Reaching the Adriatic Sea

The day seems to bright up much earlier these days, partly also because I am very much south than before. Got up at 7am, washed up and headed for breakfast, which was literally bread, butter, jam and coffee! Walked back to the station only to find out that my plans were screwed again - there is an 1103hr train to Koper, with the next one only at 1723hrs; the earliest tour for Skocjan caves only start at 1000hrs!

Felt really disappointed but decided to hike 5km to the caves regardless hoping that the schedules might have changed from what the guidebook has written. If you prefer taking a bus, there is a service that runs from the train station to the caves at certain hours but check the timetables as it is very infrequent during the low season. But I really encourage you to do the hike through little pockets of small towns and forest to be rewarded with an amazing view of the waterfall at the entrance of the caves. Do keep a lookout of the signs to the caves on your right after you exit Divača town, and ensure that you are on the right track by the little sign postings on the trees and street lighting as you head into the forest.

As expected, the earliest tour starts at 1000hrs and will last for an hour and half for the 3km walk inside the caves. As the bus was also nowhere to be seen, I hiked back to Divača, feeling very disappointed that I did not get a chance admire this natural UNESCO heritage site, which some say is like a walk into Jules Verne's "A journey to the Centre of the Earth". However, I have to say I really like the feeling of been back to the nature after so many days wondering around in cities.

Back in the town, was told by the train station master that the train to Koper was not running today, and I should take the replacement bus behind the station. An hour and half later, I was quite fortunate to get on the next bus to Piran at Koper after paying €4 (€1.20 was for my backpack in the luggage compartment). The bus left Koper along the Adriatic coast and made stops along the towns of Izola and Portoroz, which tries to be like the French Rivera, with rows of hotels and casinos by the promenade. On reaching Piran (or Pirano to the Italians across the borders) at 1230hrs, the bus driver pointed me to the adjacent bus to Trieste, which was leaving at 1325hrs, leaving me with less than an hour in this town. It is no wonder that this town remains the locals' favourite seaside town along the Slovenian coast with its pretty Venetian architecture, tiny winding streets and harbour of little boats lines up in the glistering water. Ended up with a whirlwind tour of the town due to the limited time before paying €5.40 to cross the border into the Italian city of Trieste.

An hour and half later, I arrived at the Autobus station in Trieste before paying €9.20 for a train to Venice, that was leaving in 5min! There are no buses from Trieste to Venice as the trains are not expensive and this is probably why no bus companies want to do this route. Even though the travel timings today seem crazy, I find that it was quite ideal for me to cover the various towns, transiting through the various places without wasting too much waiting time. The train left on the dot of 1444hrs and sped up the hills behind the city, perched on the cliffs clinging by the Adriatic coastline, occasionally tunneling through the mountains.

The journey took about 2 hours before Venezia comes into view - has to be ranked as one of the key "oooh...ahhhhh..." feeling as I finally see Venice in getting closer with every passing second that the train inches towards the islands. However, the moment I got off the train station, I was slightly overwhelmed by the "crowds" of people, besides Prague, wasn't really expecting anywhere to be filled with so many people again. First to admit that I already made up my mind at the time to move on to my next destination, as I didn't want to stay on in the crowd. The information counter wasn't very helpful and I ended up finding a internet cafe to check for hostel at my next place, which was Bologna or Firenze. Did take the opportunity to walk through the narrow walkways and bridges connecting the islands before I finally found a toy shop cum mini supermarket cum internet cafe, with the most eloborate dressed shop keeper, who won't feel out of place in the movie "Eyes Wide Shut". Ended up paying €2 + €2 after I just exceeded the initial 20 min limit when I was keying in my card details on hostelworld. The repercusions of this resulted in me missing my train to Florence as I got slightly lost (is an understatement in the labyrith of streets in Venice) on my way back to the train station, without a map and next to zero of Italiano.

Decided to take the next train to Bologna instead as I have missed the last Florence bound train from Venice, hoping to catch another onward train from there. If you want to save money like me, go for the "Regional" trains listed on the excellent Trenitalia website. They might take longer to reach your destinations but the savings (I paid €8.20) are usually half of what you might pay for the Eurostar or Intercity trains. Of course, you need to have the time like me! :)

3 hours later, the train rolled into Bologna Central and I was quite glad to pick up a regional train heading to Firenza in an hour's time. Paid €7.50 for the ticket and just have enough time to pop by the adjacent restuarant owned by Mr Ronald for a quick bite, only to find out that the train was delayed by 40 min when I got back to the station. By the time I got into Firenza Campo de Marte, it was almost midnight and since it was not the main train station of Firenza Santa Maria Novella, my instructions to the hostel was completely useless. Called up the hostel in the end and was advised to either take a train to Firenza SMN or wait 50 min for the last bus to the hostel. Chose the latter as there was no more trains till 1am but was quite glad that the bus driver understood me and drove me all the way in front of the hostel!

Even got told off by the hostel staff that I should have called them to tell them of my delay in future when I am so tired from the day of travelling and running around missing trains. It did remind me again that I should avoid arriving in a new city late in the night as it usually spells more trouble than anything else.

Link to all photos in Slovenia and fresh album of Italy.