October 1, 2022

October 1, 2022

It is not raining this morning in Bled, Slovenia, so right after breakfast we step out of the hotel and admire our last look at the lake and the castle high overhead.

After checking out, we left early heading back to the Adriatic coast. Our first stop was just across the border in Italy at the city of Trieste. This town’s name comes from the Croatian word Trg meaning ‘market’ or ‘square’. This is an apt name as Trieste sits on the west side of the Istrian Peninsula at the top of the Adriatic Sea at the crossroads of trade going not only east and west but north and south.

We started our tour of Trieste with its history as part of the Roman Empire. We saw a small theater at the base of San Giusto Hill. At its top was the original settlement. There we see the remnants of a Roman temple. Later two Byzantine churches were built on the site. During a renovation in the 14th century the wall between was removed and the churches combined to form Trieste Cathedral. It was a cost-conscious reconstruction. The facade has a mish-mash of elements. Surprisingly even reused Roman artifacts. The dim interior has Roman columns and two rare Byzantine gold mosaics in the apses. The floor even has patches of the original tile mosaics here and there.

For five hundred years Trieste was part of the Austrian Hapsburg Empire. This can be seen in the main square, Piazza Unita d’Italia. This part of Trieste used to be a salt making operation. It was land-filled to make this zone. This square facing the sea is encircled with ornately decorated buildings that would fit in Vienna.

Trieste became an important seaport of the mostly landlocked Austrian Empire. We walked a few blocks to the Grand Canal that used to be the harbor. It is no longer deep enough for modern vessels so this port is now lined with cafes and restaurants. We are hungry so we ate at a pizzeria on the canal.

After lunch we tried to do a little shopping but most of the stores were closed for lunch far longer than their signs stated. This is Italy! Instead we wandered the Old City. What I like is that there is sculpture everywhere. It decorates monuments and many building facades.

Trieste was only given to Italy after WWI as a reward for joining the Allies. It was liberated in WWII by the Yugoslavs. Trieste is still a bilingual city of Italians and Slovenes.

We left Trieste heading deeper into Italy. We passed over the Socha River where some of the fiercest fighting in WWI occurred. Ernest Hemingway was a volunteer ambulance driver here. We also passed the staircased Redipuglia War Memorial containing the remains of over 100,000 soldiers.

In two hours we reached the causeway that leads out to the islands of Venice in the lagoon. We parked and took the new Monorail people mover to Piazzale Roma. We found our hotel on the far side of the train station.

We have some time before dark so we visited the nearby Jewish Ghetto. This island was where Jews were segregated. The site originally held an ironworks. Ghetto is the Italian word meaning foundry. Every square in Venice has a cistern for collection of rainwater. This was the source of Venetian drinking water for a millennium. The Austrians made a disastrous decision when they took control. They dug water wells removing groundwater. As a result the city started sinking into the sea.

Aimee and I are quickly disliking the crowds of Venice. So we retreat to our hotel and have a glass of wine on the patio overlooking the Grand Canal. It is very busy with boats of all sizes.