Three years ago I visited Trieste. Some of you may remember me writing about it in my old travel blog From Barcelona to Tahiti. I spent a lot of time on the waterfront watching the yachts coming and going from the marina, and dreamed that one day I too would sail into this beautiful city.

Leaving Venice to return to Croatia gave me the opportunity to do just that. Trieste is a quite a distance from Venice so we left at dawn. We arrived at the Marina San Giusto mid-afternoon and were given a berth on the main pier next to the marina office and restaurant/bar. This meant we were a very short distance to the facilities. Unfortunately the bar turned into a very noisy nightclub that stayed open most of the night. Thankfully I’d packed some earplugs.

We spent three very enjoyable days and nights in Trieste, also taking advantage of being in a large city to do some of our more mundane tasks like washing and grocery shopping.

 

Our first stop after leaving Trieste was for brunch and some sightseeing in Muggia, a very cute and ancient fishing village only a short sail away. It was our last chance for some good Italian coffee and croissants. The croissants in Italy are excellent and a popular choice for breakfast. They come filled with marmalade, chocolate or sometimes creme. The creme filling varies depending on the region. In Sicily it was a ricotta filling, very similar to what you’d find in a cannoli. In the north it was more like a custard, but still very delicious.

 

From Muggia we sailed on to Portoroz in Slovenia.  Slovenia has only a short coastline and Portoroz is the last big town before the Croatian border. We were all eager to see a bit more of Slovenia so rented a couple of small cars and spent the next day driving to Lake Bled, a few hours north of the coast, and very close to the Austrian border. We spent most of the afternoon swimming, walking and enjoying the spectacular scenery.

 

We then drove on to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital. Ljubljana’s beautiful old city centre is dominated by a medieval castle sitting high on a hill. It was a Friday night and the streets were buzzing with tourists and locals. We discovered Open Kitchen, a food market with around thirty stalls, where Slovenian chefs cook and promote their dishes. It was a great way to enjoy the local food and culture. We headed home after dinner, exhausted but happy to have seen so much of beautiful Slovenia.

 

We were enjoying Portoroz so much we booked an extra night at the marina and had a lazy last day lying on a banana lounge under an umbrella at the beach. That night we took the bus to nearby Piran, where we had dinner in the town square, listened to some live music, and watched the local families enjoying the entertainment.