Trieste: 15–17 November

Trieste is a port city on the border of Italy and Slovenia. Coming into Trieste was pretty cool, buildings perched on the hills overlooking the Adriatic Sea and we were getting Vienna vibes. Turns out it’s because Trieste was the main port for the Austro-Hungarian Empire back in the day, which explains the neoclassical architecture, the coffeehouse culture, and how different it feels from other Italian cities. The buildings look well cared for, not run down. Barely any
graffiti either, unlike most other places we’ve been to. And it’s way more spacious than Venice’s narrow alleyways, which felt a bit claustrophobic. It might be our favourite place yet. A bonus, there’s hardly any tourists.

Our Airbnb was right in the middle of everything, but on the fourth floor,
upstairs from a pizzeria, the street below constantly buzzing, people
drinking, socialising, joyful noise, buskers playing jazz, African drums, some kind of guitar I’d never seen before… The restaurants and bars have to bring all their tables and chairs in at midnight and then it’s quiet.

It feels safe walking around here at night. Safer than a lot of cities back in NZ, which is good because the sun was setting at 4.30pm and there were so many hours of the day left.

Did you see the little individual motorbike parks?

We happened to come upon this 1st century Roman amphitheatre a few mins walk from our airbnb where performances are still sometimes held!

The last pic in that group is another ancient structure we came upon, Arco de Riccardo from the 1st century and one of the oldest surviving monuments in Trieste. Over the centuries, surrounding buildings were constructed right up against it.

Sean’s been getting into espresso shots here, in Italy. They just put it on the
counter and you down it straightaway but don’t try to pay for it until after
you’ve had it. That’s not how it’s done!