More Trieste

Tuesday 10 September

Awake again at 3.00 a.m. and unable to go back to sleep. Arrrgh!

Our B&B is a serve-yourself affair with our own kitchen so there are no rules regarding when one has breakfast; so it was nice to suit ourselves this morning.

We left about 9.00 a.m. and got some information from the tourist office before setting off along the Riva Tre Novembre which passes adjacent to the sea and  retraced our steps of yesterday back to the railway station to catch a bus to the Miramare Castle.

Firstly however, I bought our tickets to Gorizia (on the border of Slovenia and Italy) for our journey tomorrow morning. The ticket queue was short but slow so it was good to get this done rather than risk being held up tomorrow.

Our bus to the Miramare Castle was "hidden" around the corner from the main bus station but we finally figured it out and then played cat-&-mouse with the illuminated sign in the bus which is meant to indicate what the next stop is - but we had to rely in the end on the help of a local to know where to alight.

We had a nice stroll then along the promenade by the sea to the castle and spent an interesting few hours here learning about the history of the castle and enjoying the panoramic views over the Gulf of Trieste. The gardens are lovely too and very extensive.

Quick info on the castle: Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg (the brother of the Austrian Emperor) ordered the start of the building of the castle in 1856. Its architectural style was mainly "eclectic" meaning that it combined elements of Gothic, Medieval and Renaissance styles. In 1863 he was made Emperor of Mexico (as you do) and the silly duffer got himself killed over there in 1867 before the first floor of his castle got built. The Hapsburgs connection with Miramare ended after Maximilian's brother Franz was assassinated at Sarajevo in 1914 and  then, after the war, the property was entrusted to the State - although it was used variously during WWII by German and then NZ troops before returning once again to the State.

When we'd had enough, we returned along the promenade and stopped at a bar to enjoy a (very strong) spritz and some pizza before taking the bus back to Trieste for a much needed coffee at one of the many historical cafes - the Caffè Stella Polare.

We wandered around some more & happened eventually upon a supermercato so we were able to buy some interesting-looking foods for dinner tonight back at our B&B where we are relaxing now with an electric fan keeping us cool.

Photo by My Friend of Piazza Unità: