Treviso

After our experience in Venice, we felt compelled to do anything except go back. Our decision was to take a short train ride north to Treviso. The smaller city with far fewer tourists was a much better option. We arrived mid morning, went by the tourism office and got a map with a walking tour. Perfect for us. We ambled around taking in the sites of the town with many narrow streets, cafes, markets, old churches and quaint waterways. The city is supposedly the place where they invented Tiramisu but darned if we could find any. But we were happy to have spent the day there as opposed to dealing with the mass of humanity in Venice. We felt like we got a truer taste of a typical Italian town. We are back at our hotel now, preparing for our flight home tomorrow.

Trieste to Venice

We enjoyed our time in Trieste but we had covered the town pretty well. We had reservations in Venice so after a leisurely morning we hopped a train. The ride there was a bit marred by two loud, annoying Americans (it’s no wonder we get a bad rap in Europe). We arrived late morning and quickly found our hotel in the Mestre section. We eventually hopped on a local bus and got to the famed city. But what an eye opener! We had read that it had become mega-touristy but it was a bit beyond our expectations. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a neat city but it’s dirty, graffiti-covered and not the romantic city that it’s portrayed in the media. We wandered, as we do, and took in the normal Venesian sights of canals, narrow streets, and people eating pizza, pasta and gelato.

Trieste

Went to bed late (10:00 p.m.) and didn’t get out of bed until 7:00 a.m. Glorious. We are people who stay fit year round but our bodies and our minds are spent. We are ready for rest and decompression. Rolled out of our room for a lovely breakfast and then slowly made our way out the door to meander the streets of Trieste. We knew we wanted to see the castle so, we headed uphill (haha). On the way, we stopped at the cathedral Santa Maria Maggiore. A quite interesting place. Slightly different vibe than most we have gone in. We then made our way to the castle but it didn’t open until 10:00 so we checked out the Cathedral di San Giusto Martire. This place was even more unique than the first one. 

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.