Last week in Italy

Monday, we spent walking around Palermo, visiting the port, the cathedral and walking past two opera houses and various churches, every town and city in Italy appears to have loads of churches.

Had a traditional Italian lunch, in what felt like a very Italian restaurant “Trepani” the food was really good.

We then got a train back along the north coast of Sicily, to Messina to catch the sleeper train to Rome. The sleeper train was delayed, we grabbed a KFC for dinner. As we were hanging around the station the police approached us to see our passports, we must have looked shifty.

Tuesday, we awoke on the sleeper train, we did get some sleep, but not that much. We arrived in Rome late, but luckily our next train was not for a couple of hours, so we still made that connection via Bologna and on to Rimini. Finally we caught a bus to San Marino, and then walked with our bags up through the steep historic streets to our hotel.

San Marino is Stunningly picturesque, the old town is a hill top castle with 3 towers, and views over rolling hills down to the sea in the distance. The photos do not do the place any justice. In the summer we are sure it will be mobbed by tourists, but apart from us, and what seems like the obligatory multiple school trips, the place was quite quiet.

Wednesday, we checked out of our San Marino hotel, a bus back to Rimini to catch a train to Ravenna, only a 58 minute train journey today!

Our accommodation was another AirBnB, a room in a lovely flat, walking distance from the train station, and right in the centre of town. Neither of us had heard of Ravenna, but a friend had said, “if you are going to Italy you must go the Ravenna to the mosaics”. So as we were passing we took up the challenge, and the mosaics were well worth the visit.

Friday, back to the train station for a trains to Venice, with a change in Ferrara. Our hotel was on main land Venice, so we dropped our bags, then headed back to the station for a train to Venice (lagoon). On the “causeway” there was the skeleton of a bus still on fire. Both sides of the road were closed, but the rail line was still open.

We have been to Venice before, but it was lovely to see it again, so we walked to the Rialto bridge, St Mark’s Square, and the Bridge of Sighs.

We had wine and chiccetti (Italian tapas) in a square and watched the world go by.

Headed back for a return train, the road was still closed 3 hours later!

The main reason for being in Venice, is that a friend is joining our interrail adventure for a month, not sure if this means they are only 1/3 as mad as us only doing month rather than 3 months, or twice as mad for choosing to travel with us!

Despite Italian airport strikes, they arrived.

Saturday, a train to Trieste, passing a huge marble quarry, Trieste is our final stop in Italy, only time for a quick walk around the block, before catching a train to Ljubljana, Slovenia. A very civilised train, we got a 6 birth compartment to ourselves, the guard when checking our tickets was very stony faced, while Rog was hindered in the process of showing our online passes on his phone as we kept going in and out of tunnels, and the lights were not working. Later on the guard returned to the compartment and handed out chocolates, now that’s service. As we travelled the scenery changed again back to more alpine views.

Checked into another AirBnB, and headed out for a stroll, a beer and dinner, ended up with pizza in a local pub, sitting outside near the river.

Sunday, up to the castle, 1 walking, 2 via the funicular, enjoyed super views over the city. Strolled along the banks of the river, through the flea market, stopped for a coffee, which somehow turned into a beer!! Then we split up, 1 walking to Tivoli park, 1 walking back to the flat for a nap and 1 going on a boat trip up the river.

We had dinner at Vander’s restaurant serving local Slovenian food and wine. Very nice food, which still has a heavy Italian influence.

Trains and Kms

This week:

12 trains

1,961 Kms

So far:

30 trains

5,454 Kms