Having travelled from Bovec, Slovenia we headed in a southerly direction which took us across more mountain passes and in to the northeast of Italy. On our border crossing, we were treated to yet another spectacular river with irredescant blue waters and numerous mini waterfalls.

Italian border near Uccea, Italy,

As we descended out of the mountains we were sad to leave behind the stunning mountains. Once out of the mountains we took the motorway off towards Trieste. Sadly, when we arrived in Trieste, Italy, we were presented with a busy port town that looked really tired and tatty. As we explored around the town, we noticed that the wind had really picked up and we were in the middle of quite a storm with the winds damaging building and whipping around the street signs making them sling violently making them hard to read.

As a result of being somewhat disappointed by Trieste, we decided to move further along the coast towards Muggia, Italy. Here we found some attractive marinas, hotels and homes. We were fortunate to stumble across a car park next to the sea, but behind a wall, park and trees. This afforded us some protection, plus it was another free camp spot as the car park only charged from June to September. We settled in for the night hoping for more favourable weather in the morning so that we could explore the marinas on the bikes.

We awoke to find that the storm had calmed significantly overnight and the sun was now even trying to shine through the scattered clouds. We decided to use this opportunity to get out on the bicycles and ride from Italy in to Slovenia.

View across the Adriatic to the Italian Alps

It was a pleasant ride on road and cycle trails ion the quiet coastal road that led from Muggia to Ankaran in Slovenia. It was good to be getting some miles in again and the gradients were very gentle. Throughout the ride we were treated to a picturesque view across the Adriatic towards the rest of Italy, clearly being able to see the snow on the top of the Italian alps.

On one of my wanders I came across a lovely classic Rolls Royce. It was obviously waiting for the wedding party, but looked so good sat there with the reflections of the surrounding stone building, I simply had to stop and capture it.

Church in Muggia, Italy

As our second day came to a close we made plans for our travel the following day choosing our route that we take us through three countries within a few hours, due to the nature of the coastline and countries unusual borders.