Two years ago, when Instagram was a little less of the influencer-haven it is today, I came across a picture of Castello di Miramare at sunset. The photo was by @mchl.m, who also posted more photos from neighboring Trieste, and I found the canals, the waterfront, and the architecture in his photos to be really beautiful
I pretty much resolved then to visit Trieste if I ever visited Venice, and when I started planning a trip abroad with my one of my closest friends, I suggested Italy, she suggested Venice, one of us mentioned Croatia, and we put together an itinerary taking us through Venice, Trieste, Ljubljana, Bled, and Zagreb.
Trieste doesn't come up in any guidebooks for Italy--at least not in the major American ones (Lonely Planet, Fodor's, Rick Steve's). There's not even very much information online, apart from some NYT travel articles--which do recommend some great restaurants. Even Trip Advisor forums sometimes had conflicting information (about bus routes to Miramare, best things to do, et cetera). So, hopefully this short write-up will be helpful to someone, somewhere, planning a trip to Trieste. Also Castello di Miramare had some pretty interesting things, which I guess could tangentially go along with the theme of this blog,
It's been exactly a month since I left Trieste and we only spent about two days there. On the first day we arrived in the evening from Venice, via Trenitalia. I don't remember what kind of train it was, but it took multiple stops between Venice and Trieste; towards the end of the ride, Joanna and I were one of the few people left on the train.
The train ride is very scenic. You spend a good part of it along the coastline, and Castello di Duino and Castello di Miramare will both be visible during it. Unfortunately, the view is sometimes obstructed by trees, tunnels, and other things so I don't have any good pictures or videos. But plan to get to Trieste at sunset--the ride is beautiful.
The train station is in a not so pretty part of Trieste. I remember when we got out of it, I felt really disappointed. There's a Turkish restaurant on the buildings right across from it, we passed it to get onto Via Roma, and walked from there to where we were staying--two blocks away from the Grand Canal.
On Via Roma 18a, there is a small corridor in the building that has a few handy vending machines, where you can purchase water, coffee, and some other things I can't recall with coins or cash.
There are lots of restaurants along the Grand Canal, in Piazza della Borsa, and along the waterfront. But on the weekdays--and during tourist off-season--these are fairly empty during dinner time. We ate dinner at Theresia Mittel Bistro on that first day, and really enjoyed the food (although I could barely eat it due to PMS) and had a very kind waiter (who we could barely communicate with but, again, was really nice).
At the risk of orientalizing (or occidentalizing?) Trieste, I won't go into what the people were like, what the city reminded me of... all the usual travel writing tropes that I kind of feel like writing but also sounds like the kind of obnoxious dialogue one might find from someone visiting the near East, south Asia, or any culture very foreign to mainstream western European (including American). Here is my attempt to be diplomatic: I encountered fewer people who spoke English than I have elsewhere in Italy and enjoyed people-watching locals in Piazza Unita d'Italia and in cafes across the city. These things made me appreciate Trieste more than most other places I've visited.
Back to some hopefully useful advice: we also ate at Caffe San Marco (worth it), Buffet da Pepi (actually I didn't eat there--PMS again--but Joanna liked it), Gelato Marco (I still dream of the arancia e pesca flavor), Caffe Tommaseo, and Caffe Grande Piazza. In Trieste, you pay for your meal at the counter after finishing, not at your table.
To get to Castello di Miramare, you can take the 06-0125 (check Google Maps!) bus. Make sure you check where to buy the tickets because they're only sold at specific stops (should be easy to find, just go to the Trieste transportation website), and buy a day pass. Take the bus to Grignano, which is a dock and the last stop for the bus. Technically you could get off earlier because there's a really nice walkway along the water that the bus drives along, and the path leads to the castle. From Grignano, walk up through the gardens and find your way to the castle. It's really not complicated at all.
I found the castle garden underwhelming, and difficult to navigate. But it can also be a fun experience, like anything else technically can be.
Contrary to my expectation, the castle was full with visitors on an April morning. There were mostly little students, from Slovenia! Not the quiet, empty castle I was expecting.
Near the castle, of all places, is a theoretical physics center named and inaugurated by Abdus Salaam, a Nobel Prize winner from Pakistan. I found that so interesting--Abdus Salaam, who has mostly been shunned in Pakistani popular society for his religious identity, has a physics center in Trieste--of all places! There were several south Asians on our bus; I wondered if they worked there.
Visiting the castle is worth it. Maximilian had some really interesting paintings of himself visiting Egypt, Turkey, and other former Ottoman realms. Also several maps of the near East, probably to sate some colonial ambitions.
Take the same bus back to Trieste. In Trieste, walk along the waterfront, sit along the Molo Audace, visit Eataly and the Museo Revoltella--which is fascinating. That's pretty much all we were able to do in 2-3 days. Oh, and Castello di San Guisto, and the Arch of Riccardo, and some walks all around the Piazza Unita d'Italia area. There's a really interesting bookstore on the way to Gelato Marco.
Museo Revoltella may not sound very interesting online, but there are some fascinating paintings in there. Also a couple of orientalist paintings, if you're into that, and a super interesting sculpture dedicated to the founding of the Suez Canal. You can get a really nice view of Trieste from a balcony of the museum, and an even better view from San Guisto.
The bus station is currently under construction, and most buses stop inside the station. It's a little confusing because most of the entrances to the station are closed due to the aforementioned construction, but the attendants inside are helpful.
I pretty much resolved then to visit Trieste if I ever visited Venice, and when I started planning a trip abroad with my one of my closest friends, I suggested Italy, she suggested Venice, one of us mentioned Croatia, and we put together an itinerary taking us through Venice, Trieste, Ljubljana, Bled, and Zagreb.
Trieste doesn't come up in any guidebooks for Italy--at least not in the major American ones (Lonely Planet, Fodor's, Rick Steve's). There's not even very much information online, apart from some NYT travel articles--which do recommend some great restaurants. Even Trip Advisor forums sometimes had conflicting information (about bus routes to Miramare, best things to do, et cetera). So, hopefully this short write-up will be helpful to someone, somewhere, planning a trip to Trieste. Also Castello di Miramare had some pretty interesting things, which I guess could tangentially go along with the theme of this blog,
It's been exactly a month since I left Trieste and we only spent about two days there. On the first day we arrived in the evening from Venice, via Trenitalia. I don't remember what kind of train it was, but it took multiple stops between Venice and Trieste; towards the end of the ride, Joanna and I were one of the few people left on the train.
The train ride is very scenic. You spend a good part of it along the coastline, and Castello di Duino and Castello di Miramare will both be visible during it. Unfortunately, the view is sometimes obstructed by trees, tunnels, and other things so I don't have any good pictures or videos. But plan to get to Trieste at sunset--the ride is beautiful.
The train station is in a not so pretty part of Trieste. I remember when we got out of it, I felt really disappointed. There's a Turkish restaurant on the buildings right across from it, we passed it to get onto Via Roma, and walked from there to where we were staying--two blocks away from the Grand Canal.
On Via Roma 18a, there is a small corridor in the building that has a few handy vending machines, where you can purchase water, coffee, and some other things I can't recall with coins or cash.
There are lots of restaurants along the Grand Canal, in Piazza della Borsa, and along the waterfront. But on the weekdays--and during tourist off-season--these are fairly empty during dinner time. We ate dinner at Theresia Mittel Bistro on that first day, and really enjoyed the food (although I could barely eat it due to PMS) and had a very kind waiter (who we could barely communicate with but, again, was really nice).
At the risk of orientalizing (or occidentalizing?) Trieste, I won't go into what the people were like, what the city reminded me of... all the usual travel writing tropes that I kind of feel like writing but also sounds like the kind of obnoxious dialogue one might find from someone visiting the near East, south Asia, or any culture very foreign to mainstream western European (including American). Here is my attempt to be diplomatic: I encountered fewer people who spoke English than I have elsewhere in Italy and enjoyed people-watching locals in Piazza Unita d'Italia and in cafes across the city. These things made me appreciate Trieste more than most other places I've visited.
Back to some hopefully useful advice: we also ate at Caffe San Marco (worth it), Buffet da Pepi (actually I didn't eat there--PMS again--but Joanna liked it), Gelato Marco (I still dream of the arancia e pesca flavor), Caffe Tommaseo, and Caffe Grande Piazza. In Trieste, you pay for your meal at the counter after finishing, not at your table.
To get to Castello di Miramare, you can take the 06-0125 (check Google Maps!) bus. Make sure you check where to buy the tickets because they're only sold at specific stops (should be easy to find, just go to the Trieste transportation website), and buy a day pass. Take the bus to Grignano, which is a dock and the last stop for the bus. Technically you could get off earlier because there's a really nice walkway along the water that the bus drives along, and the path leads to the castle. From Grignano, walk up through the gardens and find your way to the castle. It's really not complicated at all.
I found the castle garden underwhelming, and difficult to navigate. But it can also be a fun experience, like anything else technically can be.
Contrary to my expectation, the castle was full with visitors on an April morning. There were mostly little students, from Slovenia! Not the quiet, empty castle I was expecting.
Near the castle, of all places, is a theoretical physics center named and inaugurated by Abdus Salaam, a Nobel Prize winner from Pakistan. I found that so interesting--Abdus Salaam, who has mostly been shunned in Pakistani popular society for his religious identity, has a physics center in Trieste--of all places! There were several south Asians on our bus; I wondered if they worked there.
Visiting the castle is worth it. Maximilian had some really interesting paintings of himself visiting Egypt, Turkey, and other former Ottoman realms. Also several maps of the near East, probably to sate some colonial ambitions.
Take the same bus back to Trieste. In Trieste, walk along the waterfront, sit along the Molo Audace, visit Eataly and the Museo Revoltella--which is fascinating. That's pretty much all we were able to do in 2-3 days. Oh, and Castello di San Guisto, and the Arch of Riccardo, and some walks all around the Piazza Unita d'Italia area. There's a really interesting bookstore on the way to Gelato Marco.
Museo Revoltella may not sound very interesting online, but there are some fascinating paintings in there. Also a couple of orientalist paintings, if you're into that, and a super interesting sculpture dedicated to the founding of the Suez Canal. You can get a really nice view of Trieste from a balcony of the museum, and an even better view from San Guisto.
The bus station is currently under construction, and most buses stop inside the station. It's a little confusing because most of the entrances to the station are closed due to the aforementioned construction, but the attendants inside are helpful.
