Colombia Trieste

... 6 January, lively colourful street markets will fill the sea promenade and the squares in the old town with light, colour and perfumes.
From Saturday 19 December to 17 January see the Nativity Scene Exhibition. An expression of street-decoration creativity and religious sentiment: over 100 nativity scenes on show in the narrow streets and squares, in the harbour and lagoon. Traditional or nautical-themed nativity scenes ...

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 ...

... to make en route.

It took about an hour and a half to reach Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital. From the highway, there were not clear signs pointing towards the center of the city, so, once again, it was kind of a **** shoot. After about thirty minutes of lucky guessing and a little backtracking, I finally spotted the castle and the pedestrian-only center of town. I lucked into a place to put my car (I hesitate to call it a parking spot ...

... tram in the city will take you uphill to the Trieste plateau ("Altipiano triestino"). Be sure not to miss a walk through the Napoleonica, a panoramic pedestrian route loved by locals of all ages; the Grotta Gigante (Giant Cave), the world's largest tourist cave in the world, and, last but not least, an easy lunch in an osmiza, each one open only several days per year. Be sure to keep your eyes wide open and look for a branch of ivy and a wooden ...

... 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 ...

... Then Stelio took me to his house and what came to be one of many traditions with these people...fed me...LOTS of food!! Haha. Then we drove to Sistiana (which is about 30mins drive) to Patricia (Robert's sister)'s winery. It is a really cute little place, a wine bar/bottle shop. Very interesting, and it is here where I sampled for the first time a "Spritz Aperol". mmm....yummy. Though a little bitter, but very refreshing in the hot summer sun.
Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy ilovetheworld

... ago. A very worthwhile stop.

It was about 500-600 steps down to walk through the whole thing and come out the other end.....where the elevator back up was broken, meaning 500-600 steps to climb back up outside the exit, lots of fun on this boiling hot day!

... 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.

... the guy sat down on the kerb beside me I drew his attention with a nod and a smile. While returning my nod and smile he said something in a language I couldn't quite identify. Realising that I couldn't respond he asked me if I was English, a common mistake no matter where in the world I've found myself. When I told him I was actually Irish, the confused look on his face was something else id experienced on many such instances for it seems that Ireland, to most people, is a made ...

I`ve always written Italy off. I admit it. I`d just been ripped off one to many times. That`s why it was surprise turning up in Trieste. What a great town. Great coffee shops, well styled little bars, nice galleries and lots of gourmet delis. I was in heaven!! As much as I ...