Last stop Trieste — An Elegant Sufficiency

The original itinerary was to finish in Venice, but changes to shipping policy there meant that we ended our cruise in Trieste instead. Actually, that suited us nicely, since we’ve been hoping to visit the port for a while and this seemed like a good opportunity to get a feel for the place.

Drawing the curtains today brought a surprise in the form of two ships there already…or? A closer look revealed they are two Crystal ships there in the shipyard following the company’s demise earlier in the year. I understand they are being refurbished ready for a relaunch - interesting! The costs involved in all aspects of the cruise industry are eye-watering, especially so when set out like this.

We had a brisk drive through the city to reach our destination this morning.

We were heading for the palace of Miramare, situated on the coast to the west of the city, built for Archduke Maximilian of Austria and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium. As we walked along the seafront, our guide Daniele pointed out the three masted yacht over on the coast opposite; a superyacht owned by a Russian oligarch, confiscated as part of the recent sanctions.

The gateway offered a feel of the castle-like appearance of the palace, though we weren’t thinking “defensive” here.

Miramare was built on a rocky outcrop with spectacular views and with lush gardens on the inland side.

Before we’d really learned much about the Archduke and his wife, Daniele told us of how he loved the place and how, once here, he really didn’t want to move away. Well, why would he? Living in such beautiful surroundings with all the trappings of a grand life must have been bliss. Shame about his Archducal responsibilities then!

For having established home here with Charlotte, in just five years he found himself “persuaded” to take on the risky role of Emperor of Mexico under French patronage and within a couple of years he was dead. A sad story indeed.

In those few short years, life must have been pretty nice though. Just across the bay in the yellow hilltop Duino castle lived the Thurn und Taxis, members of a German Princely family who would surely have made for interesting company now and again. (I left the industrial chimney there in the photograph because it’s part of the Fincantieri shipyard where Seven Seas Voyager was built!)

One can imagine them pootling over for dinner in their small steamship in the evening, landing at the little dock here and stepping up into Miramare. What a life!

Or maybe they joined the couple on warm afternoons for swimming at the little beach house in the grounds?

This morning, however, it was we who were stepping inside, looking around at the fine furnishing and the craftsmanship finishes.

Firstly, the Archduke’s bathroom, where he declined to fit running water even though it had become the norm by the time the castle was built. Perhaps when one has staff to attend to such things, it isn’t quite so important?

In this part of the castle, the Archduke’s rooms, the ceilings were low and there was much wood in evidence. Daniele reminded us that Maximilian had a distinguished career as commander-in-chief of the Imperial Austrian Navy, which influenced his design choices here. He felt comfortable on board a ship.

Here was his library too, with books about nature and science.

Wallcoverings here included insignia which told the story of his life - the anchor, the crown and the pineapple, which was intended to represent his time in Mexico, though Daniele explained that this reproduction had included that in error, for when he was here, he had not yet acquired that role.

Here and there were more accurate representations (even if they’re a bit blurry - sorry)

The decor was lavish and very personal to the couple. It was easy to imagine how much they loved life here.

On then into a sociable space and entry hall, where a billiard table stood in one corner and where a rather strange chandelier hung. Daniele explained that this was not the intended chandelier for that spot and that we would see that somewhere else later this morning.

The chandelier was hung in a strange manner too, because the central spot from where it would normally hang was taken up with this wind indicator. The doors from this room led directly to the small dock outside, from where guests would arrive and leave, so an indicator of the wind speed and direction was a practical addition to this seafarer’s home.

From here, we went upstairs to the throne room, where another variation on the wall covering revealed the next step in Maximilian’s life.

Maximilian Imperator del Mexico here, minus the anchor of course.

What a grand room! The ceiling in particular was magnificent and quite fitting for a grand setting such as this. The huge painting set out the family history too,

Daniele was pointing out the portrait of MariaTheresa there in the top middle, but I was noticing the piles of crowns at the foot of the painting. Imagine living with all of that history on one’s shoulders.

The collection of paintings by Cesare dell’Acqua in the next room told the story of several events of the castle, including this lovely one showing the arrival of Empress Sissi at that little dock we’d been looking at earlier.

It was here, when we were coming to the end of this part of the castle, that we came across the cat, Max, snoozing in the sunshine. He’d found a comfy spot!

We were crossing into a more contemporary part of the building, where Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta had lived for a few years with his family when he held the rank of Captain in the Air Force. Furnishings here were stylish and typical of the 1930s and very much in contrast to the grander, more formal style we’d seen earlier.

Not quite the chandeliers we’d seen before!

From here, we were back in the entrance hall where we’d begun our visit and Daniele offered to show the gardens to those interested, or we could simply wander around at our leisure and explore the exterior of the castle. My Hero and I opted to do that and having pottered about a bit, found a comfortable bench on which to sit, to watch the goings on and in my case, scribble in my notebook.

As we did, a member of the staff came out of the house and walked briskly across the gravel driveway carrying Max, the cat, in a most undignified manner. He took Max right over to the other side of the drive, set him down right in the grassy area over there and, brushing his hands over his uniform to remove cat hairs, returned in a similarly brisk manner to the house.

And Max followed him, almost step for step!

I wonder how many times that happens each day?

We would have been more than satisfied to have returned to the ship directly, but we had one more visit to make here, to the Cathedral of San Giusto. Rather than go into the history of it here on this already lengthy page, I’ll leave the link there for that.

We appreciated the quirky bits and pieces pointed out by Daniele, including the door frame, which had been placed so the right side was on the left and vice versa. Most clearly noticeable from the pediment above each set of portraits, which clearly shows the centre being placed at the outer edge (hard to explain but hopefully it’s clear?)

Daniele put a coin in the box to illuminate the Byzantine mosaics for us. Spectacular, aren’t they?

The detail in each one is remarkable.

Whilst the central mosaic is not as ancient as those on either side, it’s nevertheless in similar style.

What do we see in the nave, there, but a rather fine chandelier. Perhaps you can guess where it was originally intended to hang?

Weary feet were persuaded to take a closer look outside the Cathedral, where there were some Roman remains of the agora and a rather brutal Mussolini-era war memorial. More chilling were several memorials to those Italians persecuted by Yugoslavia following WW2, mostly women and children and a reminder of the precarious position of Trieste throughout history.

In a few short hours, we’d only skimmed the surface, but felt sure that this is somewhere we want to return.