After my surprisingly pleasant
visit to Bratislava, I was determined to keep travelling and visiting new places. But this time, the choice wasn't as obvious as in the case of the Slovak capital. On the list of the possible destinations I had Prague, Vienna, Brno and Krakow. Beautiful cities, all of them would have been easy to approach from Hungary.
But then, I got the idea from a family member: 'Why don't you go to Venice?' I felt like it was the best thing I had heard until that point in 2016. Venice had always been the city of my dreams (just like Copenhagen and Stockholm), so the pure idea that I could end up there made me happy, and I didn't want to give up on it. I looked up a lot of different sources (mostly online discussions) to see if it's a good idea to visit the city in autumn. Even though most people agreed on the fact that it has a lot less crowds than in the summer (which was a great plus for me, someone, who doesn't like large crowds), Acqua alta (which can be translated literally as high water) deterred me from heading to the city of gondolas and vaporettos. But I didn't end up far from the city: I had the great opportunity to visit Trieste!
Where is Trieste? It is in Northeast Italy, located just approximately 20 km away from the Slovenian border. With its population of 200.000, being the capital of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trieste is one of the most important cities in the region, especially when it comes to trade. With its location, importance and cultural versatility, it has all what it takes to become a famous tourist destionation. It still isn't. Most of the people there seemed to be locals, or even if they weren't, their Italian skills quickly revealed that they came from other regions of Italy. There weren't many signs of excessive tourist crowds, which can cause tranquillity, but, on the other hand, makes the city look underestimated. Maybe the fact that Venice is just 150 km away distracts people, and nobody considers visiting this diamond any more, which is seriously a pity.
How to get there? In my case, the trip offered by Alfatours (a company that organises daytrips and longer visits from Hungary to different locations in Europe) was the one I decided to choose. We set off from Budapest around 23:00, arriving to Castello di Miramare around 8:00, having stopped at some petrol stations in Hungary and Slovenia on the way. The tour guide was helpful and nice, there were no hidden costs, just what was mentioned on their website, the only downside was the small legspace on the bus. One can put with it though, and for a destionation like Trieste, it was worth it.
With regular buses, it is quite easy to get from Budapest to Trieste. Flixbus offers some buses on this route (if you don't mind travelling by buses at night, their timetables make the city an ideal daytrip destination). If you insist on travelling by trains, you'll most likely encounter some difficulties on the way. There was a night train called Venezia running between Venice (who would have thought) and Budapest, but it was discontinued in 2012, and it limited the opportunities not only between Hungary and Italy, but also for the neighbouring Slovenia. So unless you want to reach Trieste by changing 3 times, I'd advise you to visit the city by bus. The city can easily be approached within Italy though: trains regularly run from cities like Venice and Udine, but it is also possible to visit it from Milan.
Since we went to the castle directly by bus, I have no experience with the local transport. But if you want to visit the castle, it is a good idea to use local public transport. Buses run frequently, and even from the downtown (eg. from Trieste Centrale), you can find yourself in front of the castle in no time. Another way is taking the train: Trenitalia also offers trains regularly to a station in the vicinity of the castle.
The castle itself was built on the Gulf of Trieste, and its history goes back to that of the Habsburg family. Once you take a look at it, you can immediately see its impact on the whole building (unfortunately you cannot take photos in the interior):
Before we actually entered the castle, we were seperated into two groups: one entered the castle, the other had an hour to take a walk in the castle park, and then the other way round. Needless to say: the sixty minutes we had was clearly not enough, but was rather just a temptation not to enter the castle and just roam around in the surrounding nature:
It is also worth to have a look at the beautiful sea: the water has a wonderful blue colour in the first beams of the morning Sun:
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| The view from the park to the sea was incredible. |
Once everyone could get enough of the indeed magnificent castle, we went back to the bus and headed to the actual city.
We started off from a parking lot somewhere around the main railway station (Trieste Centrale), and once we approached the downtown on foot, the first thing I could see was Molo Audace: it wasn't dense at that time (unlike in the evening hours), but you could already see people sitting and lying there.
The second thing I glampsed was the sight I wanted to see the most: Canale Grande. In this case, a picture (or two) is worth a thousand words, this magic cannot be summed up in an other way:
Once we visited all the most important sights with our tour guide, we had a lot of freetime to explore the city the way we wanted to. We actually had a bit too much time: once you saw everything, there seems to be not much left to do. One of these (and it may be the best idea) is following other people's suit and sit down on the coast and staring at the sea (which doesn't get boring quickly). As time went by, more and more people did it and the city was then full of life.
The downtown itself perfectly depicts the past of the city: it shows the disputes between Italy and surrounding Slavic nations, and also the Austrian impact: it reminds me of Koper and any Croation town by the coast (never been there, just based on photos), the centre streets are like a bit run-down version of what you would see in Vienna, and the orthodox church above also shows cultural versaitily. On the other hand, the colours, the often narrow streets and the small motorbikes all around the city revealed that we were in Italy.
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| Trieste has been influenced a lot by the surrounding cultures, but this is where the city gets its charm from. |
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| A typically Italian street: narrow, full of small cars and motorbikes. |
Piazza della Libertà is definitely a highlight of the city. The square reminds me of Rathausplatz in Vienna, but instead of Burgtheater, you can see the sea on the other side, which makes it surreal, in a very positive sense:
As you can see, we had a beautiful autumn weather, which made everything even better. It was nice to just sit down and enjoy the Sun and the mood of this Mediterranean diamond.
There was something in the whole city though that made me want to see everything all over again (this feeling has lasted to this very day when I am writing this post, and it's not a secret that I want to return there in the future). In the end, it lead to the fact that we missed Costa Mediterranea setting out on its following cruise, and we just saw a small luminous dot disappearing in the distance. But a 180 degree turn compensated for everything:
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| We may missed Costa Mediterranea leaving, but at least the square with its vivid life was worth seeing in the dark. |
We left the city around 21:00 and arrived home early in the morning, with regular stops every three hours.
Is Trieste worth visiting then? Absolutely, the city is a perfect daytrip destination (just like Bratislava), but Trieste is also worth staying a bit longer than one day and discover the surrounding towns (like Udine, Venice, Gorizia or Koper in Slovenia, all of them are within 2 hours). Prices are higher than what you experience in Hungary, but it doesn't make the city unworthy to visit. Even if you enter Italy by car, it is worth to stop there, take a walk in the park of Miramare or walk through the main square.
All in all, Trieste is a diamond hidden in the corner of the Italy, and even though it is different than what people would call a 'typical Italian city', this is the reason why Trieste is unique and why it stands out.
I hope you enjoyed the story of my trip! Subscribe to get e-mail notifications about future posts, comment if you agree (or disagree) with what I wrote, and don't forget to follow me on social media for more photos!
