Trieste
The drive to Trieste was an easy one. I’d entered 3 Aree Di Sosta’s into the GPS and headed for the one closest to the centre of town. It turned out to be a harbour front car park and although there was another motorhome parked I could not see any signs indicating that this was an overnight location or indeed that it was free. Less than 2km away was the next nearest Sosta which had all the usual motorhome signage and evidence of where you could dump grey water and take on fresh water. It appeared that you could stay there for free for up to 72 hours.
Whilst it was not the most scenic location I parked up and had lunch. It was good to have my appetite back since the temperature had cooled down. Later in the evening I went for a walk around town, taking some photographs and visiting a supermarket to buy some supplies.
After cooking my evening meal and catching up on some emails it was time for bed.
Monday morning was a lazy one, much of the time spent contemplating when I should cross the border into Slovenia. Whilst I was keen to move on three things were preventing me from doing so:
- There were not a large number of free camping places like in Italy.
- I had internet access in Italy and was still expecting some important messages.
- To use Slovenian motorways I would need to buy a vignette and did not want to buy it too early only to see it expire before I had time to visit Croatia and drive back through Slovenia.
In the afternoon for a change of scenery I decided I would try the other sosta I had yet to visit. It was close to Grotta Gigante, the world’s largest accessible cave and 2nd largest natural chamber in the world. I decided to visit it to see if it could be somewhere to visit the following day. When I arrived in the car park I was not especially impressed. There were more posters about the caves I was planning to visit in Slovenia than their own cave and I decided to save the €9.00 entry fee. I hope I did not miss a spectacular sight! Having left Grotta Gigante I headed to the sosta which was overlooking the sea which meant I had a slight breeze which was very welcome. I was charged €5.00 but had I arrived after 6pm I think it would have been free. The whole harbour front was packed with Italians young and old sunbathing. I’d arranged to chat to an American lady called Joy via Skype at 6pm who was interested in touring Europe with me. We spent more than an hour chatting and I will give more details in a separate post. After my evening meal I sent my ex Jen a text to wish her a happy birthday for the following day before retiring to bed.