Slovenia 7: Trieste

Route: Paljevo-Trieste

Cycled kilometers: 70
Elevation gain: 523

Friday, 27.08.2021

Today was the last day of our bike tour and we split up: while Max and Nico took various public transportation back to Maribor to pick up the car and reach our destination Trieste in Italy, Krissi, Anna, and I wanted to reach this destination by bike.

Due to the low elevation gain, we decided to take the route through Italy. But first, we cycled along the beautiful path along the Soča River until Šempeter pri Gorici.

Then it got unpleasant: we had to ride about 20 kilometers through Slovenian and Italian border towns, which was not fun, especially because we didn't have Max, our navigator, with us and the rest of us weren't as good at this activity.

After that, we always rode on a busy road in eastern Italy. That was not exactly pleasant either. At one point, we got lost to the extent that we almost ended up on a highway.

After a much-needed lunch break somewhere in the shade of an unnamed and insignificant village, it got better. Although we still rode on the busy road, we had the luxury of our own bike lane and we rolled downhill for about 10 kilometers. To our left, it was rocky, and to our right, we looked down on the Adriatic Sea below us. It was beautiful. And just like that, we reached Trieste. We rode along the promenade for another approximately 7 kilometers, treated ourselves to ice cream, and enjoyed the view of the sea. It wasn't really hot today, but that didn't matter.

Finally, we reached the old town where our booked accommodation was located, from where we had a magnificent view of the harbor and the city. Then the three of us started exploring, but we mostly strolled through the city, absorbed the atmosphere, only looked at the buildings from the outside, and eventually looked for a beach to swim.

Finding such a beach turned out to be more difficult than expected. There was only one within walking distance, where you had to pay an entrance fee, with large stones on the beach and separate areas for men and women. But it was sufficient for our purposes.

In the evening, we met up with acquaintances of Anna to have some beer and chat. That was very nice, but we were even happier when our travel companions Nico and Max joined us again around half past 10. Together, we went to have pizza, drink, and experience the completely different night Trieste, which was much more lively. So it became an absolutely successful conclusion of our diverse journey from Slovenian Maribor to Italian Trieste.

After another short swim in the sea the next day, we set off back home by car, but due to heavy traffic in Slovenia, we took the country road and saw many of the places we explored again.