Boat trips. From March to September, the Dionea steamer rips the Istrian coast, between Grado in the north and Pula in the south. Details at the AGEMAR travel agency, Piazza Duca degli Abruzzi the (»040/69021). We recommend a day trip to Dionea for the best views of the city. You can also sail to Zadar and Split in Yugoslavia every day, and from July to September, three times a month to Durazzo, Albania. Details also in AGEM AR.
Cultural events. In summer, an international theater festival takes place in Muggia, and in the castle of San Giusto, series of concerts are organized. In the opera Verdi, performances take place in the summer season. Festa dell'Unita runs from the end of July to mid-August - you can check the program at II Piccolo, diary of Trieste, where there should also be details about the festivals in the Carso villages (look down).
Around Trieste
Carso is the Italian name of the limestone foothills, rising from the Venetian lowlands south of Monfalcone and passing into the Istrian plateau. As a result of the border changes, most of Carso found itself in the territory of the former Yugoslavia (its Slovenian name is Kras), but even a narrow strip of this land in Italy, for Trieste, is geologically, botanically and socially different from the rest of the country.
As in all limestone lands, strict conditions prevail at Carso; in summer the lands are burnt, sometimes covered with snow in winter. The surface of the region is crisscrossed, washed away by streams, which often flow underground for tens of kilometers, and here and there - for example near Aurisina
- you can find trenches from the first world war. Gloomy villages made up of houses with thick walls seem to bend under the pressure of the bora, north-no-east wind, which wreaks havoc on these areas in all seasons. (At greater intensity, ropes stretch along the steeper streets of Trieste).
There are numerous buses from Trieste to Carso - no. 42, 43, 44, 45 i 46. It is best to start exploring the region with BORGO GROTTA GIGANTE, which boasts the largest available cave in the world, deep on 107, and wide to 208 meters (guided tours IV-X every half hour; November III every hour). Regardless of the outside temperature, inside is always around 11 or 12 ° C, so you have to
take something to impose on yourself. Near the grotto there is Papi Sport, the only bike rental in the area, useful in the absence of a car. You can travel to Borgo comfortably by tranvia (by cable car) z Oberdan do OPICINA Square, and then by bus no 45. Tranvia runs every twenty minutes from 7.30 do 20.00.
Two walking routes around the city can be recommended, for which you need to spend at least half a day. Vicentina road (or Napoleonica) it is about three kilometers long and winds around the hill above the city, between Obelisco (below Opicina) and the village of BORGO NAZARIO (PROSECCO wheel). It is panoramic, fatigue-free trail, partly among the trees, partly in the shade of almost vertical limestone rocks. Access is the easiest in the world: Obelisco is a tranvia stop, and on Brogo Nazario it comes out via San Nazario, where buses no 42 i 45 heading for the station in Trieste.
Second route, by Val Rosandra, is completely different. This valley of limestone cliffs and sumaks is a training ground for flintlocks. Goes by bus no 40 from SAN DORLIGO DELLA VALLE, and then towards the hills it follows the road that goes from the square on the other side. After about a kilometer, the turf turns into a path bordering on the right side with the Roman aqueduct. After half an hour you will see the church of Santa Maria in Siaris on a high rock on the right. Next up is the waterfall, and then the tiny village of BOTTEZZA, the last human settlement before the border with the former Yugoslavia.