Tues Aug 6, 2024
Hi Folks! We’re back in Italy! And for two days with an overnight here in Trieste. Trieste has an interesting history. It did not become part of Italy until 1918 and before that was part of the Habsburg Monarchy and thus part of Austria. Also being right next to Slovenia, it has some influences from that area. And it has a Grand Canal so it’s like a mini Venice!
We didn’t arrive until 1 PM so we got to sleep in! Our afternoon excursion went from about 1:45 to 5:45 PM and was very good.
We started by visiting the Basilica of San Giusto which is the largest church here. It had some amazing mosaic tiles inside the church as well as some beautiful paintings. Right next to it was the Castle of San Giusto but we didn’t have time to tour that.
After that we visited the Miramare Castle which was built in 1856 for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (of the Habsburg) and his wife Charlotte of Belgium, later Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and Empress Carlotta of Mexico. The castle’s grounds include an extensive cliff and seashore park of 54 acres designed by the archduke.
We got back from our excursion and since it was so late we just got showered and ready for dinner. They had a BBQ up on the outside deck but we were pretty hot from being out all day so we opted for the air conditioned Compass Rose. Plus I had to get my Lobster!
Speaking of dinner, Kathy had the Escargot for her starter and I had the Escargot and the Saffron Risotto. For her main, Kathy got the Prime Rib with a Lobster Tail and some Shrimp. I got the Cod with a Lobster Tail (7 days and counting!) and we both got the Chocolate Mousse for dessert. After dinner we went to listen to the music they had after the BBQ since there was no show tonight.
We called it an early night since we have an early excursion tomorrow that we are both very excited about. We’re doing a day trip to the country of Slovenia to the Capitol city of Ljubljana. Neither of us have been there so we get to put another pin in our world map! Hope everyone had a great Tuesday!
The Wandering Italian 