Edamame: Trieste -Senior backpacker goes to Slovenia (9)

Trieste is an Italian city bordered with Slovenia, and it has been a multicultural and disputed area among the three nations, Italy, Austria, and Slovenia. Most recently it was under control of Yugoslavia militant regime led by Titto just for 40 days at the end of WW2. It had been flourishing as an important Mediterranean seaport of the Austrian Habsburg Dynasty from 1382 until 1918 following WW1.
When I planned to visit Slovenia, I first examined the possible route to enter into it from Venice through Trieste as there is no direct flight connecting Japan with Slovenia. But finally I decided to drop in Trieste during the return trip to Japan. After hiking in the mountainous region of Kamnik and Bohinj, I thought it would be nice to see blue Mediterranean sea and that a train trip from Bohinj to Trieste would be also attractive.

Train trip from Bohinj to Trieste
On July 28 after enjoying 6 days’ hiking in Bohinj, I took a train early in the morning which departed Bohinjska Bistrica at 6:50 am for Sežana. The train ran through small and peaceful villages in the mountainous regions, stopping at every stations and crossing the bridge over the Soča River until reaching to Nova Gorica on the border with Italy, where I needed to wait for around one hour. The station was rather big, but a very quite with a few passengers occasionally seen walking on the platform like an old man accompanied by his dog or a bicyclist passing by while I was sitting on the bench.

Villa Opicina's tram car
I got off the train at Sežana and tried to find a bus or taxi to go to Villa Opicina in Italian territory just located in the middle between Sežana and Trieste, but I spent more than one hour until catching a taxi, which carried me to the inn in Villa Opicina for less than 15 minutes. There was no boarder check on the entry into Italy, which made me realize the EU's freedom of movement of people. The place is located a little bit far from Trieste, but it is nice to ride on tram cars for going to and from Trieste.

Castello di San Guito
The Castle stands on the hill of San Giusto, which was built in 1468 by Friedrich II of Habsburg on the remains of previous Venetian fortresses on the site and had been extended to strengthen its defense until 1636 under the Austrian rule. I started to walk from the last stop of the tram in Trieste and reached the top of the castle in an hour, which offered me a magnificent view of this seaport.

Roman Theatre
At the foot of San Giusto Hill, the Roman Theatre was lying. But it took me almost one hour to find the way to access to it from the castle, as there were no signposts on the roads and nobody spoke English that I met on the street. This theatre was built between I and II century A.C. and accommodated around 6,000 spectators at the time, who could also enjoy magnificent sunsets during the performances as the sea was very close to the theatre.

Castello di Miramare
On the next day, I was determined to visit Miramare Castle. A friend of mine who was working in Italy had advised me to go there from the city center on cycling. So at first I was strolling along the seafront near the Piazza Unità d'Italia to try to find an rental-bicycle shop. But as I was watching the blue Adriatic Sea, I got a more splendid idea to approach the castle on a boat. I rushed in a tourist info center located near the square and got a time schedule for boats going to it.

Summer breeze made me feel fine on the deck under the sun, while I was watching white yachts sailing far out at sea and red roofed houses scattered on the green hills in the distance. The boat was gradually approaching the Miramare.

Getting off the boat at the port, I lost my way to the castle although it stood very close to me. There were no signposts on the way and I asked several people how I could get there. They were all friendly but I could not understand their Italian. Finally I met an intelligent attractive lady who spoke fluently English and brought me back to the right direction. She was working for ICTP (The International Centre for Theoretical Physics) at Trieste, one of the Mecca for advanced study of physics, and knew many Japanese researcher. I was flattered by her remark that Japanese researchers were one of the best in the world.
Although the Miramare puts the castle on its name, but actually it looked like a villa for Emperor Maximilian I and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium. I was impressed among others by the beautifully arranged layout of gardens in contrast to sea, which reminded me of the hope and intelligence of the 19th century's Habsburg emperor.