Glenn had a bit of a cold so we needed to get some cold and flu tablets. So we first drove 7 minutes to Grado while the pharmacy was still open on a Sunday morning.

We couldn’t find a space in the car park – Glenn stayed in the van while I bought the tablets. After 15 minutes when I returned there was still no space. So we drove on to the bird reserve if Isola della Cona.

The route was initially over the lagoon – it’s the one next to the Venice lagoon so very similar. There are small villages on the islands.

We arrived at the reserve and parked up. We started in the observatory above the little restaurant here. There was a spoonbill which is quite unusual to see with many ducks. There was also a large South American beaver like animal which is invasive here but hard to get rid of.

We went to do the walk – previously a loop but now cut off by the water in the lagoon.

We came across camargue horses – introduced in 1991 to keep the vegetation down now that the area is no longer being worked as salt pans. They have heavier hooves that are suited to the humid and muddy conditions.

We went on to another small lake with many birds.

We then stopped at a couple of bird hides that led us out to the thin strip of land going out to the lagoon. There was a traffic jam of horses and people. Luckily the horses are very placid and don’t mind a pat so it wasn’t too hard to get by.

There was a nice view across to Trieste and Izola where we have been already.

Glenn found some more birds.

We went a short way down the peninsula and then turned around so had to go through the horses again.

We then headed back to the centre and the van. It was now 3.30pm and we hadn’t had lunch yet. We stopped in a shady carpark down the road to eat – we were happy to find remains of the pizza from last night in the fridge – and really enjoyed it.

We then set off for our next stop – Aquileia – a UNESCO world heritage town full of Roman ruins. Aquileia was a major Roman city with an estimated population close to 100,000 in the 2nd century CE. The population is only 3,300 now.

We got settled into Aquileia camping and immediately went for a walk before things closed. We went to a few sites very close by that are free to enter. They just close the gates at 7pm.

The first was the forum that they are obviously still working on. The reconstructed columns were impressive. There wasn’t much of the original grey stone left. There were piles of rock on the other side in heaps to be used as a jigsaw to compile the other columns.

A little bit down the road on the other side was a Roman road. The stones are substantial abd the kerb is still in place. There remains of the shops can be seen at the side.

The next site was the Great Mausoleum of Heraklion that was in pieces and used to be located outside the city in the graveyard area. It was dismantled, moved and restored – the whole project was funded by the Candia family – so it also has the double name of Il Grande Mausoleo di Candia.

The last site and the most extensive to look at was the old port area. The remain are mainly on 1 bank and stretched for 400 meters. There is a substantial dockside wall and the remains of large warehouses. The docking areas were quite sophisticated and dealt with different levels of tide. The river had been 46 meters wide allowing large ships to arrive there. The path is actually where the middle of the river would have been.

It only took just over an hour to check these all out as they are very close to the campsite. Who knows what ruins are under the campsite? There is a lot of digging still to do. Houses are being knocked down and people moved to do new archeological digs. There’s one under way with covers over it just across the road from the campsite.

It’s quite a lovely campsite with a nice big swimming pool so we went for a relaxing swim – it was only us in the pool.

We then had dinner of watermelon and feta cheese that go together very well. Thanks for the tip Nikolas! We can only fit half in the fridge – so half had to be eaten.

We watched a bit of Clarksons Farm just to finish off the day.