In Genève I met up with Jeroen, and after a night in a highly overpriced hostel, we took the train to Sion in the Alps. Sion is a city with about 30,000 inhabitants in the Rhone valley. We though our host lived there, but this turned out to be wrong, because he told us to take a bus to a nearby village. After 40 minutes in the bus, and climbing to an altitude of 1300 meters, we were in Vernamiege, a village with 150 inhabitants living in cute wooden houses. Our host really likes to cook, so we eat a couple of very fine dinners with good Swiss wine.
During the days we walked in the mountains. The first day we climbed a mountain and reached the top at 2680 meters. I was great, it felt like a big accomplishment. We did go to Switzerland to climb some mountains, after all. So there we stood, in the snow, looking out over the surrounding mountain tops. Up there it was cold, but actually the weather was perfect the whole day.
The second day of walking we didn’t climb much. Our lack of activity we blamed on the rather large amount of whine we drunk the night before, when two French couch surfers joined our team.
Jeroen left after a couple of days, because he had to go back to work. I stayed for one more night up in the mountains, and then started to hitchhike to Italy. Quite early on, I found out it was a public holiday (first of November), nobody was working and all the shops were closed. I was pretty quiet on the roads. But after a short ride, an Italian guy took me all the way to Milano, over the Simplon pass, which was really beautiful! I had never been to Italy before, so I looked at the map to decide where to couch surf there. I settled for Novara, because it was the right hitchhiking distance, and I like the sound of the name.
The second day of walking we didn’t climb much. Our lack of activity we blamed on the rather large amount of whine we drunk the night before, when two French couch surfers joined our team.
Jeroen left after a couple of days, because he had to go back to work. I stayed for one more night up in the mountains, and then started to hitchhike to Italy. Quite early on, I found out it was a public holiday (first of November), nobody was working and all the shops were closed. I was pretty quiet on the roads. But after a short ride, an Italian guy took me all the way to Milano, over the Simplon pass, which was really beautiful! I had never been to Italy before, so I looked at the map to decide where to couch surf there. I settled for Novara, because it was the right hitchhiking distance, and I like the sound of the name.
From Milano I tried to hitchhike to Novara, my goal for that day, but it was terribly hard to get out of that city (the reason I decided to try to avoid it in the first place, but alas, it was not to be avoided). In the end I took the local commuter train out to Novara. Novara itself is not highly exciting, although I met some great people and the old centre is nice. I also went up and down to Milano one day, just to walk around. Nice city, lots of old buildings, a bit posh for my liking.
After that, I tried to hitchhike to Venice. I actually didn’t ask for couches in Venice, because it is notoriously hard to find a place the (everyone wants to go there, and there are not a lot of places), so I asked people living around it. But then one guy wrote back to me that he just moved to Venice, and if I wanted to I could come there. Yes, I did.
After that, I tried to hitchhike to Venice. I actually didn’t ask for couches in Venice, because it is notoriously hard to find a place the (everyone wants to go there, and there are not a lot of places), so I asked people living around it. But then one guy wrote back to me that he just moved to Venice, and if I wanted to I could come there. Yes, I did.
Getting there was hard, because I got stuck in Milano again. It is too big, and there are too many roads going out from it, so it is hard to find the right spot. After a great Romanian truck driver took me to Verona, and I was trying to get from there to Venice, I was sent away by the Carabinieri (I didn’t get a ticket). It was getting dark already by then, so I decided to do the last bit by train.
Venice was great. It is full of tourists, but only during the days. I the nights, it is very quiet, and I had locals with me who showed me all the cool streets and nice hidden bars no tourist would ever find. I really enjoyed my time there. No cars, only old buildings, a bit rainy, and empty during the night. Like walking around 200 years ago.
Venice was great. It is full of tourists, but only during the days. I the nights, it is very quiet, and I had locals with me who showed me all the cool streets and nice hidden bars no tourist would ever find. I really enjoyed my time there. No cars, only old buildings, a bit rainy, and empty during the night. Like walking around 200 years ago.
Because I opted for a party on the night before I left Venice, I wanted to sleep a bit longer, and decided not to hitchhike but take the train to Ljubljana. That was a great city, I loved it so much! It is nice and small, they have a caste on a hill, the bars are open even on a Monday evening, they have a fast food joint that sells only horse meet. My great host also took her grandmother and me to Piran on the coast, we climbed the mountain with the castle at night (just the two of us, not the grandmother, and I know, it is a hill, not a mountain), we went to drink absinth, we went to a short movie festival, we cycled through town, etc etc.
And then it was time for the last bit of hitchhiking, towards Vienna. This went quite well, although it took a bit of time to get away from Ljubljana. Some Serbian construction workers took me to Maribor, then a guy took me to Graz in Austria, and then an old hippie drove me to Vienna. Just wonderful, it’s so great to meet all these different people on the road, all with their own view on life and their own stories to tell. It is sometimes to hard to stay motivated when I am waiting at the road side and it feels like no car is ever going to stop, but then when theey do (and in the end they always do) it gives such a boost!
Vienna was magnificent, as always. I met Judith again, we walked in the hills around the town, and we went dancing with all her friends in a nice club. We saw some donkeys (no, not in the club).
1 comment:
Leuk! Ik ben van Koper in Slovenie naar Piran gefietst. Was leuk, maar we hebben die berg drie x opgefietst, omdat we verkeerd waren gereden. En dan is het wel degelijk een berg. Dank u wel :)
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