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Winner's Tour: Looking back at San Marino

07 June 2008 at 11:26 CEST

After a successful and productive visit to Paris, on Tuesday, Dima Bilan and his entourage moved on to San Marino. As the mini-state does not have an airport, the delegation arrived at the small airport of Rimini a bit after midnight.

In the morning, Dima Bilan is guest of San Marino's public radio station, after which he heads for the Minister's Palace. There, he is welcomed by the Minister of Youth of San Marino, who praises Dima for his victory and expresses his hope that the brand new Eurovision Song Contest winner inspires other young people to achieve their goals. "We have good hopes to return to the Eurovision Song Contest," the Minister said. San Marino TV will now evaluate their first ever Eurovision Song Contest adventure, and a final decision will be taken before the end of the year.

After Dima and Edvin Marton perform Believe a-capella at the Minister's guest room, the Minister admits that this was the first time ever live music was performed in that room. After Dima performs a minute of classic Italian opera, the Russian pop star said: "Then this was the second time!"

The Minister presented Dima Bilan six hand made soldier miniatures, but immediately admitted that San Marino does not have an army. 

After the visit to the Minister, Dima went for a walk through San Marino's old town. Surprisingly, many Russian tourists were visiting the mountain state, who were all excited to see their Eurovision Song Contest winner, and many thus took the opportunity to take photos with their idol.

Before the Winner's Tour of 2008 was officially completed, Dima Bilan performed at a large shopping mall together with Miodio, this year's representatives of San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest. The performance was broadcast by San Marino TV and registered by other media.