Days 19-21 – Three days in Trieste; sun and rain

The canal

Exploring the neighbourhood

About 20 metres down the street were a couple of café/bars. We joined the locals for a cup of coffee. Fortunately there was enough English and sign language to get approximately what we wanted.

The street at the bottom of the street where we were staying

Using GPS we walked down to the canal. It was relatively close to where we were staying (25 minute walk). As we got closer we discovered roads closed and runners on them. It turned out Trieste was having its marathon and half marathon. It must have been near the end of the run as we saw some very tired runners.

A little history and a New Zealand connection. During the second world war Trieste had been occupied by the Germans after the Italian surrender to the Allies. A week or so before the war ended there was a brief battle between the Germans and the Italian Partisans as well as the Yugoslavs. Yugoslavia wanted to annex the territory. The allies in the form of the NZ Division had previously taken Padua and raced up to occupy the city as well. It seems they got there when much of the fighting was over but by being there it ultimately legitimised the claim that Italy had to that territory. Wikipedia gives much more information and it is somewhat more complicated than what I have depicted.

Another of the canal looking toward the sea

A sculpture nearby

On the pier

I was impressed with the buildings which were very solid and rather attractive to look at. We had a light lunch beside the canal before then walking to the very long pier to look back at the city which is surrounded by hills.

That afternoon Trish arrived from Prague and we collected her from the train station and I dragged her bag back to the apartment while the others chatted about our respective adventures.

Miramare

Miramare

The weather the next day held for our trip to Miramare which is a castle built by the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian the younger brother of the Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria. The castle was commissioned in 1856 and completed by 1860. A few years later he was made Emperor of Mexico but was soon executed. He only lived in the castle for a few years. More of the history can be found on Wikipedia.

We found a bus that took us directly to the castle which is about half an hour from Trieste city centre. Miramare is a major tourist attraction, it has 22 hectares of garden, a Castello or small castle that was constructed for Maximillian and family to live in while the big house was being built. It is a sort of mini replica. Apparently Maximillian designed the gardens. They are rather nice.

First glance of the castle

The royal bed

The library

The castle itself is quite grand. The ground floor had the living quarters for the family. One quirky feature was his bedroom and sitting room that was fitted out like the cabin of a frigate which he had commanded. The ceiling was low and the rooms quite small. Of course his wife had her own rooms. There was a throne room and a very big ballroom. For me it was fun to wander around. I imagine that in the summer season it is very busy as it seems to be set up for hordes of tourists.

Trish having missed out on the canal wanted to see it and the big town square. On our return we quickly found our way there. It was not as inviting as it had been the day before due to the day having become partly cloudy. Then it was onto the Piazza Unita d’Italia (Unity of Italy Square). It was here where the marathon had started and finished. It was very large space with impressive buildings lining three sides headed by the city town hall.

Piazza Unita de l'Italia

Later we went out for dinner of more pizza.

Another castle and rain

View of Trieste harbour from Castello de San Giusto

On final day it was raining when we looked out the window. Sufficient to need to take our rain jackets with us if we went out. After some robust discussion we agreed on climbing up to the Castello de San Giusto. It was a relatively short walk from our accommodation but involved a decent climb.

Fortunately the rain held off during our walk there. The hill on which it sits has a commanding presence over the city below. It was built by the Habsburgs in the 14^th century. Prior to that there had been a Roman temple on the site. The castle complex is polygonal but uneven so makes for an interesting shape. Some of the Roman temple that had previously been there during Roman times has been incorporated into the Basilica that was built on the site. We climbed up the Basilica bell tower for a good view but it was lousy for any photography not that it was a great day taking pictures.

Roman remnants

There is a museum in the castle complex that has weapons from the 16^th Century onwards, such as swords, pikes and other rather gruesome weapons that would have been used in hand to hand combat. It also had guns from that era onwards to the 19^th century. It was quite a collection.

Afterwards we wandered into town for a bite to eat before the girls went off shopping and Graham and I went searching for a rather nice kitchen shop we had passed. After many steps we did not find it but it was a nice look around the city and I was able to figure out how we would get to the train station the next day.