Trieste

The bridge is Ljubljana, and the two canales – one of course overrun by tourists, the other exquisitely quiet. Left gorgeous Ljubljana and headed south again. The Flix buses have been consistently late but the backpackers don’t care as most I chatted to have nowhere to be. I have met a few lovely grey haired backpackers and have been entertained by their experiences. Many have been a bit shell shocked by their first European soiree but how cool that they have avoided the Trafalgar tours and just gone off on buses to explore Eastern Europe.

The bus between Ljubljana and Trieste is lovely and cool but I wouldn’t want to stop on it for much longer than the hour and a half it takes. The bus was going all the way to Venezia Santa Lucia but I don’t think I could have managed the extra few hours in a smelly teenage bedroom – teenage boys feet were well and truly everywhere.

I wasn’t in a hurry to get to Bologna so just had little detours all day. I spent a few hours wandering the streets of Trieste. This trip was my first time there and what a totally gorgeous place it is. There was barely a soul on the street and it was almost like a combination of the Amalfi and Venezia without the hordes of tourists. The population is only a bit over 200,000 and it superbly reflects its important strategic position. These Italian, Slavic, Croatian and Germanic influenced cities and towns are just so beautiful and seem to bring together the best bits of each. The Canal Grande was just beautiful and I had it completely to myself. The history of this area is so very brutal but it now seems to  have an inner peace. The seafront and Piazza Unita d’Italia were stunning and I can’t wait to return to explore this entire region.

I stopped off for a loo stop and gelato lunch in Venezia San Lucia just because I could. The Intercity train arrived in to Mestre but it was an easy ten minutes across the bridge to the hordes of tourists. I sat on the Grande Canale and stuffed limone gelato in my mouth – my daily lunch. A quick trip back to Mestre and jumped on my next train to Bologna. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday.