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The castle from the walkway
Looking back at the castle from the walkway Diego, Lindsay and I headed off to Trieste on the autostrada going 120 - 130kph. Imagine being allowed to do that in NZ? It isn't the speed so much that is the issue but the sheer number of trucks. We don't get 30+ in a row so we shouldn't complain too much about trucks on our roads. But, at least you can pass these ones.
Our first stop was Duino to walk the path along the cliff top and visit the castle there. Unfortunately, on Tuesday's the castle is closed so we did the walkway instead. There are superb views out over Adriatic, back toward the castle and through to Trieste in the distance. It is all limestone and reminded us of the Takaka Hill rocks.
From here we went to Miramare to look at an Italian style formal garden at the castle there. It is set in a lush treed area, with formal buxus gardens, a long pergola, fountains, pools, cannons, palms and other plantings, set high on a promontory overlooking the ocean. Very nice.
We then visited an art gallery to look at Italian art covering the last 150 years. Some of the early art was worthwhile, but it
Roman Ampitheatre, Trieste
The ampitheature ruins in Trieste was only technique that redeemed any of the later stuff. Just awful some of it! Not something for your living room.
Then onto Trieste where we had an Austrian/Italian lunch and beer, then onto explore the central city. The large piazza has attractive buildings with great architecture. Old but not ancient. Going back in time to the Roman reign around 30BC to 3AD, we wound our way up the hill to see an ampitheatre that could seat 6000, parts of a Roman town exposed under recently built buildings, then on up to the top of the hill to the remains of a Roman temple and a large castle. Views out over the city can be seen from here. Diego spent 7 years at university here so he knew all the places to take us to. Trieste is well worth spending more time to visit.
Above Trieste is a huge cave called Gigante Grotto. It is the deepest in the World and is quite spectacular. The path down to the bottom is well constructed, well lit and we were well informed by a Guide. It's difficult to explain the shear size, depth and beauty, so let's just say fantastic and move on.
On the way back to Portogruaro, we visited another small town called Palmanova. It is weird. It is shaped like a star or a palm and was built as a practice area for the military in the 1600's. The shaped was specifically designed to allow the townspeople to be defended from all sides and from front and back. The town has 4 arched entrances, then 8 arrow heads or star ends jutting out from the main walls towards a surrounding river then further fortifications beyond that into the paddocks. Look up Palmanova on the web for a picture as it's very complex.
Arrived home at 9pm to a lovely dinner of spagetti and cockles, cooked by Chef Piero, of course. Excellent. I must try it. Tomorrow morning Lindsay and I will make them a Kiwi Pavalova.
The amazing thing about this whole area is the lack of knowledge we have about the involvement of Kiwis in the area during the war. But not only our own history, but the use of the northern part of Italy by various warring factions using it as a strategic position - Romans, Austrians, Germans, the US and likely others. Who knew that there was a United States Air Base based at Pordenone right now?
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