Trieste, Italy to Izola, Slovenia
Flight delayed…not always a problem. Fierce and I ran to catch our connection in Rome to Trieste, but our sweat and haste was rewarded with an empty counter and a ghost-town like waiting area. There wasn’t even someone to ask about where we should go to get re-booked. I finally found a counter with ITA on the display and was pointed in the direction of their kiosk of a desk. Once there, we were told the only flight out was the next morning and that one was a long shot, but the 5pm was also full. I decided to try the 9am standby flight first. ITA put us up in a nice hotel and gave us a packed dinner as well as a delicious breakfast buffet. I didn’t waste any time the next morning. It was difficult, but I did find the re-booking counter (no signage). I prayed the whole time. When the lady handed me tickets with seat assignments, I was so thankful. Fierce and I weren’t together, but I just asked someone to switch and it all worked out great.
One taxi ride later and we were at Miramare Castle in Trieste, Italy. We left our bags with security and went to explore. The castle was build by Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg and his wife, Charlotte. It is gorgeous. The inside is decadent with beautiful architecture, fabrics, paintings and art collections. Maximilian was a botany hobbyist and had very large, lovely books on plants of all kinds. The grounds around the castle are filled with gardens of red Cannes and green landscape to one side and then the Mediterranean Sea to the other. From inside, it is like the castle windows are an extension of the sea itself.
We grabbed our bags and then Fierce convinced me to get gelato before we took a short bus to Trieste harbor. That might be simplifying it because we had to change buses at one point due to a language barrier, but we did end up there! The Trieste harbor is beautiful. At one point we smelled pizza and Fierce absolutely had to have pizza in Italy so we ordered a margarita and that kid was in heaven for every bite.
One does not catch a taxi here, I discovered. There are set places where you can get one. Well, knowledge acquired, we loaded up our bags and headed just over the border to our hotel in Izola, Slovenia. We arrived at the Belvedere Resort and Fierce immediately exclaimed that he wished we had more time here. He heard there was a pool and I don’t even remember getting our room key, we were in that icy pool like our feet were on fire. Soon, he made a friend and I went to get warm in the sun. He did come back with blue lips, so we dried off and played a round of mini golf. The “greens” are made of cement so it was hard to keep your ball from rolling. The challenges of each section were actually hard and I couldn’t help thinking this was so like how a fun-loving kids game would be played in a soviet country although they never were, so there’s that...lol
After we cheated our way through mini golf, we got coffee at the restaurant terrace and looked out at endless views of Izola and the Mediterranean. Afterwards, we took a little path down to see more views and then we kept going down a small road until we ended up at a beach stop. It’s actually rocky with striated cliff rocks to your left, a pier straight ahead and a sandy beach way down to your right. We decided to try out the actual beach tomorrow and explore the rocks and pier tonight. It was a lot of fun just taking pictures, talking and watching the sun start to blanket the skies with yellows and oranges. Good night!
