Another Italian Autumn

View of the Loggia di San Giovanni from Udine Castle. One hour’s drive from Trieste, Udine is a beautiful small city with a medieval and renaissance centre, said to be founded by Atilla the Hun. After parking the car, as it turned out illegally, we headed to the 14 C Cathedral, gothic in appearance with the interior remodelled in the baroque style . The real gem is the adjacent bell tower and Baptistry that houses the Cathedral museum, in which there is a magnificent finery monument to Saint Bernard, with carved scenes from his life and gruesome death. We were fortunate that the man in charge on the day was an enthusiast for the works and provided us with a detailed explanation.                                            The Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata                                   ...

Miramare Castle and a hike to Proseco.                                         The day began with an early morning walk through the piazzas and along the seafront, the sea glassy and deep blue merging with the horizon, the                                           Seafront  plan today to visit Miramare and from there, hike to Proseco. Dominating the gulf of Trieste is the majestic white castle of Miramare, constructed in the mid 19C by Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg as a gesture of his love for his wife Charlotte.. About 8 kms from the centre of Trieste it can be reached by bus, car or ferry, with the approach by sea spectacular. On the edge of a promontory the building rises against the backdrop of a 22 hectare park and botanical garden. Maximilian and his wife were b...

Trieste 1 Piazza dell’Unita Venice is a city of canals and lagoons and Trieste a busy city port on the Adriatic coast. The capital of the province Friuli- Venezia- Giulia, Trieste borders both Slovenia and Croatia and formerly held by the Austro Hungarian Empire until WW1 after which it returned to Italian control. The borders  were  not finally settled until 1954. It has mixed cultural heritage linguistically, architecturally and culinary . On arrival by train from Venice I was struck by its elegance and grace; its main square the Piazza dell’Unita facing the sea and majestic town hall decorated with stunning mosaics. We are staying in a delightful small hotel, Hotel Albero Nascosto close to the centre, seafront and most sites so we navigated the city with ease during our first early morning walk.The deep intense  blue morning  sea and sky were dazzling and the ocean like glass as we made our way along the coast to the old port and lighthouse. There is the sense of ...

Venice in a day. Canal view  It’s difficult to plan a single day and night in Venice, but with 28 hours and a carefully selected itinerary we experienced the wonder of this most magical of cities. Our plane arrived quite early in the day so with map and google in hand we set off with determination to discover Venice. The concierge at the Hotel Gardena provided excellent logistical advice about the most efficient way to visit the places on our itinerary and with mild weather and diminishing crowds, we had a fantastic day.                                 Our hotel Walking the streets, lanes, canals and bridges is the most interesting way to navigate the city as there is always a wonderful view or unexpected delight over the next bridge or around a corner.  We lost our way often, but it didn’t really matter that it took longer than expected to reach destinations as getting there was a joy in itself. F...