Trieste has been an Austrian city for over five centuries, the only maritime access of the empire that never bothered to acquire overseas colonies. Briefly occupied by Venice and France it grew into a flourishing free port populated by a multicultural melange of nations. Italians, Slovenians, Austrians, Croats and Hungarians contributed to a vibrant atmosphere of creativity and prosperity on the balmy Adriatic shores.
The faded elegance of the city has a distinct Austrian flavour with delightful Italianate and Southern Slavic touches. There is no way of seeing the seams in this harmonious blend: how would you separate a stately Viennese-style coffee-shop from its lovely terrazza? Trieste's magnificent piazzas equally combine the Austrian gravitas with the Italian bellezza. The sky-blue Byzantine domes of the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral grace the bank of the Grand Canal lined with scores of open-air restaurants. On the This city may not have world-class attractions but the whole deal is so enjoyable that the more you walk around the more you feel like staying here longer.
Just outside the city is the Castello di Miramare, a graceful Italianate castle has a mysterious history of great aspirations and tragic ends. It was the favourite residence of Maximillian I, the fine Emperor of Mexico executed by Mexican rebels after a short reign. His wife later succumbed to insanity here unable to cope with her grief and was dispatched back to her native Belgium. Archduke Ferdinand stayed here on the way to Sarajevo where his assassination triggered the star of WWI. The dashing Prince Amedeo d'Aosta, who made home here after the war, went on to become the Viceroy of Ethiopia only to die in a Kenyan POW camp a few years later.
It is not all gloom and doom though, the serene coast hosts a well hidden but immensely popular nudist beach along the Viale Miramare. This rugged terrain may be the only known place where modern incarnations of Roman gods can be viewed in the buff.
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