Alla Posta Hotel Trieste

... celebrations which end with a fireworks display over the sea, bringing 2009 to a close in a shower of kaleidoscopic sparkles.

Lastly, on 5 January at 5 pm, in the harbour and in Piazza XXVI Maggio, there will take place the representation of “The Arrival of the Varvuole”, the legendary sea witches who are said to reach Grado the night preceding Epiphany to take naughty children away from their homes.

... After a couple of days seeing everyone, eating alot, and venturing a bit around the city of Trieste, we went to Venezia (on our way up to Germany), it was the same as I'd seen before (haha) although had been raining a fair bit...and when it does, it floods really bad! Luckily it wasn't flooded the day we were there, but the little raised walkways were still around. Actually, our weather the whole time while Mum, Dad and Sam were here was quite good, we were pretty lucky.

So we decided to splurge with the hotel in Verona and Trieste a bit and boy is it nice......its like a vacation on our extended vacation......we got to this hotel here in Trieste, beautiful and right on the water. Jason sweet talked the receptionist (though he thought she said small king instead of smoking - his Italian is improving ...

... I will have that image transfixed in my mind for some time to come – probably the one I will remember most from Piran – a little spooky, as I think back on it, but very cool and mystifying as I watched.

When I awoke in the morning, the rain had not yet ceased, but fortunately, after breakfast, I was able to catch a lull, long enough to wander around the town for about an hour. As I am want to do, I immediately headed straight for the ...

... placed beside the road. They will lead you to a farm or winery where you will taste (and buy if you wish!) self-produced wine and food.

Last tip: if you ever heard someone say that Trieste is too quiet, I dare you to visit it during the Barcolana, the world-famous sailing race open to everyone, professionals and amateurs, which attracts thousands of tourists every year. It will be an experience you will never forget.

See you in Trieste!

... the Latin motto ˝Let them talk.˝ We liked that, but Bill did point out that wealthy Italian men never ever take young lovers and lavish money on them, so of course people talked. o what one does in Piran, if youre us, is wander the harbor and alleys and churchyard and ask the campanile why its not open for you and talk to the omnipresent cats. Theres quite a system of walkwazs from town to town and even a 3 countrz walkway, we found a ...

... of Italy and brightly-colored windowboxes filled with geraniums were also scattered around the city center.

The water was a deep teal green and looked so clean, even in the middle of a busy shipping port with 6-7 large container ships in port.

The Adriatic was a beautiful place to sail. Rolling hills covered in grape vines rose out of the water & were met by short mountains (foothills of the Julian Alps) on the Istrian peninsula.

... take out washing powder. My mind coming back down to earth I realised that I was going to have to go back across to the newsagent and break a Eur5 in order to have a second attempt. This was turning into an expensive excursion. Taking much time over the second attempt I pressed C6 and thankfully was dispensed the powder necessary to get my clothes clean. As I was loading the powder into the drawer I couldn't help but notice that my t-shirt could do with a little clean so I ...

... as people have to hold on to pull themselves along in winter! The architecture is also really amazing in Trieste and it just feels so unique as it has really only been part of italy since early 1900's and before was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire so it just has so much history and culture and we fell in love with it. It's a good city to pass through if ur going to Austria/Croatia/Slovenia etc.

Peter and Zoran took me to the Postojna Caves in the south of Slovenia. The nature was stunning and I never realised how swiss / austrian Slovenia actually looked. Its a very comfortable and beautiful country. The caves are the biggest Karst caves in the world.