Early Sunday morning I am in the train to Venice. After 15minutes only we pass Duino. Wow, by foot it took me hours! It’s two hours to Venice and a short walk to the hostel where my sister is waiting for me. Great to see her, I look forward to having some company. 
We walk the whole day around Venice, it’s so touristy and crowded at the main sights but ridiculously beautiful anyway. It’s easy to escape the crowds as well in some less visited areas. 

For the aperitivo I had found a nice place on the Internet. It’s indeed a cool place to drink an Aperol Spritz and eat some cicheti, the speciality of Venice. Small breads packed with delicious combinations of cheese, fruits, nuts, ham,… We enjoy the atmosphere sitting on a boat with other young people. In Triest I mainly saw elderly people, but maybe I just missed out the cool places!

Time to sleep, tomorrow is our start into 29 hiking days from Venice to Munich! 

Day 1. The day starts late, my sister Claudia needs to recover from her job and enjoy her breakfast in her nice albergo. A last walk through beautiful Venice to the famous Piazza Di San Marco, the starting point of the trail. 

In reality, we only walk a few hundred metres from there to the “Vaporetto”,  the ferry that takes us in 40minutes to Punta Sabbioni. 

We enjoy the ride and the great views on Venice, but then it’s time for our 23km today. It’s nearly 11am already and we are off for our first kilometers on asphalt. 

After 90minutes it’s time for a coffee (or coke) and then we continue the hike directly on the beach. It feels grand to walk barefoot in the water! The tourists enjoying their beach day seem very astonished about our backpacks and hiking boots on the beach! We cannot leave without a swim in the ocean so we find a nice spot where we can change, leave our bags with the water sports guys and get refreshed in the sea! Awesomeness!

Too soon it’s time to leave the beach (through a camping park, we realised too late and didn’t want to go back… The guard at the exit is not happy and says we could be shot for that (???!!!) but let’s us walk out).  A short hike on the street and then the final 2hours next to the lagoon on the dam. It’s rather nice being in the nature but it’s really hot now and we have run out of drinking water. 

It’s becoming tiring and I am reliefed to find a supermarket nearby. We buy 3l of water and some juice and sit on a bench  in the supermarket to drink and recover. From there it is only 15minutes to our hotel. Shower, rest, dinner at a nearby pizzeria. Time to organise the next days, as we find out the two options for tomorrow are already booked. We spend quite some time searching and booking for the next nights, sitting outside and getting bitten by the Moskitos (no Wi-Fi in our room!). 

23km (+ Vaporetto ferry). 0m up, 2m down.