Wednesday 18th September 2024

No need to wait for the alarm we were both wide awake at 530.

We decided to get up and go and upon reaching the station were gratefully assisted by a slick Italian to get our tickets- all for a €2 donation.

The train ride entertainment was provided by a blonde bimbo fare evader trying to talk her way out of a fine. We think the persistent railway attendant was able to look through the fluttering eyelashes and grab another miscreant.

Again the airport book in and security shuffle was painless and we were soon eating toasted sandwiches – Italian style- and sipping capucinno for breakfast.

That ended the painless start to the day with Air Italia living up to its reputation and delivering an hours delay. Bit of a shame really because the booking staff and onboard crew didn’t do a bad job.

The 45 minute flight was smooth, but not so the landing as the pilot battled the 50km winds to give us an exciting landing- strangely there was none of the usual clapping, perhaps people were too busy wondering if they had spare undies.

The airport exemplified the fact Trieste only has a population of circa 200k people. Not too many staff and most seemed to leave once everyone collected their belongings.

Headed off to the train station for the 40 minute trip to town. Unfortunately, without the aid of our little helper from Rome Termini the ticket purchasing process took longer than expected, generating a lot of toe tapping from the people in the queue.

We missed the express train and enjoyed the leisurely trip to town which gave great mountain and water views. Some pretty serious hills, which hopefully are not an indication of what we will have to tackle. Boat building seemed to be big as well with a cruise liner being built at shipyard north of town.

We were looking forward to visiting Trieste with its amazing history during the two world wars and to see how it had reinvented itself.

Jane as usual had booked a well located apartment not far from the centre of town. It was very untypical of Italian and French accommodation with great sized lounge, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom with a shower that was ‘not so squeezy’.

Had a great lunch in a nearby family restaurant before a walk along the Grand Canal, which strangely had two water polo courts set up in it amongst the moored boats. The canal sides were littered with cafes and restaurant’s, but not particularly crowded.

There is a touch of Paris with tree lined pedestrian only streets littered with alfresco dining opportunities galore. As expected plenty of churches and a plethora of different architectural styles.

We meandered home with the intent of a little siesta to try and minimise the impact of jet lag, but ended up comatose and sleeping through dinner.

During some awake time we did a forward check on weather for the walk. With something like 200mm of rain predicted over the first 5 days, including 120mm in a 3 hour slot on one day, we will either be very wet, flood bound or taking a taxi. Can only hope the forecasters here are as reliable as back home.