(the following was mostly written on 2023-06-23-Friday)

the aftermath of a rough night, and first impressions of Trieste

The night wasn't so good. I don't think I consecutively slept for more than ninety minutes; the room was very hot, and there were mosquitoes. Not a great start to the travel, but, hell – I'm quite excited, still!

Took the train to Trieste, and have been here since 11AM. Managed to offload my luggage, which was very important for me – it cost some 5.7 euro to hold it for 5 hours at a dedicated storage near the train and bus stations.

With some six or seven hours to kill in the city, I went for a walk downtown. There were many, many tourists in the city, which I found striking, given that this was a weekday (only later would I realise it was a national holiday in Italy). However, to my surprise, most of these seemed to be older bikepackers from god knows where, which is interesting: I would never expect to see an older generation (> 50 years old) go on these kinds of trips with a fully-equipped bicycle, men and women alike.

Most of these were electric bikes, but still: I understand there is a big segment of people who would rather make their tourism trips this way, and that's commendable

This is Trieste's square. Very stunning and impressive, but I suppose it could really use a tree or two in a hot summer day.

finding ways to kill time in a touristic city

This conscious choice to do this (barely) more slow, ecological travel allows for some nice opportunities to get to know other cities. I had done a little research about Trieste, but the downtown, let's call it that, didn't impress me much. Only later, when I started to climb some very hilly and narrow streets, did I realise I had yet to see a single tree (or so it seemed) in the whole city (in fact, the small plaza just in front of the train station had a few; but the rest of the city didn't seem to have much). The way uphill was a little tough, but it unearthed something quite enjoyable: a pretty church, some impressive statues, and a nice view over the rest of the city; all of it was surrounded by a park, which was a very welcome change of scenery.

I guess I became much more sensitive to statues ever since the trip to Angers...

The view over the city; also, some green stuff for a change.

I was sort of trying to avoid eating out again – pizza is always very enticing, but I could not help feeling that I would hardly find a place that would give me my money's worth of an experience – but I actually found out a really simple and homely Indian restaurant. The menu was quite accessible, and the food was tasty. On my own cooking, I tend to rely so much on curry and curcumin, but never really achieve the fullness of taste and creamy texture of a good chana masala; for desert, I was convinced by the ingredient list of the soan papdi, and maybe one day I'll attempt to make it on my own.

There was still some time to kill before leaving for Maribor; I planned to go to a public park (Giardino Pubblico Muzio de Tommasini) and read a little. There was a James Joyce statue – in fact, many statues – but I don't think I recognized any other than him. I even took a small nap. As my luggage was in the paid locker, I was keen on taking it out to avoid extra fees; to carry a large camping backpack on the back, while carrying another via the front embrace...this wasn't so smart. I went back into the city centre, trying to find someplace to work on my Slovene flashcards.

I had already noticed a couple of African men in traditional clothes, trying to engage in conversation with the tourist population. A little after my sitting outside a café, one came to strike a conversation; I do not speak Italian at all, but managed to squeeze some French in and hold a very basic conversation. This nice man was Senegalese, and he was keen on selling me some traditional cooking books; but I had enough books, and maybe not enough money, and in any case too much weight. But we had some fun, and he gave me a bracelet for an euro – I'm grateful that he indulged in my very broken French.

Nice to see Joyce in the park. Not quite sure what his relationship with Trieste was (if there is any).

The partial menu from the Indian restaurant – its name is Yoga, coincidentally – which was actually not that expensive. I welcome that.

All in all, I had a pleasant day; it was nice to get to know Trieste, and the travel was interesting; but it's quite obvious that the most ecological way of traveling is necessarily the most expensive too. Since I stayed one day longer, I had to account for dinner and accommodation, and that days' lunch – and maybe dinner as well, or whatever we can call that at 6PM. I got a vegetarian slice of pizza, before heading into Trieste's bus station, heading outward to Maribor.

the first moments in the farm

The trip is finally done! The moment I stepped out of the bus felt like magic. Daniele was there to pick me up, and I had the opportunity to ask some questions during the drive to Juroski Dol. This seems like a great project. Many of the stories (the ducks and the foxes, the floods, etc.) seem so akin in nature to Michael Pollan's Second Nature – the way culture and nature are so strongly opposed, and how a cultured field will progressively be overrun by nature as soon as man slacks off.

The house is cozy, although the white light is definitely too strong. I did not unpack all my stuff yet, but at least I know there's a better night of sleep ahead than the previous one. Oh! And they provided some mosquito repellent, because there are a few around.