After the Ride

 Grado has ferry connections to a few other towns in Italy. Trieste is one of them. And bikes are allowed on this route, so we decided to take the one-and-a-half-hour excursion to explore a new city. We were also able to arrange a car rental from Trieste airport for a couple of days later.

Our ferry from Grado to Trieste 

Arriving by ferry to the very heart of Trieste - the Molo Audace pier next to the elegant Piazza Unita d'Italia

Trieste's location in the very northeast corner of Italy

Trieste is located on a narrow strip of land between the Adriatic and the Slovenian border. Of course like every European city, it has lots of history. Being a deep-water port, it has long been an important maritime gateway for Italy and surrounding countries, and has been fought over many times through the ages.

But one thing I didn't know (shame on me) is that the great Irish literary figure James Joyce lived here for many years and in fact it was this city that inspired some of his writing in Ulysses. He is revered in Trieste and one of the more popular city tours is about the places he frequented and lived. I was so surprised when one of the first things I saw on the tourist map of Trieste was the "James Joyce Memorial".

James Joyce is immortalised in Trieste with this statue by the Royal Canal, one of the areas where he resided

Two nights in Trieste gave us time to enjoy wandering around and savoring some more excellent Italian food. Then we headed to the airport to pick up our car (that's another story) and start the hunt for bike boxes. The hunt proved fruitful in the little town of Koper just over the border in Slovenia, which was in fact the first bike shop we tried! That was excellent luck.

One of Trieste's very popular restaurant areas along the Royal Canal

Bike boxes secured!

The guy in the bike shop suggested Piran as a must-see town in Slovenia, so that's where we are now, trying to stay cool in the incredible heat. It really is a lovely little town, surrounded by sea on three sides.

The main square in Piran, Slovenia

Piran

Slovenia has a very short coastline

The car rental story

While in Grado, we were very pleased with ourselves for managing to secure a car rental for the last few days of our trip. Our needs were quite specific as we wanted a vehicle big enough to transport the bikes. Frank managed to get a large car through a car hire agency, pickup in Trieste Airport and drop off at Venice airport, just what we needed.

We've all heard about the great shortage of rental vehicles since the pandemic, so this seemed like a great win, and we were pleased to get the confirmation email back that the vehicle had been secured with the car rental comapny.

On Monday we and the bikes made our way to the lovely quiet Trieste Airport by train and presented ourselves and our car voucher to the card rental booth, only to be told that they had NO CARS!! Long story short, the rental agency may or may not have confirmed the vehicle availability with the actual car provider, but in any case, the car people tell us they had no way of letting us know that they did not have a car for us 🤣

But the good news is we were extremely fortunate that another company in the next office just happened to have a station wagon car available, and we were able to get that one, although it was quite a bit more expensive.

Frank dealing with the car rental business

Our Ford Mondeo does the job nicely - bikes fit in no problem


Comments

  1. JirkaJuly 6, 2022 at 10:31 AM

    So how you will miss the bikes when you get home. Do you think it was nice, but was it enough, or is another plan brewing in your head?

    ReplyDelete
  2. DaphneJuly 6, 2022 at 4:27 PM

    Good question! For now we have enough, but there is the possibility of another bike tour sometime, but no idea where at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JirkaJuly 7, 2022 at 10:32 AM

      Now I realize that you are already leaving tomorrow. We wish you a happy return home and a quick relaxation of your strength for further adventures.

      Delete

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