Hours walked: 8:30 - 3:30
Kilometres walked: 20.5
Quote of the day: “Oh, wow! Shoehorns are actually the greatest! I love you my little friend!” - Tova, when Jakob explained that she had been using the wrong end.
Today was a long hike with many busy roads - the only one of our 33 Alpe Adria Trail segments that other hikers gave a 2/5. It started well enough, with a visit to a cute church on the way out of town and a tasty coffee, but by 9:30 Tova was having a good old-fashioned meltdown. Much of the morning was spent in disciplinarian mode, which is never much fun for anyone. But she bounced back, Sophia obligingly played more D&D with her, and we plodded on along the lovely vineyards that line our days.
It was also scorchingly hot, which is deflating - but then at lunchtime everything turned around. We hit a supermarket, meaning bread and cheese got jazzed up with fruit, chips, Powerade. We got croccantini (candied almonds) Eurospar ice cream cones, remarkably good. And, best of all, the sky clouded over and we even got a sprinkling of rain.
The cool-down and treats buoyed everyone’s spirits, and we spent part of the afternoon reading aloud (we are into the final chapters of Harry Potter 6). Then it got hot again, and we ran low on water. We pared off an unpleasant-looking kilometre of road-walking through Farra d’Isonzo, finding our way instead across some farmers’ fields without much trouble.
Gradisca d’Isonzo greeted us with a playground, water fountain and ancient city wall all at once: good start! The mosquitoes chased us away from the playground within minutes, and we walked into town. Gradisca seems extremely cute: many narrow streets with chapels, artisan stores and bars, and a couple of large green squares with the ubiquitous war memorials in the centres. Our hotel, HT Trieste, was among the nicest of the whole trip, making us feel quite pampered. Tamar and I had coffee and stealth gelato (very much a thing I’m afraid), and then dinner was excellent pizza at a restaurant that was much too fancy for us: white linen tablecloths and hiker families don’t really mix!
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