Hello, did a day trip to Trieste (in Italy) yesterday to visit the Miramare Castle which is just down the coast from the city. Trieste is only a (direct) 1 1/2 hour bus ride from here, so it's easy to get too. It's a Hapsburg castle dating from the mid 1800s and sits on a promontory on the sea.
It was an uneventful trip and the weather is holding out for the time being, being in the mid 20s. However, my trip back from Genoa was interesting. First of all five people were thrown out of my carriage - which was superior 2nd class (they have that on Italian trains, often it's the same price (online) as normal economy - I think the difference is the seats are bigger). I was glad to see that one of them was the person who whacked me with his portfolio bag on his way through the carriage. Then the conductor told those going to Venice that we could move to 1st class - where there were free drinks and newspapers. The person sitting behind me jumped up at every station to have a smoke. Very sad. One thing that irritated me was that when my train came into Venice, the train to Trieste I was catching was just pulling out (they were both on time). It meant I had to wait two hours for the next one. Not great timetabling by Italian railways. I am increasingly liking Italy. It has the most amazing restored buildings mixed with ones falling apart; nice neighbourhoods mixed with dodgy neighbourhoods; friendly people and also people that would steal the shoes off your feet. But it is rarely unsafe and the food is usually good - except when they burn your pizza. Things aren't as tidy, structured and organised as in Austria, and that's not a bad thing. There are more surprises in Italy. The train ticket machines remind you of pick pockets, in Hungary it's part of the State structure. There was even a recent story on Hungary's major highways which are falling apart despite a lot of EU money have been given to improve infrastructure. One thing I find boring is their TV. Maybe it's because I can't speak Italian. They have a lot of TV shopping channels, some even sell cars.
Around Piran the tourists numbers have reduced but still getting a lot of German and Austrian visitors -probably because it's cheaper at this time of year. One Spanish tourist I saw on the local bus seemed to be a collector of wrist bands and bad tattoos. His sunglasses even had a little visor. The other day I was coming back from the shops and caught the local bus. I thought it was late as it was at the stop at an unscheduled time with the driver coming back with a coffee. Then we seemed to take a different route from normal. I then realised that the bus driver had in fact taken a detour to get a coffee and shouldn't have in fact been at the stop I got on in the first place.
It was an uneventful trip and the weather is holding out for the time being, being in the mid 20s. However, my trip back from Genoa was interesting. First of all five people were thrown out of my carriage - which was superior 2nd class (they have that on Italian trains, often it's the same price (online) as normal economy - I think the difference is the seats are bigger). I was glad to see that one of them was the person who whacked me with his portfolio bag on his way through the carriage. Then the conductor told those going to Venice that we could move to 1st class - where there were free drinks and newspapers. The person sitting behind me jumped up at every station to have a smoke. Very sad. One thing that irritated me was that when my train came into Venice, the train to Trieste I was catching was just pulling out (they were both on time). It meant I had to wait two hours for the next one. Not great timetabling by Italian railways. I am increasingly liking Italy. It has the most amazing restored buildings mixed with ones falling apart; nice neighbourhoods mixed with dodgy neighbourhoods; friendly people and also people that would steal the shoes off your feet. But it is rarely unsafe and the food is usually good - except when they burn your pizza. Things aren't as tidy, structured and organised as in Austria, and that's not a bad thing. There are more surprises in Italy. The train ticket machines remind you of pick pockets, in Hungary it's part of the State structure. There was even a recent story on Hungary's major highways which are falling apart despite a lot of EU money have been given to improve infrastructure. One thing I find boring is their TV. Maybe it's because I can't speak Italian. They have a lot of TV shopping channels, some even sell cars.
Around Piran the tourists numbers have reduced but still getting a lot of German and Austrian visitors -probably because it's cheaper at this time of year. One Spanish tourist I saw on the local bus seemed to be a collector of wrist bands and bad tattoos. His sunglasses even had a little visor. The other day I was coming back from the shops and caught the local bus. I thought it was late as it was at the stop at an unscheduled time with the driver coming back with a coffee. Then we seemed to take a different route from normal. I then realised that the bus driver had in fact taken a detour to get a coffee and shouldn't have in fact been at the stop I got on in the first place.
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