Day 68

The past week was filled with relaxation, adventure, and new foods. The start of Spring Break, we found ourselves in Venice, where we stayed the night at a secluded camping village on the mainland called Camping Jolly. The place was more like a tiny town, and we walked around for ten minutes before we could find our designated cabins. The cabins were basically shipping containers that had the interior reworked and fitted to have the illusion of a luxury hotel room. Very odd. As soon as we woke up, Camella and I went on a nice sixty minute jog along the bike trails that were nearby. After we finished, all of us took the bus onto the main island. The canal city is a jewel floating in the Adriatic. Camella, Deanna, and I walked around the island all day. We were in full backpacker mode, with our turtle shells covering our backpacks to protect them from rain and pickpockets. Piazza San Marco was filled with tourists and little kids chasing pigeons. San Marco's Basilica and the neighboring bell tower had lines that snaked around the buildings, so we decided to admire both of the prime tourist sights from outside. During our walk around the city we acquired a pizza box, high quality Italian leather products, painting pigments, gelato, and street art. Once night fell, we boarded the train to Trieste and headed east.
Once we arrived in Trieste, Sara, a friend of Camella's from high school, met us at the station and took us to meet her friend and roommate at bar. We enjoyed drinks and getting our first ideas of what the city would be like. The next morning Jess, another high school friend, arrived from Saarbrucken. All of us then went and viewed a castle that was wedged into the side of a cliff and overlooking the sea. Constructed in the eighteenth century, Miramare was one of the youngest castles we had seen. It had terraced gardens, fountains, and a rock pier that led into the sea. The weather was not in our favor and the bottom fell out of the sky after we had been there for thirty minutes. We hurried back to the bus and rode it to the main square in Trieste. After strolling around the city center, we popped into a gelato shop and had the best gelato that I've ever had. For dinner we had pizza and a burrata salad. Sara and Sophie's friends came over and joined us. Despite the language barrier, we all had a wonderful time. After going to bed late and running on little sleep, we all decided to sleep in while Sara and Sophie went to class. Once we got going, we grabbed lunch at bakery and walked around Trieste. We saw Roman ruins, a store that looked like a tiny Ikea, the inside of another gelato shop, new jeans, and lots of dogs. We met up with the our friends and watched the sunset from the pier. When the sun had finally disappeared behind the horizon, we all went back to the apartment and had a delicious pasta dish with homemade sauce from Sara's grandmother's recipe. It reaffirmed my love for Italian food. Our last night in Trieste was filled with laughter and good memories.
We were up bright in early the next morning. Collectively, we decided to go to Ljubljana and spend the day in the Slovenian capital. After an hour long bus ride, we were greeted with sunshine and a wonderful view of the Alps. Our first stop was Metelkova. Metelkova is a city block that's covered in weird art and graffiti. It was interesting to see during daytime, and definitely would've been extremely spooky and haunting at night. We meandered our way through the market and downtown, stopping to have a coffee on a dock placed on the river that cut through the city. After we were reenergized, we decided to hike up to Ljubljana Castle. When we reached the top, we found a bench with a scenic view and ate our sandwiches that had been packed the prior evening. Once we were done eating, we decided to head to Tivoli Park, which was located on the opposite side of the city. The park had many bronze statues of prominent figures in Slovenia's history and lots of ducks. The time for Deanna, Camella, and I to catch our bus to Croatia was beginning to draw near, so we made our way back to the bus station. Once we said goodbye to Jess and Sara, we prepared for the bus ride to Rovinj.
It was dark once we arrived to the Croatian coastal town, and the city life was nonexistent. Our AirBnB host, Lada, was very sweet and gave us recommendations of places to eat, visit, and how to best maximize our time in Rovinj. Once we sat our stuff down in our flat, we headed to a restaurant that was on the harbor, per Lada's suggestion. Since we arrived near closing time, there menu was limited to desserts and pasta. Since I couldn't eat any of the pasta, I had a ricotta mousse with forest berries and a glass of merlot from a local vineyard. Because everything was closed and it was close to midnight, we headed back to our flat and planned our next day. For breakfast the next morning we went to another place on Lada's list and had good food with a great view. We explored what shops were open, the winding, cobblestone streets, and wandered up to the highest point on the peninsula. We sat and admired the sea and our surroundings, and while doing so spotted a grouping of rocks that looked like it was outfitted for locals and tourists to go swimming. We crawled over the area and watched fishing boats go out to sea. It was our second day of good weather, so we wanted to maximize the amount of time we spent outside and in the sun. On our way to the market, we visited more shops and met the sweetest puppy who tried following us. After getting talked into buying weird honey jelly stuff, we walked along the coast more. I discovered that I have a large disdain towards seagulls and learned that you get a free postcard when you use the restroom that's guarded by the old man in the square. The majority of the day was spent wondering around and admiring how unique the village was. We attempted to go to a beach on the southside of the the village, but construction workers denied us passage to the road we needed to take. After having a dinner comprised of sandwiches, banana chips, and rice cakes, we got on the eleven hour bus ride to Split.
The drive felt like it lasted an eternity. The bus stopped each time we reached a village, and never failed to turn all the lights on when it did. The man in front of Deanna decided to vape periodically and the one across the aisle from her would roll a joint every few hours. It was interesting to say the least. The redeeming quality was that Camella and I got the very last row of the bus to ourselves. Unlike the other rows, the back one had five seats all in a row, which made laying down and sleeping very convenient. Since it was an overnight bus, we ended up arriving in Split at 0600. The sun was beginning to rise so it was bright outside, but nothing had opened yet. We weren't supposed to check into our new flat until 1300, so we needed to kill time. We sat by the water and sketched and read until a coffee shop opened. The Diocletian Palace was nearby was, so we walked through it and the neighboring market place until we could check in. Once we were settled in, we took a nap since we were sleep deprived. We went to the Brac the next day and then the next day we went to the Klis Fortress. It was really cool. Then we went home. It was all a lot of fun.