City Post: Trieste

Trieste was one we weren't really sure about. Not that we thought it might be bad; we didn't know anything about it. When Cambrey was coming to meet us, we needed somewhere close to an airport her airline flew out of, and Trieste seemed like a good place on Google. It turned out to be an excellent town!

Trieste is on the opposite side of the Adriatic from the rest of Europe. It's a port town for both cruise liners and cargo ships. It's also chock full of history, because of its historically strategic location. It's got everything we wanted in an Italian getaway: history (including WWII/Holocaust sites), the ocean, little cafes, expansive parks, and decently-priced drinks.

We rolled into Trieste in the afternoon. Jack immediately took a nap (as did Cambrey), and Jo went exploring a bit. It turned out that there was a movie being filmed along the Grand Canal (although not quite as grand as Venice's!), so the sound of blank ammunition being fired at a mock-up presidential limousine was a constant during our stay (as were the constant detours around the set). We hit up a little cafe and wandered a bit, and then retired early.

The first full day, we wanted to hit the beach. Dog Beach, to be specific. We found it on Google, and Jo and Cambrey were ecstatic to swim with the doggos. Unfortunately, there were signs up everywhere that said no swimming...except for dogs! Well, we wanted to get into the ocean, so we headed over to Barcola, a seawall that the locals swim off. It was beautiful, despite not having a proper beach. We layed out on the seawall, swam, snorkeled, and read for a while. It was such a relaxing day! Afterwards, we went to the Teatro Romano, an ancient Roman theatre which is located in the middle of town and still used for productions today. We didn't do much that evening (besides grab some gelato), so Jo and I did some more trip planning in the courtyard while enjoying our drinks.

The second day was history day. Jack started out by visiting a few churches and the grounds of the Castello di San Giusto while Jo got her Italy tattoo (Cambrey helped!). We headed over to Risiera di San Sabba, a rice mill which the Nazi's turned into a prison camp in 1943. The camp itself is free, and the audioguide (which we highly recommend) only costs three Euros. It was about an hour away via public transport, but it was absolutely worth the visit. The site now sits on a plot a quarter of the size of the original camp, but it is easy to see the layout as the original plot is bounded by streets on all sides. The camp is small compared to what most people think of as a concentration camp, but its buildings were several stories tall, which created a domineering appearance to us standing in the yard. While the Nazis destroyed much of the camp in an attempt to cover up their crimes during their retreat, the architect did wonders create the eerie feeling that took you back in time, including accentuating where the crematorium once was (this was the only site in Italy used, in part, as a death camp with a crematorium, although that was not its primary purpose). Overall, this camp was a quite sobering experience. Jo and I commented that we are steadily building our way up to Auschwitz in a few months by going from memorials to smaller sites to one of the worst camps to exist.

The next morning, Jo and I dropped Cambrey off at the train station WAY earlier than Cambrey wanted to get up, then we had breakfast and set off ourselves for Prague (a 14 hour travel day...).

Where We Stayed: Hotello

Jo's Favourite: Cambrey helping with the tattoo!

Jack's Favourite: Risiera di San Sabba

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