Thursday 9 August 2012

The Adriatic Coast

By Sanne

After leaving the alps our next destination was Lignano where I had arranged to meet some dear friends of my family, the Fragiacomo family. They used to be our neighbours in Denmark but now live all over Europe and I was lucky to catch them as they were all holidaying together in Lignano. Although it had been 10 years since we'd last met it was like we'd only seen each other yesterday. It was so nice to see them all again. And now there was a little new addition to the family - little Ugo who was born only 3 months ago. After being to Pakistan I had wanted to talk to Laura about my experiences there as she lived there for 4 years working for UNICEF. It was really nice to be able to compare my experiences with hers and talk about this country that is so troubled but at the same time fascinating.

I have been to Venice many times but Mark had never been before and as it was only an hour away from Lignano we took the train in one day. Well, what do you say about Venice that people don't already know. Yes, it's beautiful and unique and we enjoyed spending a day just walking around the narrow streets taking it all in.

We had originally wanted to visit the Balkan countries on this trip but of course we ended up going a different route. Now we were only about 100 kms away from the Slovenia border so we thought we would pop in for a short visit. The coastline from Lignano to Trieste is very nice and this continues into Slovenia. Getting through the border was straightforward and we soon after pulled over at a little beach. Here we met Simon from Australia who is traveling from Ireland on a Transalp. He started out with not much of a plan but would like to make it all the way to Australia. We told him a few things about visas, carnet and so forth which he hadn't really taken into consideration but I really hope he makes it all the way to Australia. I really like people like him, who just set off like that without not much of a plan, that's often the best way to travel as it gives you total freedom and leaves you open to whatever the next day might bring.

Since we were now in Slovenia, the Croatia border was even closer so why not get one more country under the belt? The border was easier than easy as the border police didn't even bother looking up as people went past holding up their passports. Hmm if we had known it would have been that easy maybe we would have spent some more time here. Instead we did a 50 km loop where to be honest we didn't see very much, but Mark found it cool to rack up another country! I wasn't too fussed but maybe that's because I'm European.

It was sad to say goodbye to the Fragiacomos after spending 3 days in their great company. I hope it won't be another 10 years before I see them again! At least we'll be seeing Nadia, Marc and the kids in Luxembourg later in the year. Great people, great friends.

Venice



Saw this one on a wall. I like the message.

Buon Appetito

The Rialto Bridge


San Marco Square






Simon, the Aussie biker we met in Slovenia

See? We did go, honest!

 The main piazza in Trieste

The Fragiacomo family: Laura, me, Nadia, Sofia and Bruno

Matthia and Marc

We camped in the garden

Biker chick in training?

Very young biker chick in training :)

Saying goodbye...

Mimi with cute little Ugo

2 comments:

  1. You chose some great destinations! Congrats! I am glad you had so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete