Day 16: Trieste to home

I was up early today and so set off to find some food for breakfast, knowing that shops were few and far between and that Sunday is still sacred to the Italians. I shouldn't have bothered; I ended up all the way back to the train station and still had to wait until 09:00 for the Spar to open. That didn't give us much time to pack once breakfast was out the way, but we successfully managed to depart before our 10:30 deadline, and headed back to the station to deposit our suitcases whilst we spent our remaining time in Trieste.

Our route was very straightforward. We decided to hug the coast, which affords us the sea views but is also handy because the main square leads directly on to it. We walked out on a stone pier and looked back at the main square:

And conversely we later got a view from main square out to the sea:

It wasn't long before the heavens opened. We'd been promised a lot of rain prior to coming but with the exception of a rapid deluge in Tirano hadn't seen any. This made up for lost time and we had to scramble to a coffee shop.

Once the rain abated we carried on with our tour, including a visit to the canal (which again more or less touches the sea):

And seeing some rather grand buildings:

The bus services to the airport were not quite so regular on Sundays, so we ended up getting an earlier service than we normally would have. The result is that that we were checked in and through security in about five minutes; perhaps the only time that will ever happen!

Even though that was the end of our holiday, it wasn't the end of the drama. Our car wasn't waiting for us when we got back. The Meet and Greet office told me that it it would there in 15 minutes. I gave them half an hour. When it still wasn't there they told me 5 minutes. 15 minutes later, there was still no sign of it. One of the attendants tried to fob me off with some story about how they were trying to "prioritise it" and "muscle things through". I made him repeat it, since he was clearly saying nothing of substance, and he repeated what he'd said, though seemed to realise I'd cottoned on to his saying nothing at all. And then a manager called me to one side: My car had a flat battery "for some unknown reason" and they were waiting for the AA. I knew exactly what the reason would be and, sure enough, when our car arrived in the bay with several others, whose was the only one with the lights on? Total amateur hour.

We got home a little later than we wanted to because of that massive delay but the ending didn't sour what had been a very relaxing holiday. We both agreed that Zernez was the location we'd head back to if we could only pick one, but we were so lucky too with Locarno, Domodossola and Lugano. Definitely a holiday worth doing!