Day 19: Ocizla to Trieste

As we arose this morning, our feelings were mixed and hard to describe. The finish line of the EPW awaited but in our minds and hearts we were already trying to figure out what we had just done. But 18 kilometers separated us from Trieste, Italy and it was time to walk. But first, a very nice breakfast was provided by our host, Jana. It was a redemption of sorts for somewhat of an odd hostel stay. We started walking shortly after 6:30 a.m. It was a cool morning with a few nice wooded paths and plenty of steep downhill that brought us to a small bridge.  The bridge separated Slovenia from Italy and we crossed around 8am. Next was the one kilometer climb that took us to views of the Adriatic Sea and a herd of mountain goats.

And with that, we made our ten kilometer slightly down hill descent into Trieste with little conversation. We arrived at the Fontana dei  Quattro Continenti and took a photograph, thus ending our EPW. Then it was on to find the great espresso of Italy. We had a couple nice espressos and some tasty pastries before Maxine went on her way to her hotel and we moved onto to ours.  After a short rest Ed and I wandered the old city and went down by the sea and had more coffee (btw, the legend is true. The espresso here is excellent!) before returning to our place for bathing and more rest. We met up with Maxine for our last dinner at a casual hip joint and then went to another place for dessert after Maxine dipped her feet in the Adriatic Sea. We said our goodbyes and said we hoped to meet again.