The tour officially ended at the cruel time of 8:30am on Saturday so we had to get up early for the sausages and eggs Marin had promised us.  The bus back to Trieste left at noon so we hung out in the park (in the shade!) until it was time to spend our last kunas on food and get on the bus.  I slept the whole way back and was ready for our sea-side hostel when we got to Trieste.  It was about now that our bad luck began.  After deciding against squeezing into the public bus with our backpacks in the 32degree heat, we splurged for a taxi to take us to the hostel…only to find that the hostel was full and no, we didn’t book.  I was once again completely unhelpful for the rest of the afternoon as I sat in the shaded café and beat Jen at backgammon while I left my fate in the hands of Justine and Megan.  Between them they managed to find us a hostel just 40kms away in Aquileia.  We had all afternoon to get ourselves there so while the situation was less than ideal, it was not stressful.

I got up quite early (for me!) so that I could have a good look around Aquileia.  This small town is an UNESCO historical site, due to its archeological significance.  The Roman senate settled here in 181BC!  I walked around the town and saw much of the townships archeological sites, including the huge Basilica, a Roman cemetery, the remains of Roman houses and the old canals and port.  It was quite amazing to think that people lived quite civilised lives here over 2000 years ago.

Our mad journey continued at the last minute when we arrived at the bus stop to go to the airport and Justine observantly noticed that the bus didn’t leave on Sundays!  An expensive taxi ride later and we eventually got to the airport, and then home to London, safely.