12. Padua to Trieste via Portograuro. April 22 2023

From rustic to elegant… from small village to Village People! Greetings from Trieste

Hope you are doing well and enjoying what appears to be sunny spring weather in Oakland and perhaps in other parts of the region and the US. We have hit good weather and even here in Trieste where we expected it to be cooler, it is sunny and very moderate.

We left our little nirvana in Padova after a delightful breakfast that came to our door, once again, at around 10:00; today we took the “box” to our private outside patio, which was perfect. We got on the road at about 11 and headed to Trieste, but with a stop in a small 6,000 population town called Portograuro which was somewhat unplanned but totally cute with canals and wooden bridges. We ate at a little trattoria that was filled with locals, mostly families (it’s Saturday); food was good.. and after a brief stroll, we headed to Trieste.

Before going into our arrival at Trieste, a few points of observation— Italy seems to have latched onto technology in a big way; they have lots of remotes for everything from the drapes to the windows, to heat, to toll booths, elevators, etc. Italy also seems still to be more focused on Covid than we are in the US; while people are no longer masked, they have signs everywhere with warnings about covid; all restaurants use QR codes; there are antiseptic wipes and soaps everywhere; I went into a store to try on earrings and was not allowed.. could only hold them close to my ear. And there are many more examples.

And on a language matter, I have been trying to use my not-great-Spanish only to find that Italian is less like Spanish than I thought. Felt I was very clever the other day in asking about an umbrella and used “paraguas” only to see the person look very puzzled.. Turns out the word in Italian is “ombrello.” Go know!

Also, seems like every child here in Italy, and many adults as well, wear tee shirts and sweatshirts and jackets that sport names of American cities or teams or musical groups; and the music playing in lots of bars is American music from the 80s, occasionally earlier. So American “culture” is strong here… for better or worse.

Anyway, after lunch we headed to Trieste, a city we have not been to in decades. What I remembered most about the city was that it seemed more like Vienna or Budapest than like Italian cities in the demeanor of the people. The physical nature of the city includes broader streets than in other parts of Italy, and the building stock is more 19th and early 20th century than 15th, 16th, and 17th century than the other places we’ve been traveling on this trip. I also remembered the large square and the walk along the sea, and lots of people strolling at night.

We arrived at around 4:00 and immediately left the hotel to stroll — with the intention of walking out to the big stone “pier” that is now a strolling hangout where you can watch ships come and go or just sit. It was packed with people of every age and ethnicity; actually we’ve seen more people of color here in a few hours than we’ve seen in Italy on the rest of the trip. But we were distracted by loud music and microphones coming from the square. So we headed that way. Turns out that today was “Carnival” in Trieste and the final part of it was music and dancing in the square. Many people were in costume, sort of like Mardi Gras. The emcee and singers were very funny, even though we didn’t totally understand what they were saying. One routine was having everyone in the square (about 400) dance and sing to “Y-M-C-A”… It was loud, it was raucous, it was lots of fun. Children and adults were singing and dancing throughout the square. After a few sets, we continued our stroll to the waterfront just in front of the square.

Then we headed to the hotel to get settled and head for dinner.

We are at the Savoia Excelsior Palace… which is like the antithesis of all the hotels we’ve been at on this trip. It’s super elegant; the building is more than a century old; it’s on the big side; our room is about 600 sq feet and we have a “luggage room” inside our room which Mike says is the size of the cabins he’s been designing for the homeless. It’s located in the prime spot in Trieste, and our room has two balconies. Ok.. the lap of luxury. Not sure how we got this room; I think we got upgraded for some reason… or maybe they upgraded us…not complaining.

Eventually we headed to dinner—about a 16-minute walk (good to add to our steps given that we were in the car much of the day, but the walk to and from the restaurant) which enabled us to get the steps today to over 10,0000. We ate at Menarosti – a 120-year-old mainstay in Trieste. We were the only non-Italians. It’s one of those white tablecloth places with antique wall sconces and chandeliers. Everyone was local and seemed to know everyone else. We started with thinly sliced local shark that was lightly grilled and then covered with onions soaked in vinegar (great); then pasta vongole (with baby clams); then lightly grilled squid, served at room temperature with chard. All really good, very simple and oh so tasty. Yes, we could not resist the dessert so we had two —- Mike had apple strudel (I said they had some Viennese roots here) and I had tiramisu.

We walked back to the hotel… and now I’m ready for bed.

All the best
fern