Trieste is a great town – more Austrian than Italian with architecture and the city planning by the Hapburgs – and was one of the last regions incorporated into modern Italy in the 1950s. We had about 2 days in Trieste and we were able to visit he main sites of Miramare Castle and San Guisti as well as explore the city.
On a side note – The transition to Trieste from Venice was simple – 10 minute walk to water bus > train station > direct train to Trieste > 15 minute walk to hotel.
We started with a recommended Cafe for lunch – supposedly famous back to the days of James Joyce and others and was in the Unity of Italy square – named for when Trieste joined Italy the 1950s.
Miramare Castle
Miramare Castle and gardens were spectacular – white marble right on the Adriatic Sea. Built by Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium in the mid-1800s, and he later became Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. The interior was preserved as it was in the mid-1800s while the second floor was left as it was in the 1930s when it was modernized in an Art Deco – the older decoration was much better. We spent a couple of hours there before we hopped on a city bus packed with people returning from the “beach” (very rocky). The shore line from center city to Miramare is about 6 miles and has a tree lined shore and for a Tuesday it was packed.
The town was great – filled with pedestrian areas with many places to eat dinner outside. We settled on a place off of the main plaza We did have a first – Italian menus (where ever they are) have antipasto (appetizer), primo (first course), and secondo (second course) – and generally we have just ordered what we wanted regardless and it was delivered. However, when we asked about our second course (only two people ordered second courses) about 45 minutes after we finished the first course – we got a bit of a rebuke from the waitress that we needed to be patient and it “wasn’t time yet”. Sharon was skeptial and thought that they had just forgot about us. I ordered the local lasagna (first course) – was more like beef stroganoff than traditional lasagna and my calamari (second course) showed up an hour later.
San Guisti
Our last day we started at the Roman Ruins and then we walked up the hill to Castello di San Giusto with adjacent church and belltower overlooking the city and wandered through town visiting a famous coffee house.
Departing Trieste
We boarded our cruise boat late after and soon after left to Koper Slovenia – about 30 miles away. Leaving the harbor we saw a supervillain yacht – $500 million Russian Oligarch sailboat.
