The city of Trieste is a beauty—architecturally impressive, with great craft shops. The best of them is Vud, where a highly skilled master of woodcutting and his lovely wife sell their… well, call it art… but it’s highly useful in every kitchen.

Food was not as good as in southern Italy, and yet don’t miss out on San Marco Café, one of the most beautiful cafés I’ve ever had coffee in. And again, the coffee was not exactly a masterpiece of barista-ship…, but the place has the overdecorated grandezza of the old Austro-Hungarian Kingdom, which Trieste was part of until 1918.

So the real gem was Miramare, a beautiful palace built by the Emperor’s brother, Ferdinand Maximilian, the Archduke of Austria until 1860. It looks like it’s straight out of a fairy tale, and the surrounding park is worth more than a stroll. Best take a book and a blanket and sprawl on the ground, as the many Italians do here (as Trieste seems to be mainly a destination for Italian tourists). There is also a museum inside the castle, and since all this is located on the Adriatic Sea, it forms a highly protected sanctuary for the very biodiverse nature here. There is also a highly interactive museum dealing with maritime matters.

This is a city I will definitely return to.

Liked this post? Email me to say hi and I’ll sign you up for more articles like this: send mail