This ride was much more pleasant than the last one. The first half of the 75 kms was mostly on bike paths, a little gravel, but at least off the busy highway. The second half was more on the highway but there were decent shoulders so we felt comfortable. The day was still warm but a good breeze kept us cool and we found la mare again so that also helped. The last 10kms or so along the coast were very scenic with villas, castles and the view of Trieste to enjoy. I was trying to take photos from my rear office but il capitano was noticing my distraction as the power would cut in and out.
Our accomodation is a 5th floor apartment with a small elevator so we had to unload everything and haul the bike up by hand. Just what you want to do after a long day of riding.
After settling in, our first item was to find the TIM store as we are burning through our Canadian international cell data plan at an alarming rate. We have gone the TIM route before but not for a couple years as we had a decent rate and avoided the trouble of a new foreign number but it’s just not working this time. We were successful so will have a new number on one phone for the rest of the vacation and will just do this from the get go next time.
We partook in the traditional passegiatta or late afternoon/evening stroll and an aperitivo before dinner to get an initial look at the city. This is a very grand looking city, not the usual Italian style, because for a long time, from 1382 and up until the end of WW1 in 1918 it was part of the Austrian/Hapsburg empire so looks more like Vienna than any Italian city we’ve visited with opulent looking piazzas and palazzos everywhere.. The Venetians had control briefly a couple of times in this period but predominantly it belonged to the Austrian empire. The history is actually very interesting and more complicated than we will go into here.
The next day we took a boat ride back to where we had ridden the day before to the Castello Miramare. This castle was built in the 1860’s by Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian who was a naval commander and the brother of Franz Joseph the Hapsburg Emperor of the time. He wanted a grand home looking on the sea for himself and his new wife Charlotte to enjoy. He had a passion for plants and trees so included elaborate gardens which we were able to walk around, as well as see inside the castle. It was an interesting and beautiful place to explore. We had to make a run for it to escape a sudden thunderstorm and pile onto a bus with way too many other people, something we wouldn’t have done a year ago (covid).
An interesting bit of history, Maximilian was appointed as emperor of Mexico just after the castle was completed and moved there with Charlotte. After only a couple of years there was rebellion against the monarchists and Max was arrested and eventually executed in Mexico at the age of only 34. Charlotte returned to Europe broken hearted and never returned to Miramare. Maximilian’s nephew was Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was assassinated in Serbia in 1914 (after the Austrians annexed Serbia in 1908) which was the beginning of World War I and the beginning of the end of the Austro-Hungarian/Hapsburg domination. Trieste was occupied by the Germans from 1943-45 and then briefly by the Yugoslavs before eventually returning to Italian control in 1954. Even now we saw signs about a free Trieste and our host also said there are many who would prefer not to be in Italy. This part of Europe has seen its fair share of war and political unrest and soon we will be heading into Slovenia and Croatia where recent devastating wars have taken place only 30 years ago. We are fortunate to be living where we are.
The following day we walked up the hill to the Castle of San Giusto and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the city and out to the ocean. The museum was well done with many English explanations about the history of the castle, about Trieste, about the Romans and a history of weaponry. Later we explored the various piazzas, cathedrals, a famous cafe (San Marco) frequented by James Joyce as well as the Molo Audace, a long pedestrian pier that juts out into the Adriatic. The pier was named Audace after the Italian warship that first docked here to claim Trieste in November of 1918 at the end of WW1. So much history!
Overall we found Trieste to be a very interesting and welcoming city and a place we could have stayed much longer. It had great restaurants and pedestrian areas and a beautiful seafront, complete with a huge sailing ship seized from a russian oligarch by the Italian Guardia di Finanza.
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