Trieste was to be our final destination in Italy. We wanted to get to Slovenia (and keeping up with our overland transport theme) we broke up the trip with a night in Trieste. Neither of knew that much about it, except that it was a port city – so we were excited to see what it had to offer.

We arrived early evening, so after freshening up and ditching our bags we headed out to explore. Trieste has a very chilled vibe to it. Canal Grande is surrounded with restaurants, everyone eating outdoors and soaking up the warmth of the sinking sun. We enjoyed a carafe of wine for only €4.90 and pizzas to share (it was our last night in Italy, so naturally pizza was on the cards).

The next morning we explored the grounds surrounding the castle up on the hill before setting out to find a beach. I’d heard that Topolini beach was good, but as we’d decided against visiting Castello Miramare, it was a little too far away for our time frame. We found some ‘bagno’ (‘baths’ that were set on a beach) near the marina but were put off when we realised that the access ways were segregated by gender. Instead we wandered back through the town, stopping at Jazzin for gelato and relaxing in Piazza Unita d’Italia.

The buildings are all old and the centre of town is really quite beautiful. It was a nice change being so close to the water and it created a much appreciated breeze through the town. Even so, we stopped for an air conditioned coffee break at Adoro Cafe, where at last I could indulge in a cold drip coffee. The cafe culture in Trieste was evident; welcomed by the kiwis!

At about 4pm we headed back to our hotel to grab our stuff and once again make our way to the bus stop. Only 15km from the border, we were excited to be entering our next country: Slovenia.