone & one other MotoGP European round each year. They saved me from chilling out by myself and were proud of the contribution I made to the empty beer can pile on the Sunday! Kerry is a Jorge fan and pays €40 per year to be part of the official fan club, which includes a T-shirt, hat, key ring, poster, stickers, a personal thank you letter from Jorge and an invitation for a dinner (in Spain) once a year where you can meet him. She’s been to the dinner a couple of times and loves it. Valentino is Mike’s main man and €40 gets him a shirt, cap, watch and an official membership card. Once a year in Tuvulia they have a party, but he said it’s impossible to meet Valentino Rossi himself. If Casey had a fan club I’d be in it for sure!!
Race day we arrived at the track early and I found the guys from Liverpool just after Moto3 warm up. Beer was on the menu from around 11 and we had a great day! Both Moto3 and Moto2 races were very entertaining. Mark Marquez beat Espargaro to the line by 0.359 of a second in the Moto2 race and one second separated the top 4 riders in Moto3. Karal Abraham’s problematic season didn’t disappoint at Misano, as he’s clutch refused to work on the grid. Once the red lights went on, he had a clutch problem & put up he’s hand, this led to chaos. Instead of the red lights going out as normal, flashing amber lights bracketed the red lights and yellow flags were waved. This caused a mass confusion, as the riders hadn’t a clue what to do. For the full story click HERE. In the second start Pedrosa had to start from the back of the grid because of a problem with he’s tyre warmer, and on he’s way back through the field, he was taken out by Hector Barbara on the first lap. Lorenzo won the race comfortably with a surprising Valentino in 2nd and Alvaro Bautista in 3rd. It was great to see Rossi come 2nd and the crowd were ecstatic!! Great for them.
On Monday Amy and I went to San Marino… see other Blog.
Tuesday and Wednesday were just chill out days. I slept, walked around the old town and took photos. We had dinner out a couple of times, ate pizza more than we should have, drank most nights and just chilled in the hostel. They were a great bunch to hang out with and we were all sad to say goodbye. I’ve planned to visit a few of them in my travels through Europe. Wednesday afternoon I booked my train rides to Munich. It cost around €150 and took around 18 hours with all stops.
- Weather was around 20-25 each day
- In Italy they have Virgin Radio
Below: The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. We sat on turn 11 Curvone.