Trieste by the Sea

Seeing a castle was on Neve's wish list for this trip.  A "haunted" castle within a couple of hours drive is a huge lure; place it on a point in the Gulf of Trieste on the Adriatic Sea - practically in Slovenia, very close to Croatia and looking very Eastern European - and it really can't be missed.  Our destination: Castello di Miramare.  Getting all seven of us there wasn't so easy.  We thought we'd use our usual solution and rent a minivan but after searching the surrounding area, there were no minivans to be had...not really a European thing.  So we went the opposite direction and rented a little tiny Fiat 500 for Laura and me, and Jim took the station wagon with the girls.  Gabriella (our GPS) guided us to a harbor which seemed very near the mark but not quite there (which wouldn't be unusual for her).  We decided to stay in the harbor for a delicious lunch - no surprises: fish, pasta, pizza.  (I have recently developed a love for Branzino, a European seabass).  Our waitress told us that we were actually parked in the best place to get to the castle - just a 10-minute walk straight up a stair-lined path, then through a tunnel, and we'd be there.  That entrance only got us to the very top of the 54 acre castle grounds - so it was still a nice walk back down to the sea to get to the actual castle, but the grounds offer great views of the gulf of Trieste and are full of plants from around the world and plenty of sculptures. 

We took the audio tour of the castle and got a lot of VERY detailed information about each of the rooms, with their original decorations reflecting the eclectic styles of Austria, Germany, and England, and constantly reminding us of the builder's, the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria's, connection to the sea.  The girls were patient with the overly comprehensive but pretty interesting audio, but were disappointed that the "haunted" aspect of the castle was never discussed.  The legend is that people who stay there will come meet tragic premature ends in foreign lands.  The Archduke himself was executed after becoming Emperor of Mexico (at only 34 years old) and his young widow Carlotta is said to have gone crazy in her grief.  And, Archduke Franz Ferdinand stayed here 50 years later on his way to Sarajevo, where he was assassinated, starting World War I.   They didn't highlight those things on the tour, but this was true for enough of the residents over the years, that when America occupied the castle at the end of WWII, the commander camped on the grounds rather than stay in the castle!

After the tour, we went to the water and Laura and Meg put their feet in the Adriatic.  The water was so crystal clear you could see all of the fish swimming about.  We stopped for some gelato treats at a little cafe on the grounds before hiking back up, through the tunnel, and down the stairs to our car. We didn't finish with the castle until after 5, but decided to drive the 5 km into the town of Trieste for a quick look.  We drove by some impressive buildings and plazas, and got a quick glimpse of the Roman amphitheater ruins, but decided to leave the exploration for tomorrow's adventure in Verona.  The teenage girls poured themselves into the tiny backseats of the Fiat 500 for the ride home, and so had ample opportunity to be completely mortified by our stories and the questions they couldn't run away from back there.  Traffic was horrible - so we didn't pull in to home until nearly 10 pm.  Laura made us a late dinner of cheese toast and salad and we watched an episode of Seinfeld before bed.