First Steps: Ljubljana to Trieste

The Grand Stroll begins

Laybach (Ljubljana) - Here I shall pause again—if you permit—and have my shirts washed and my boots resoled. ¹

At long last, my grand adventure begins. This September I’ll set out on the first stage of my own Stroll to Syracuse, retracing the 1801-2 journey of Johann Gottfried Seume. I’ve booked a flight to Trieste and lined up four days of travel south from Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, to the Adriatic coast and the port of Trieste in Italy.

Here’s the itinerary:

• Fly to Trieste, then train to Ljubljana — stay one night

• To Vrhnika — stay one night

• To Postojna — stay one night

• To Trieste — stay one night

• Fly back to England.

Seume began his stroll in Leipzig, and in time I’ll follow his footsteps from there too. But for this first leg, I’m starting further along his route, in Slovenia. I’ve long wanted to return ever since a brief visit in the early 1980s, and the lure of Trieste sealed the deal.

More practically, my wife, an ardent Germanophile and fluent speaker, would like to accompany me on the German stage. Alas, she’s unavailable until next year.

This stage marks a crucial transition in Seume's journey from the Germanic north to Italy. As languages and customs shift, Slovenia serves as a gateway to Italy, where the longest and most significant portion of Seume's adventure unfolds.

The language was a wild jumble—a jargon of German, Italian, and Carniolan, each offering, as you might imagine, only the aesthetic essence of its kind; and I understood next to nothing. Still, I moved as close as I could to share in the warmth of the hearth, if not the wit of the company.

1. all quotes from Spaziergang nach Syrakus unless stated otherwise