We both slept surprisingly well on the boat and were awake before our alarm at 5:00 am. Bob was anxious to be first for breakfast (stated to be 5:30) and dragged me out of the cabin in order to get the best seat.

This was unnecessary however as the time it started seemed to be fairly flexible. When we sat down, the stale bread wasn’t really worth it anyway.

We docked right on time once again (we have been very punctual with all our travel to date), and although loaded up walked down to the Railway station as a first priority. The ticket window for international sales wasn’t to open until 9:00am, over 90 minutes away, but we found some luggage lockers at the station in which to store our gear for 15 kuna. It sounded as though the train to Ljubljana left at 1:00pm and took 3 or 4 hours but this was still to be confirmed.

In the increasingly charming Old Town, I spied a welcome I for tourist information sign, immediately before catching sight of a newsstand selling international press. Bob has been hanging out for a recent copy of the International Herald Tribune (IHT) and we were delighted to find a copy of Thursdays edition. We were told that Friday’s (today) would be due in around 10:00am.

A very pleasant time spent sipping an espresso on comfortable seats at one of the many cafes that line the pedestrian only boulevard, before we took back streets to the station. In this northern port of Croatia, the style and sense of those living here was decidedly more Italian, more Western European than where we had been recently.

On walking into the Railway Station a listing of the trains above the ticket window instantly caught our eye – the train to Ljubljana did leave from platform 3 at 12:57, but it also carried on to Vienna. Slovenia had long been on my list of places to see – however the prospect of a mid afternoon arrival in its capital, finding out details and booking our train tickets to Viena the next morning, and then finding and getting to and from accommodation, I was not going to experience Slovenia on this visit.

With consultation of the Lonely Planet Western Balkans guide (train from Rijeka to Vienna estimated to take 11 ½ hours), and information on the prices of the tickets in hand we took stock. Digging out the phone number of the Hotel Kolbeck in Vienna where we had booked to stay for the remainder of our trip took the most time. A quick phone call with the remainder of our phone card confirmed that we could get a room tonight if we were to come early. The decision was made. Tickets through to Vienna would be a solid day of travelling and getting in very late to the hotel (whose reception is not staffed after 6:00pm – so we hope everything works out!), but it will allow us a little chance to get our bearing (¡¡and hopefully get out for a much needed run)