It was a challenge yesterday finding our way through Trieste getting lost several times and dealing with very busy roads. It also didn't help that the GPS track led us astray when entering the city.
We were impressed with what we saw of Trieste, particularly the historic centre and the waterfront. We need to carry on so we cannot give Trieste the time it deserves - we will add this to our list of places to return to when we can. It was a fortuitous choice to stay by the promenade along the waterfront at Hotel Tritone. This 2 star, family run place is a good find...clean, spacious, excellent breakfast and quiet.
There are two routes from Trieste to Venice. The Eurovelo route avoids Trieste and goes inland to Monfalcone and the other one goes through Trieste and takes the coast road to Monfalcone . Having read negative accounts of riders taking the inland route, we chose the coast road. Following the promenade along the water from our hotel was truly delightful.
Across the horizon, we could see 100's of sailboats.
Now that we have finally made it to Italy, the weather has really thrown us into a quandary. The weather in northern Italy has turned really nasty with heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast for the next two weeks. Looking at the forecast, it appears that there may be only one day with some sun in that time. To add to our dilemma, the temperature will be dropping close to zero in the Alps next week and that means a very cold, wet ride with snow or ice. So, we are modifying our plan for the time we have left. Rather than exploring the Veneto region, Padua, etc, we will focus on the region we are in and make our way to the Alpe Adria route which goes from Grado to Salzburg. . Hopefully, the weather will improve in Austria and Germany. If we have time, we hope to ride from Salzburg to Munich rather than taking the train. We'll see.
The cliffs show that we are still in the Karst region.
We followed the coast road out of Trieste and ended up at Miramare castle. We don't regret seeing it as it was quite interesting, however we didn't realize that the road ended here. We should have climbed inland instead. We'll check it out and find a way back to the main road.
Good timing - we had just reached the castle when the rain started. Barry bravely ventured in to the downpour to put our bike under the trellis. We are so grateful to have good rain gear.
We had thunderstorms all night. We waited out the rain at our hotel until 11:00 and when it cleared we headed out. An hour later the thunderstorms returned with a vengence
Miramare Castle. We had a hard time finding a way out of the castle grounds. All the exit routes had long steep stairs that would have been very tricky with our bike and trailer. Eventually, we discovered a route that connected us with the coast road. The castle is situated on 22 hectares - we think that we saw most of them by the time we found a way out.
The U.S.Army was at the castle from 1947-1954 and this monument thanks them for their service in helping to restore Trieste to Italy and democracy. They are affectionately known as the "blue devils".
The Rotunda area would provide a cool oasis on a hot day and many cobbled trails lead off in to the forest and gardens. One could walk here for hours...and we did! Within the grounds of the castle, it is forbidden to ride your bike, so we walked it for some time as we got lost trying to find a way out.
