The Long Way

The reason we ventured so far down the Italian peninsula was the hope that we would catch a ferry to Split, Croatia, which was our destination. While in Rome, we decided to figure out exactly where and when and how much this ferry would be. Turns out, a Ferry across the Adriatic is close to 50 Euro, so we axed that plan. On top of that, we weren’t sure if we could get to Ancona – the port of call – before the ferry left. Plus, we still had to figure out where to buy tickets. It was going to be a long day, that’s for sure.

So we woke up ridiculously early Saturday morning (5 a.m.), and caught the first train from Rome to Ancona. While on the train, we had a brainstorm. If we most likely weren’t going to make it to Split until Sunday anyway (since the next ferry ride was late and long) why waste a lot of money on the travel. Why not, instead, just take a train north through Italy, over the top of the Adriatic sea through Slovenia and down into Zagreb, and then take a train from Zagreb to Split. We both had rail passes, so it would essentially be free. We’d get there a little later, but ultimately end up saving money.

We found that an overnight train left Venice around 9 p.m., and standing in the Ancona train station, we saw a train getting ready to leave for Venice. Perfect. After popping into the ticket office to see if we needed a reservation (we didn’t), we jumped on a very full train to Venice. After getting kicked out of our seats because someone else had a reservation, we took a seat in the hallway and played numerous games of twenty questions to kill the time.

Despite two fairly long train rides, we arrived in Venice by 2 p.m. Cool, now we have seven hours to kill in Venice, which seemed like a pretty cool plan.

Venice is a really neat city – for a day trip. We wandered the city and made it to the famous square where we fed pigeons and took pictures. It’s really beautiful and the canals make it really cool I think the best way to see the city is to take a boat, but since a Gondola ride costs about $80, and I’m not quite ready to spend that much for sightseeing.

After the day in Venice, we hopped on an overnight train to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Unlike the last overnight train, we booked sleeping space, which was a much better plan. While our room was unbearably hot, I managed a good night’s sleep until we reached Croatia at 4 a.m.

Needless to say, I haven’t had much sleep in the past few days, but it’s alright, since we’re on our way to Croatia, where we’ll be doing nothing on the beach for a few days. Then, of course, we’re making another mad-dash back to Frankfurt, Germany, where we’ll finally make our way home.

It’s hard to believe that we’re in the last country we’ll be visiting, and that I’m on my fortieth train ride, and I'm glad that the rail pass is finally paying off. It's easier to believe that I haven't really slept in two days, nor have I showered, and both Italy and Croatia are very hot, so I've been quite sweaty and stinky.