James Went To Trieste

I read about Trieste a while back, I think in The Economist, and it intrigued me enough to have it on my “maybe visit” list.

Ljubljana was on my “definitely visit” list, and I realised that I could combine the two – fly to Trieste and then either get the train or a bus to Ljubljana. And with Ryanair having some seriously cheap flights there, it was game on.

Trieste is definitely less Italian than other places in Italy that I’ve been, for multiple reasons.

It only became part of Italy after World War 1, prior to that it was part of the Habsburg empire for circa 500 years, and is apparently known as the Viennese Riviera, it was their most important port.

In addition, it was ruled by the Nazi’s for two years, the Yugoslav’s for 40 days, and was its own free state between 1947 and 1954, under allied administration.

And some people still want the allied forces to come back…maybe don’t tell the orange one.

What To Do In Trieste

I was actually only there for one full day which probably wasn’t enough, but also was enough, if that makes sense.

I didn’t help myself by staying outside of the city – hotels in Trieste seemed pretty expensive so I booked a hotel in Monfalcone, a 25 minute train journey, and then a 20 minute walk away.

In retrospect, I should have just paid the extra instead of trying to save a few quid.

So for my one day there I tried to find out what I could about the city, with a walking tour which was good fun – and ended with a very small glass of very nice local wine.

Walking around you could see how the buildings reflected different times, including the old stock exchange in a more Viennese style, the cathedral in what seems a more Roman style, and then the town hall on the main square – a huge square which is apparently the largest square in Europe with one side on the sea.

Quite unnecessarily large, as Trieste doesn’t get busy enough, as you can see.

One of the more interesting facts was about the Bora winds in winter, which can easily gust 100mph – it was actually unusually windy on the day I was there, so I got to experience their summer version of this!

Miramare Castle

Because a walking tour wasn’t enough, I decided to walk up the coast for 2 hours to go to Miramare Castle.

On the way, I got to see probably the world’s most Brutalist Catholic church.

And I stopped off for a beer and a snack in a little Argentinian place, run by a guy from Pakistan who I got talking to – there was a curious geographic spread of people in terms of those who I got talking to (always briefly), from Iraq, Bangladesh, Pakistan, USA, Guatemala.

And though the two hour walk in the fairly hot sunshine was pretty dumb, a good half of it was featuring lots of young Italian women in bikinis, who would sunbathe on the walkway – as Trieste has no beach.

So the castle itself:

I didn’t bother going inside, because I’ve been in plenty of castles and decided I could save myself the €12.00.

But the grounds were gorgeous, really well-manicured gardens, some lovely trees and a giant ape. You could walk around for quite a long time and just enjoy being there – though I didn’t walk around much, just did more sitting and reading, given that I’d just had a walking tour of Trieste and then walked the 2 hours to here from Trieste despite a perfectly good bus system, and some occasional trains.

It’s well worth a portion of your time – probably the best thing to do in (or around) Trieste.

Beer!

Trieste is not exactly a hotspot for craft beer, and I was only there on Sunday and Monday, which limited my options further.

Taverna Ai Mastri D’Arme had a decent pale ale and some outdoor seating in a quiet location.

King Pub had some of the more standard Belgian beer styles, but most importantly the young lady charged my phone for me.

Probably the most enjoyable spot was along the canal – the kind of area where in many European cities (hey, Rome) you’d get totally ripped off for a pint of piss, yet I had a pleasant IPA for €5.00, which seemed fine.

And I could sit in the sunshine and watch…not a lot. Trieste is quite a quiet city, despite a cruise ship always being docked when I was there.

Two Restaurants In Trieste

So given that I was in Italy, I decided that I had to have pizza, and the best place I could find on Google was slightly in a neighbourhood, rather than the tourist area, called Pizzeria tutta n’ata storia.

It was an interesting mixture of gorgonzola, Italian sausage, tomatoes and peppers – I’d ordered a pizza not listed as a white pizza, but it wasn’t a red pizza either, which was a mistake. PIZZA NEEDS A TOMATO BASE. Unless you have issues with tomatoes.

It wasn’t amazing, but good enough – perhaps given that Trieste isn’t that Italian, and certainly isn’t known for pizza, I should have eschewed the idea. But also…it was cheap.

My meal the next night wasn’t that expensive either, I had 3 courses and 2 drinks for around €40.00 at Osteria Marise.

For starter I had cod bruschetta – a very crispy bruschetta and perhaps not as fresh bread as one might expect.

The main was a gorgeous piece of tuna, along with crunchy vegetables. And dessert was a pointless chocolate cake, which was neither especially tasty or gluttonous. Just felt like a pretty ordinary brownie really.

I had high hopes for this place, but only really the tuna matched it.

One thing I did find quite interesting is that the cuisine in Trieste definitely has more of a central European influence, including the ugly-looking boiled ham dishes which I saw a lot of in Basel and Strasbourg last year, and also goulash was quite prominent, which I imagine it wouldn’t be in Naples or Rome.

Should You Go To Trieste

I didn’t love Trieste, and having gone to the wonderful Ljubljana afterwards, it does get very much overshadowed in my memory.

It is a really interesting city with quite the mixture of influences, and I don’t think I got anywhere close to understanding it.

Likewise the cuisine, I was probably too safe in my choices (curiously it did have a branch of L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele which is one of the best pizzas I’ve had in London) – there was more to enjoy here.

I don’t think Trieste should be top of anyone’s to-do list, but when Ryanair flights from Stanstead are cheap (mine was like £23.00 in June, albeit one way), if the weather is good and you want to go somewhere a bit different, then it’s a worth city.

And do go to Miramare Castle. And don’t walk all the way there.