Blog
Green grin 🇮🇹 🇸🇮
07/09/2022
🇮🇹 Firenze → Trieste → 🇸🇮 Ljubljana
… Which I reach at exactly midnight (The Firenze (Florence) Cathedral, try to follow, guys). I must say it’s not as impressive as I expected from the ground and by night. Anyway, from Cinque Terre NP to the Firenze Cathedral via the Leaning Tower of Pisa in just 5 hours. And they dare say I put quantity before quality!
The first night train of the trip arrives at 2 AM. After the previous day, I’m already pretty tired, but I was not quite prepared for this. The train is a classic regional train, with un-reclining seats, lights on all night, babies crying, an unimaginable number of stops, and of course, the mask. Let’s say that I was not in very good shape when we arrived in Trieste at 9 AM. Not the greatest experience so far.
However, after a quick coffe, the travel adrenaline kicked back in, and I was soon climbing all the way to the top of a hill, to the cathedral. The Roman empire history is still present in the streets of Trieste.
The train for Slovenia is an Austrian train, arranged in compartments with six reclining seats. I fight against sleepiness, until excitement comes back in full force…
I am back in Slovenija!
And, again, I am stunned, right as we cross the border, by the magnificence of its green countryside. What a beautiful, wonderful, pure emerald. I think I’m falling in love.
Once in Ljubljana, I take a suburban train for two minutes, and I walk to the hostel. It’s a great one, where dorms are more akin to private appartments. Each of these appartments has two dorms and a shared kitchen and bathroom. I am sharing my dorm with Nina and Mady, and Kora and her friend whose name I forgot (sorry!), two pairs of German backpacking girls that are so young that I am questionning why I haven’t done that kind of adventure ten years earlier.
I go back downtown, where I use my favourite visiting technique: I stroll randomly around town, taking streets that looks cool. Ljubljana is so relaxed for a capital city. Its center is split in two by the river Ljubljanica, on which are built several beautiful bridges. The architecture is typically Central European, with colourful facades along the main pedestrian streets, which follow the Ljubljanica on both banks.
Oh, Slovenia, I feel your appeal to death, magnetic attraction to your charm and quiet!
Train count: + 3
Total: 17