Oh we would walk 500 kilometres…

Day 35 Gradisca d’Isonzo to San Giovanni di Duino

Hours walked: 8:15 - 3:30

Kilometres walked: 21

Quote of the day: “Do you feel like Italians drink coffee like they fill gas?” -Tamar

Our last big day. We woke up with a sense of excitement (“I actually woke up with a sense of tiredness” -Aurora is commenting as we write) that was bolstered by the local pasticceria (“Just say bakery”). Fuelled with jam filled croissants (“They were very good!”) and little bitty cookies, we set off south east as usual. 

After crossing the Sacred Flume of the European People (ie the Isonzo River), we began our ascent of Mt. Michele. It was a hot day, even at 9 am, but before 10 we made it to the top, which is full of remnants of WW1. 

This mountain saw a lot of bloodshed - seven thousand Italians were gassed in a surprise attack, and that wasn’t even a main battle. The mountain is honeycombed with trenches, lookout posts and old cannons. Tova was a little bit upset that we didn’t pay money to walk through the tunnels, but we came across some others soon after which we explored and had lunch in (the first cool moment of the day.) We feel like we’ve been chasing battle scenes and front lines of WW1 for two weeks now. 

Our day was mostly on 4x4 tracks and trails. We had a steep descent down to Lago di Doberdo, a large lake which turned out not to exist; instead of a cool swimming hole, we found a broad marsh with a brown stream snaking through it. Our trail made a big loop around the marsh going counterclockwise, but as it looked a little shorter, and as the thermostat crept higher and higher, we chose to follow the hands. 

With the heat and unrelenting sun, we had to limit how much water we drank to make it to the next source. We all hoped that Hotel Pahor would be an oasis with cold drinks on offer. It was closed, but we sat in the cool stone benches at the entrance anyhow, and filled our water bottles from an outdoor tap over and over. 

Keeping flagging spirits high has been more of a challenge these past few days. The sun makes us crabby. Mosquito bites are furiously scratched. Heat rash is very much a thing. Even now, at 9 pm, we parents both have lingering headaches. Sophia and Jakob try to bolster Zadie’s spirits with what Tamar calls “excessive attention and entertainment” - the little one has someone spending time with her basically all day. We’ve gotten a couple of Powerades to hydrate everyone, and the obligatory lollies every 5km (which Aurora assiduously rounds up whenever possible) have helped too. 

Our views approaching the coast were sad and industrial. We all oohed for a moment when we finally glimpsed the long-awaited Mediterranean, but the oohs faded into the smog. It’s too bad they can’t relegate factories and heavy industry somewhere less scenic. We finished our day to the sounds of factories and highways, and we slowly made our way to the small town nestled between train tracks and highways where we would spend the night. We also ticked over the 500km mark for the hike here, which is pretty cool :)

We sat in the sun for half an hour, waiting for our hosts to show up, only to eventually realise we went waiting outside the wrong house (confusion on both ends.) The evening had both wind-downs (like a nice hiker’s meal of dehydrated risotto and bean stew) and bumps (like Zadie’s leg looking increasingly infected and angry). Also, our virtual library gave us Neverseen, which has led to frenzied reading all evening long. Tomorrow we have a chill sixish kilometres to Sistiana and the end of the Alpe Adria Trail. The Trail continues on a long circuit around Trieste through the countryside, but from the outset we knew that a nice beach on the Mediterranean was the ending we wanted.