Starhotel Savoia Excelsior Palace 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.

... We did have some lunch out I had ham and eggs and Ian had a vegetable lasagne mine was nice but Ians was tasty apart from the mushrooms in it yuk!

Did not do much really to talk about the place is like Llandudno with some great hotels and a sea front and a little harbour but the weather was terrible so we just chilled back in the room its really cold but I had the biggest bed ever with the fluffiest pillows just what I ...

... 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 ...

... 7 by this time, my wheels are rattling loud over the cobbles, and we swear they keep moving these Venice-like streets. So our host heard us in the quiet streets and called out to us, and thats how we found it. And we had the penthouse! 39 or 42 steps up, depending how zou counted, and I do mean up. The last leg was almost straight, like a shipćs ladder. One window gave us a beautiful view up the street and over the laundrz and past the ...

Italian is not a common 2nd language in the countries we've visited, but Koper Slovenia had clearly been conquered by the Italians and left with evidence of their rule. The city was settled in Roman times, then influenced by the Byzantine Empire around 600-800 AD, and ruled by Venice from 1300-1800.

Street signs were in Italian and Slovenian, and the lion emblem of Venice was posted on several important buildings. The familiar locking window ...

... very busy as its approaching the high season Summer months. When I explained that I was a travel agent also and that I knew exactly how busy it can get the atmosphere became more informal as we chatted about destinations around the globe and what were the 'in' places for this year. Eventually we got down to the business of why I was sitting in front of her in the first place, a ferry ticket to Albania to depart the next day. As she was tapping away of her keyboard she turned ...

Iniziano le undici battaglie dell'Isonzo. Il due novembre siamo a Gorizia e Trieste. L'Italia ricorda i suoi morti. Su mura e altari compaiono corone di fiori. Nei paesi, reduci - teneri vecchietti - in divisa. "l'esercito marciava per raggiunger la frontiera, per far contro il nemico una barriera!" L'Impero Austro Ungarico era schierato a ...

... without guidebook is not having an idea of where to stay, and tourist information looks shut, so after walking the city settle upon a very basic hotel - at 35 Euro's, not cheap! Does however come with excellent wine bar opposite, with excellent food!! Get trapped in various bars as the torrential downpours carry on, and work out my route for tomorrow