Trieste on a sunny day

The City has been largely spruced up and many notable buildings including all the great buildings along the sea shore and the Citadel and Catherdral above the city have been extensively renovated, lots of good restaurants, there is a feeling of prosperity despite the financial crisis.

We walked for about 5 hours throughout this beautiful city and have been impressed with its architecture and how nice people are.

We stumbled upon 2 monuments to the Hapsburg, Austria controlled this region for a long time often as a rival of the Republic of Venice who also controlled the area in the middle ages. But the monuments I speak of is of a much later period around 1850 when Franz Josef was Emperor of Austria with his wife Elizabeth known as Sissi. She has her monument in front of the Railway Station and the other is to Maximillian of Hapsburg on Piazza Venezia facing the sea. He was the brother of Franz Josef and he was the Governor of Lombardy and the Veneto which included the province of Istria where Trieste is located. He is remembered kindly by the people of the region because he was a liberal and progressive thinker compared to his brother the Emperor in Vienna who was your old arch conservative type. He also favored economic development and built the Palace of Miramar which brought a lot of people to Trieste and made the name of the region. Trieste became an important sea port and naval base for Austria. Captain Von Trapp (yes him again) served in the Austrian navy and was stationed here.
Tragedy struck Maximillian and his wife when a Mexican delegation under French political influence came to see him and asked him to become Emperor of Mexico. He was told that a referendum had been arranged and that the people of Mexico had chosen him by a huge majority. France promised military help and the Pope gave is blessing. Maximillian could out do his brother by becoming Emperor in his own right in what was thought to be a rich country. When he arrived in Mexico in 1865, he quickly saw that no referendum had taken place, the country was in a state of civil war and anarchy. The French troops he had been promised never materialized, in other words in was on his own with a price on his head. His wife returned to Europe, first to Paris to see Napoleon III to ask for help and troops to support her husband by this time Napoleon III had his own problems with Bismarck and the growing new state of Germany. Napoleon was to loose his throne just a few years later in 1870 at the battle of Sedan and go to England as a guest of Queen Victoria for the rest of his life. Carlotta then ran to Rome asking the Pope to please do something as her husband’s position in Mexico was unbearable. The Pope had a rebellion on his hands with Garibaldi and the Italians fighting for their own freedom from Papal rule. In 1867, Maximillian was arrested in Queretaro near Mexico city and shot by a road side. Carlotta went mad and spent the rest of her life locked up in the Palace of Bouchout near Brussels on her father Leopold I of Belgium orders. As for Franz Josef well he was happy to loose a liberal meddling brother, though his troubles in Italy were not over having to fight Italian rebellion against Austrian rule in the North.

a day in Trieste

Well after a good night sleep, we got off today by walking in central Trieste in and around the Piazza del Unita d'Italia, we also went to the train station to change our tickets to first class and the direct train Trieste Rome. This way we do not have to change trains in Venice and since it is a long ride be more comfortable than second class which tends to be very crowded at this time of the year. Had to leave my luggage in the car corridor twice because the compartments are full, 6 people to a compartment is more than cozy and not pleasant.
We also had lunch at a lovely cafe called Hydro City, the salad of anis and smoke salmon was very good and my shrimps on a bed of cous cous delicious. We then went shopping for shoes at Bata found exactly what we were looking for at very good prices.
The store manager overcharged me by 50 euros and then he came running after us and found us to apologize and reimburse me for the amount. We visited the Greek Orthodox Cathedral and looked at the mosaics of the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral.
Found out that James Joyce lived in Trieste in 1909 and fell in love with the city.
Tonite we made reservations at Suban an Italian restaurant who specialize in grilled meats and has been around since 1865. It comes highly recommended.

Trieste and the Adriatic

Trieste on the Dalmatian Coast of Italy.

We rode down from Udine to Trieste on the small regional train of 4 cars which provides service to the many small towns along this stretch of the Italian territory, all that is left of the once great Roman Empire in the Balkan. Most of it was lost after 1946 when Italy was punished by the victorious Allies for its Fascist past and for its alliance with Hitler during the war. The ride takes about 90 minutes and there are many stops along the way.

We stopped in CORMONS which is a famous wine producing city, I really like Cormons wines mostly whites, dry and light. They have a distinct bottle with a blue tinge to it.

Then we stopped in Gorizia, the train station is actually in Slovenia and the town square to your left in Italy. Strange but there you go.

Trieste is a big port city and has an ancient history, closer to us it was a Venetian city ruled by the Republic of Venice. Many kings and Emperors came here in the summer and lots of Palaces dot the coastline like Miramar.

We are staying at a beautiful hotel called Le Corderie, as the name implies it is about the making of rope, several antique drawings on the walls show this process. It is an all inclusive modern hotel, beautiful décor and very quiet. Free bar and free internet, very friendly staff. As the moto of the hotel says, Eleganza, Cultura, Sensazioni. See web site
www.lecorderiehotel.it

Our room is a very modern style Zen like with a fruit basket but a different presentation Apricots in a large glass.

I also ask the Front Desk to recommend restaurants for us to try. Now Trieste is a Port city and you would think that fish or sea food would be famous here, not so, why?
Well apparently the water in front of the city is very deep, it is a natural deep water port and fish stick to more shallow waters usually. But they did recommend a fish restaurant we will try tonite and another with Trieste style cuisine specialties a mix from Croatia, Slovenia and Italy.

It is much warmer here around 25 C. and partly sunny.

Neapel, Metropole der Erinnerung

Salburger Pfingstfestspiele director Maestro Riccardo Muti

This Music Festival in Salzburg recalls the days when Austria ruled Naples and Southern Italy. After 200 years of Spanish rule by the Royal Spanish Hapsburg in Naples the War of Succession for the Spanish Throne led the Austrian Hapsburg to take over through political intrigue and manipulations. From 1707 they ruled the Kingdom of Naples and the two Sicilies. At the same time music style and musical schools from Naples started to dominate in Europe and of course Austria. The original music schools were created as part of the city’s orphanages and called Conservatory, i.e. to conserve, look after the orphans. The orphans were thought music and would learn to play musical instruments and play in orchestras at Court or in theaters or as part of Church Choirs.
The boys with the best voices would be castrated so to keep those delicate pre-pubescent voices. In time the Cultural life of Naples attracted great musicians and composers. Rich commissions were to be had for those who had talent. People like Alessandro Scarlatti or Francesco Nicola Fago did well in Naples. Italian musical style and singing in Italian was the in thing. Mozart later on would travel to Italy with his father Leopold and he was required to write in Italian and compose in the popular style of Naples, though like other musicians his patrons were German Princes and Cardinals. The School of Naples had an influence on his work.

This morning we heard at the Mozarteum a work from 1709 by Francesco Nicola Fago and another work by A. Scarlatti. The drowning Pharaoh, written as an Oratorio for chamber orchestra, the singers where James Gilchrist, Marianna Beate Kielland, Havard Stensvold and Lucia Cirillo. The orchestra Europa Galante was directed by Fabio Biondi. Beautiful work centered around the story of Moises and Pharaoh. The voices were clear and you could hear every word in Italian perfectly pronounced. The Mozarteum is a concert hall built around 1841 at the urging of Mozart’s widow Constanze Weber Mozart. It was recently refurbished and it is a beautiful white and gold concert hall. The Mozarteum has its own orchestra and a separate University dedicated to music and teaching.

Bolzano as a resort

Today was spent walking around this tranquil little town and looking at the shops, the churches and the Dolomite mountains surrounding us. Sat in Cafés and had lunch and drinks on the Piazza Walter named after a minstrel who around 1521 use to delight the princes and people of this mountain town with his songs and poems. Bolzano is made for hiking up the cable car to Ritten and Ober Bozen at 2250 m. The town has a brand new cable car which brings you up there in 12 minutes. Their is also a lovely river, more of a mountain stream, running fast and clear through town. That is about it, little car traffic but lots of speeding bicyclists everywhere. The people are charming and speak mostly German and Italian, we are still in Italy though this was an Austrian town up until 1918.
Tomorrow we go to Salzburg via the Brenner Pass and via Innsbruck where we will change trains. The weather for the weekend of Pentecost in Salzburg looks cold and rainy.

Bolzano

Well tomorrow we leave by train for Northern Italy, Alto Adige region also known as Sud-Tirol. Our first stop will be the city of Bolzano, where most of the population speaks German and not Italian. You are almost in Austria at that point and Bolzano also known as Bozen has always been a German speaking town. I really like this Northern part of Italy because it is a mix of culture. Accidents of history and war spoils this part of territory changed hands several times between German-Austrian Princes and Italian nobles.
The Dolomite mountains are all around beautiful mountains and scenic landscapes. Looking forward to it all.
Though it will be colder around 15C to current Rome weather of 30C. Possible rain apparently.
Then on to Salzburg on the next day, again colder weather, so we will dress appropriately. At any rate the Music Festival in Salzburg is fairly formal and people are expected to wear black tie or dark business suits at evening events.
Day time events are less formal but nonetheless it is usually tie and jacket.
I am really looking forward to this vacation, just the idea of getting away is fun.

getting ready for the vacation

Why is it that when you want to go on vacation there is always something to keep you back. Silly things, last minute, things, all agravating. Friday I am getting my hair cut, then Saturday I go to the vets with the puppies for their shots, Monday is the last day at work and Tuesday I drive puppies to the farm to visit with their relatives. Wednesday we leave for Bolzano by train. Off on vacation, it will be a nice time, because we are out of Rome and will see different things, hear a different language (Austrian German) different food and mentality. The music festival in Salzburg is one of the great ones in Europe and we do it all by train which is nice because I do not have to drive anywhere.

Speaking of which, I had 2 parking tickets today, in front of my house. I parked on the street because they were repairing the entrance. It seems the police targeted me, will see about how to settle this matter tomorrow.

The weather is really hot now in Rome, it seems summer appeared all of a sudden with 30C in the shade. Which means that the figues season is not far away, we have 2 trees by the house and they are lovely full of fruit. Will try to get at them before the birds do.