At 7:05 the catamaran was right on time. It was a smooth and fast three hour skim to Rijeka, where we set out from just two weeks ago. We took two short stops on Cres.
Then an hour waiting at a cafe and we were cruising on the bus to Trieste Italy, across Slovenia. Slovenia again hits me with its beauty, like a giant pine forested national park.
There is a big, hour long hold up at the border ahead of us, then when it clears, we are stamped out and in quickly (only ten of us on the bus were traveling on passports).
We missed the train out to Venice by six minutes due to the border delay, but the trains leave hourly so it is just a matter of waiting around.
The train to Venice, switch, train to Verona and we are on the ground for a few hours of walking and eating before we crash.
And boy, did we need a walk. I was a little stiff after traveling so long.
It is July 15, my 58th birthday, and I think my shazambago is acting up.
Here is a funny weird thing: when we got off the ferry and went to the bus, a pair of ladies we had seen in Unije were on the bus. We got on the train to Venice, sat down, and on walked the same two ladies. Huh. When we switched trains to Verona there they were on the platform. So I asked, Verona?
Bolzano, they said.
That's where we are heading tomorrow.
Also on the platform in Venice we were hit up three times for money, by the "poor widow with a sign" scam, the "I need 90¢ for a ticket" guy, and the gypsy. Now that is a nice thing about Croatia, no beggars. We watched as their partners worked the other six platforms.
VERONA
Well there is not much I can say about Verona as we only had a few hours here. We just could not make the Unije to Castelrotto trip in one day, so this is our "layover city." But that is the price you pay, staying in smaller places: the transportation is not as neat.
So here are a few notes:
It is still a beautiful, clean and well cared for city with a lot to see. We were here seven years ago, and we were not so impressed. Now, we both said that we could come back again for two days. It was better this time around than last time, and I think a lot of it had to do with the much better place we stayed.
If you want to visit Verona you should plan on two days minimum.
Great Roman coliseum, and they still do plays and concerts there. Nice old buildings, lots of churches, a castle, the river, and the house of Juliette, Romeo's main squeeze.
We ate at a nice place by the river. The food was good, the service poor.
We stayed in a great B&B called Avenue, run by a charming guy, Massimo. We are five minutes walk from the train station, about seven minutes walk from the arena, right on the Main Street, four floors up so it is really quiet.
Verona is really at its best late at night, starting about 23:00 when everybody is out walking. So we stayed out as late as we could, then went back up to our room where I crashed hard.