Trieste 2002 (Trieste)

Member Name: maikli

Product:	Trieste
Date:	21/08/02 (965 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty to explore without crowds, Interesting mix of cultures, nice stretch of coastline, a convenient gateway to Slovenija

Disadvantages: Lack of cheap accommodation, and a bad youth hostel

Trieste must rank as one of Europe's most under-rated cities. Lying in the forgotten north-eastern corner of Italy, for years almost cut off from the rest of the country by the so-called Iron Curtain, the port city of Trieste (Trst in Slovene) is neglected by the tourist crowds in favour of its better known and more beautiful sister venice. I must admit that passing through Trieste by train five years ago en route to Slovenija, there did not seem much to stop for. It seemed ordinary, nondescript, industrial, consisting solely of factories, cranes and mist. A town made to be forgotten...and forget it I did, until I happened across Ryanair's website offering flights to Trieste Airport for a ridiculously low sum. A quick glance at a map, and my head was filled with ideas of a short trip to Slovenija, a country I had wanted to re-visit for some time. Trieste would just provide a convenient and cheap gateway, nothing more.

Arriving at Trieste's tiny airport, the idea was to get myself to the city bus station as quickly as possible, leaving on the first bus to Koper, a medieval town just over the frontier. Quick and easy, so I thought...at least that was the plan. The fact that it was Easter Sunday and that Italy was a religious country had not entered my mind! I had also not bargained for the uselessness of the airport bus system, so when finally a bus dropped me off at the bus station, it was too late to move on any further. No reservation at a hotel, hardly any Euros, and absolutely no idea where to start looking for a place to stay. As for my Italian linguistic skills, well I could remember how to ask for a francobollo (a stamp) and find out where the nearest bar was, but that wasn't going to help me find a bed for the night! After walking around the station area for an hour or so, trying to figure out my next move and cursing the city, the airport, the buses, myself, life in general...I jumped into a taxi asking for "ostello" on th
e off chance that there might be a youth hostel in Trieste.

The taxi sped off back along the coast road towards the airport, and ten minutes later, just as I was seriously wondering if there was about to be a case of abduction or homicide, the driver pulled up outside a grand yellow-painted building on the seafront, announcing "signor, ostello!". A wave of relief swept over me as I saw the blue triangle logo of Hostelling International, and a second one hit me as I found out that a bed was available.

Something else hit me as I walked into the dormitory...the nasty odour of sweaty feet. Even though the one and only window was wide open allowing a slight breeze to come in off the sea, fourteen hot, sweaty, snoring lumps of flesh packed in like sardines, and unwashed clothes draped everywhere, made me suddenly remember why I hate youth hostels!

Is there something wrong with me? I mean, I'm 22, I love travelling, can cope with the most offensive of hotel rooms, and have a strict budget to follow,so by rights I should love youth hostels from the bottom of my heart. But there is something peculiar about them, something I cannot stand. Is it the petty rules, the curfews and the lock-outs? Is it the silent breakfasts of stale rolls and "strictly one cup of weak Nescafe per person"? Is it the "no privacy showers"? Well, no, I'm not keen on any of those aspects, but what I find the mostirritating are my fellow guests, particularly the ones who never stop yacking about places they've been on their six-month grand tour of Europe, mispronouncing every place name. Whatever you've done, they've done it better. Wherever you've been, they've always been further. I call them wiwis ("when I was in...",

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Trieste. The following morning, after my one cup of weak Nescafe and stale roll, I gathered up my stuff and set off along the promenade in search of a
bus. Still not in the best of moods, due to lack of sleep and a particularly mundane dialogue with an Aussie wiwi, my mood brightened somewhat with the sight of dawn over Trieste and its seaside suburb of Barcola. Eight kilometres is a long way, and I had intended to take the bus, but as it was such a nice morning, I chose to walk into the city centre. Passing the outdoor cafes and the marina of Barcola, I noticed that it was deathly quiet. Maybe I was just early?

So I plodded on, alongside the train tracks into the transport hub of Trieste. Again deathly quiet...what was going on? Hearing church bells in the distance, it dawned on me that it was Easter Monday, quite possibly a public holiday. My worst suspicions were confirmed by the lady at the ticket kiosk. "Non c'e", she replied when I asked about buses to Koper. My first reaction is unrepeatable! What on earth was I going to do for another day in this industrial hellhole? And how could I survive another night at that hostel? I stomped out of the bus station, badly in need of an espresso, so headed into the town centre.

The first surprise greeted me five minutes later. Rounding a corner, suddenly there was the Canale Grande before me. Forget any similarities with Venice's namesake...this grand canal is most definitely unpretentious, but arguably more likeable. While it doesn`t even try to compete with Venice`s canals, it is an impressive sight, filled with tiny boats, and surrounded by outdoor cafes, churches, fountains and old palazzos.On Easter Monday morning, the place was almost silent...hardly a soul in sight, until the church bells began to ring, and churchgoers flooded into the waterside cafes. If this was anywhere else but Trieste, I`m sure it would be thronging with tourists, but on that morning, it was just me, a couple of fishermen, some dog walkers, and local coffee-drinkers.

At the far end of the canal, there is a large building which I took to be the
town hall...I could be wrong, but remember, I wasn't planning to stay longer than a few minutes in Trieste so had no guidebook or map with me. Next to it was a Serbian Orthodox Church, the Chiesa di San Spiridone, and a bit further along is the Palazzo Gopevic, with red and white chequered tiles which reminded me of the Croatian flag. Trieste is where the cultures of Italy, Austria, Slovenija and Croatia merge, and signs of this cultural diversity can be seen in by walking down a single street. A group of Slovene shoppers sit eating Austrian pastries in an Italian cafe opposite a Serbian church and a Croatian palace! You won't find that in many cities...

A little further along the seafront brought me to the vast Piazza Unita. Again, the square was quiet, with only a few families feeding the pigeons and sipping espresso in the cafes. To get my bearings, I took a walk down one of the many concrete piers on the sea side of the square. From the end, I saw that Trieste had many more surprises in store for me, and decided that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing, being stuck here for another night. If things had gone according to plan, I would have left Trieste with the same impressions that I arrived with. Instead I had the opportunity to discover a truly unique city devoid of foreign tourists.

I decided to head uphill to what looked to me like a castle on the hilltop. Usually, I would have a guidebook to help me find specific sights, so this was a completely new way for me to sightsee. Blundering round the narrow, twisting streets leading off behind Piazza Unita, I stumbled upon a miniscule Roman amphitheatre, just one of Trieste's many Roman remains. Unlike Roma, where ruins stretch as far as the eye can see, Trieste's ruins are interspersed with medieval houses, parks and shopping streets. Finding a trace of Trieste's ancient history is an unexpected event, and for me, this was one of the highlights of being lost in Trieste. I
always say that the best way to get to know a city is to get lost in it, and again this proved to be the best strategy. If I'd have found the tourist office open and picked up a map, chances are I would not have enjoyed Trieste as much. It is much more enjoyable to stumble upon an amphitheatre or a Roman archway by accident than it is to know exactly what is round the next corner.

Heading upwards, the streets become narrower and twistier, until you reach the Cathedral of San Giusto on the hilltop next to Trieste's castle. here, I encountered the only sign of tourism in the city...two tour buses with elderly Italian tourists, and a small stall selling drinks and postcards. Still, the hilltop was big enough for two tour groups and me, so i wasn't complaining at all. The park between the cathedral and the castle is filled with some bizarre sculptures, and makes a pleasant place to write postcards, sitting on a wall with a great view over the rooftops below.

I happily spent the next few hours exploring the older parts of Trieste, before taking the bus back towards the hostel to investigate an imposing white structure i had spotted from the sculpture park. A five minute walk from the hostel led me to Miramare castle, set in acres of parkland on a headland. Remarkably, the parkland is free to enter, but don`t expect it to be deserted, especially at weekends or on holidays. On Easter Monday, the place was jam-packed...but there was still room to escape the crowds, as there are several paths criss-crossing the cliffside. The castle is open to the public too, for a fee, but if you`re feeling cheap like I was, you can be content with peering in the windows on the ground floor! Probably more impressive on the outside anyway...Miramare really dispelled the myth that Trieste was an ugly polluted port city...the parkland is a nature reserve, while the surrounding coastline is a marine reserve.

One problem I found with staying at the host
el was the lack of restaurants nearby. The curfew at 11pm is not such a difficult rule to stick to, as the last bus from Trieste centre leaves at 9pm. But this means that either you have to eat in Trieste fairly early, or face a long walk into Barcola where there are a few pizzerias and fish restaurants. After a full day's sightseeing, the thought of a 3km walk to Barcola is not exactly relished!

The following morning, I was actually quite sad to leave Trieste, although I was itching to get to Slovenija. The bus station has, on normal days, several connections with towns in Slovenija (Koper and Piran are very well served), Croatia and beyond, so Trieste makes an ideal gateway to this region. But don't be a fool like me and try to rush from airport to border...you'll miss out on this unusual city if you do. Trieste should not be overlooked. There is more than enough to see and do in the city and its surroundings...who needs Venice and its crowds when you have a fascinating Italian/Slavic city almost empty of tourists (well, foreign tourists anyway) just down the road?!

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