Was I a victim of a golden fleecing? (Trieste)

Member Name: Morgenhund

Product:	Trieste
Date:	24/09/02 (282 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to get to, not too packed with tourists, got transport connections

Disadvantages: not enough to warrant a separate trip

Jason and the Argonauts were said to have stopped in Trieste in the hunt for the Golden Fleece. With this being Italy I had been expecting this to be a case of the Golden Fleecing of a stupid tourist... Read on to see if I got fleeced...

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During my recent trip to Slovenia, I decided to take a day trip to Trieste, especially as it was only just over an hour away by bus from Piran, where I was staying. It also gave me a chance to try and complete a set of Italian Euro coins or two for friends (demanding friends I have!). The other recent was to be able to say that I had visited both ends of the where Churchill's "Iron Curtain" stood.

Churchill's quote was as follows: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an Iron Curtain has come down over Europe", a quote which has of course descended into history. Well of course the iron curtain is now consigned to history, and indeed the border crossing from Slovenia, even though it is not an EU country into Italy and out was pretty lax to say the least.

Trieste can also be reached easily from Austria, and for people wanting to save money when heading to Venice, Trieste has an airport where a lot of budget carriers (RyanAir included) fly to, so it could make the ideal starting point for a voyage of discovery. Added to the fact that it is a very busy port, apparently only second to Genova (Genua) in terms of size in Italy, and hey presto! One thriving city. Well, a thriving industrial city! With approximately 400,000 inhabitants, Trieste is a sea of buildings, with very little of note other than the around the centre, of what is a very historical city.

If you have more than a few hours in Trieste then it is well worth heading out to the Castello Miramare, about 5 miles out of town, as the Castello was built by Empire Maximillian of Austria (Trieste was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) for his wife and is apparently well worth a visit wit
h a visitor's centre-cum-museum. Unfortunately I didn't get out there - and I would advise checking opening times before heading out - Monday can be a bad day to go!

There are also some caves fairly close, but according to people we spoke to they weren't really anything that outstanding - I find caves tend to be all a bit the same really and a childhood spent going on annual trips to Wookey Hole probably jaundices my view somewhat. The railway station and bus station are right next door to one another and it is also only a ten minute walk to the city centre, or more accurately to the main piazza.

The Piazza dell'Unita d'Italia, which is the largest square in Europe is certainly well worth a look at, with various municipal buildings surrounding the piazza, which also looks down towards the Adriatic. During the summer there are frequent concerts on the piazza and the buildings are certainly very impressive. Close to the piazza there is a roman amphitheatre, although this is really pretty disappointing - if you are travelling further into Istria, you are better off going to the Colloseum-like amphitheatre in Pula, as the Trieste one is not particularly big and not so well preserved as the one in Pula, and nor is there really any information for tourists there. The amphitheatre was excavated in the 1930s and was built during the reign of Augustus in around AD33.

The cathedral (Sacello di San Giusto) and the castle (castello) are perched on top the San Giusto hill, with the castle offering excellent views and with admission very reasonable (about EUR 1.70 if I remember correctly). From the castle there are views down over the city, with most of modern Trieste sprawling out behind the castle. There are various cannons as a testament to less peaceful times and next to the castle there are the remains of the Forense Basilica, which dates from the 2nd Century AD. The Sacello di San Giusto is one of the oldest Christian churches
, and whilst nothing outstanding - being of modest proportions it is worth taking a look inside, with the adjoining Basilica dell'Assunta which dates from the 14th century forming the Basilica di San Giusto. The rose window, which dates from this time is worth a closer look at. As with many places around Italy, the bell tower (campanile) is separate from the church.

The San Giusto hill also contains a memorial to the city's war dead from the First World War (built in 1935) which offers an eery glimpse of fascist patriotism from its design as well as the Ara della III Armata built around the same time.

There are buses around the city, although really it is pretty pleasant to walk instead, unless of course you are there when the weather is somewhat inclement. There are lots of small cafés - we found a great one where the waitresses kept on giving me free vol-au-vents (I didn't ask for them) and coffee is cheap and not as pricey as traditionally it can be in Italy. Rather than heading to the first café nearest the piazza, I chose to find a small café in the newer part of the city, admittedly the language barrier was a problem (I could speak English, German, French but not more than a smattering of Italian) but the pasta we had was very reasonable and the Birra a la spina certainly revived me!

All in all I would say that Trieste is a good place to come and visit for a day or to break up a longish leg of a journey, but I was not that over-convinced that it merited a trip on its own - although perhaps a trip to Miramare might have convinced me otherwise! And no I didn't get fleeced!

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