Trieste, part 2.

There is a fabulously beautiful place on the outskirts of town called the Castello Miramare, which was built by Archduke Maximillian, the cousin of Franz-Josef (whose assassination started WW1) and his wife Charlotte. Maximillian was eventually appointed as Governor of Mexico, but was assassinated there. Anyway, this Castello is the very definition of old world elegance, inside and out. The Castello itself is situated on a promontory of land pressing gently into the Adriatic, and the grounds and gardens are behind and upslope from it. He had a large part in the overall design, and dedicated the garden to being of educational significance. The location is spectacular and the development is utterly beautiful. Too bad for Max that he never got a chance to see the finished product.

So, if you ran a bus company in Trieste say, and you offered services to several cities and towns in neighbouring Slovenia and Croatia, would you not want your entire bus schedule to be posted? Not just some of it, but ALL of it? Not only at the bus station, but maybe even “on-line”? I’m just wondering. Well, apparently the SAF bus company doesn’t think that it is necessary. So, let’s just say that based on what I read of the schedule both at the station and on-line, I decided to take the 9:00 am bus to Pula, Croatia. So I got myself to the station with over a half hour to spare (‘cause you just never know…) and when I told the girl what ticket I wanted, she informed me that that is only a summer scheduled bus. No indication of such on the schedule, or even what dates “summer only” encompasses. But, there was one leaving at 2:00pm. Or I could catch the bus that was leaving in 10 minutes for such and such where I would transfer to a different bus to Pula. Okay, that’ll do, I guess. Whatever. My bags were packed, I was ready to go; I was standing there inside the door… (apologies to Ian Tyson).