We arrive in Gorizia, the town on the Italian-Slovenian border. We have one last cappuccino at a café in the city park. It is Pentecost Sunday, 2 p.m. A man carrying a hot-air fryer still in its original packaging walks toward us. We briefly wonder where and why someone would buy something like that on Pentecost. A short time later, we run into more happy fryer owners. We sit down in the café for now—the last cappuccino, by the way, is very disappointing.
These days, more and more people from all walks of life are stopping by with hot-air fryers. Some are even lugging around two boxes. By the end, we have counted dozens. It is really strange!
The two cities of Gorizia (Italian) and Nova Gorica (Slovenian) are separated only by a green border. There seems to be no mixing between them. In Gorizia, you hardly see any Slovenian cars, even though there are plenty of fried food stands. In Nova Gorica, there are no Italian cars, despite the cheap gas. After six weeks of Romance languages (French/Italian), we are now getting used to the Slavic language again. We leave the land of milk and honey, mozzarella, gorgonzola, spaghetti, tortellini, and Sardinian beer. As consolation, there is delicious “Radler 0%” at gas stations with refrigerators packed to the brim.
Over the next few days, we are downing quite a few liters of it—just above freezing. Wonderful! The ride through green, sparsely populated Slovenia is a feast for the eyes. The forests offer shade from the heat. The garden camps are inviting and social places to meet cyclists and campers from all over the world.
We get to know other ways of traveling: the “fake” travel cyclists:
a) Anneliese and Walter from Schwäbisch Gmünd. They fly to their destination, then hop on their bikes, go camping, take the train, and cycle a bit more.
b) Joshi from Japan has been on the road for a year. He mostly travels by train, uses the Worktravel app to find his next destination, and stays in exchange for room and board. Since the transitions are not always smooth, he bought a folding bike in Sofia, which he uses to ride from the train station to his next destination. He already looks forward to Venice, Italian cheese, and wine—which are very expensive in Japan.
c) Robert, who was born in Slovakia and is from the Netherlands, has been on the road for seven weeks. He gives private language lessons three times a day. In between, he cycles, camps, and enjoys meeting other travelers.
d) Charlie and Robert, from near Sydney, arrived in Trieste two weeks ago. There, they bought two bicycles to cycle around Europe for three months.
And us? What will we do once we explored Europe? Here are our ideas:
1) Keep cycling as we have been. We’ll be happy to meet other travelers.
2) Change our mode of transportation: tandem, e-bike, or gravel bike with less luggage.
3) Take the train and our bikes from the station to the campground and back.
4) Switch continents if Europe gets too boring.
5) Sit on the couch and watch others travelers.
6) Rent a car, a trailer, or an RV (road van).
7) Go on an active group vacation where we will to sacrifice some comforts.
We are spoiled for choice! Weare excited and curious to see what is next for us 🙂
The mystery surrounding the deep fryers remains a mystery. Maybe the church offered one as a prize to every visitor at the Pentecost Mass.