Trieste Is Italy's Most Un-Italian City and It Shocked Us
Is Trieste worth visiting? We spent a week in the Italian city that looks nothing like Italy. Piazza Unità d'Italia, Miramare Castle, the Grotta Gigante, the Karst Plateau, and the best coffee in the country. It surprised us more than anywhere we've been this year. This city has only been Italian for seventy-two years. Before that it was the only seaport of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is why the buildings look Viennese, the lunch is goulash and pork knuckle, and there is a Serbian Orthodox church with onion domes in the middle of it. We couldn't even order a coffee properly, because Trieste has its own vocabulary for it and nothing means what you think it means. It is also the 42nd most visited city in Italy, which is rather the point. Trieste sits a couple of hours from Venice by train, so it works as a day trip if you are short of time, though a week barely covered it. And if you are arriving by sea, Trieste is taking cruise traffic that used to go to Venice. It is a far better place to spend a night at either end of a sailing than most people realise, so stay a couple of days rather than transferring straight through. Episode Facts Trieste is the 42nd most visited city in Italy Piazza Unità d'Italia is the largest square in Europe that opens onto the sea Coffee: ask for a nero, not an espresso. A capo in b is a macchiato in a glass Up to 40 per cent of Italy's coffee arrives through this port The Grotta Gigante is one of the largest show caves in the world. You could fit St Peter's Basilica inside it The Karst Plateau is the original Karst. Every similar landscape on earth is named after it Miramare Castle was built for Archduke Maximilian, who left it to become Emperor of Mexico and was shot by firing squad Legend says anyone who sleeps at Miramare dies young, and violently, in a foreign land The Austro-Hungarian Empire covered land now in thirteen countries and had one major port. This one Cruise lines are moving to Trieste as Venice restricts large ships 🎵 Original soundtrack composed and produced by Adam Who are The Floating Nomads? We are Rick and Adam, The Floating Nomads. We sold the house and now split our time between our UK narrowboat Serenissima and months of slow travel abroad by train, ferry and water. Whether spending 200 days in Malta and Venice or travelling from Buxton to Brazil without flying (as seen on CNN), we share the honest reality of life on the move. Our films combine Rick's marketing background with Adam's music PhD to capture the authentic atmosphere of every place we visit. Support the Journey New films: every Friday evening (UK time). Channel Members: early access every Thursday, starting at just £2.99 per month. Members also unlock exclusive B-Side videos. Click Join under any video to help support our work. Chapters: 0:00 An Italian city that doesn't look Italian 0:37 Piazza Unità d'Italia 2:54 Why Adam didn't want to come 4:16 Nobody warned us about the coffee 7:25 James Joyce lived here 8:00 Why Trieste looks Austrian 9:35 The Canal Grande and the bridge that was too short 11:27 The Karst Plateau and the Grotta Gigante 16:03 Goulash and pork knuckle in a Trieste buffet 20:07 What we didn't get to see 21:47 Miramare Castle and the curse 25:57 What Trieste actually costs #Trieste #Italy #TriesteItaly #IsTriesteWorthVisiting #ThingsToDoInTrieste #TriesteCruisePort #TriestePort #CruiseFromTrieste #PiazzaUnita #MiramareCastle #GrottaGigante #AustroHungarian #SlowTravel #NoFly #KarstPlateau #TriesteTravel #ItalyTravel #TriesteDayTrip #TravelWithoutFlying #FloatingNomads