Day 6 - [T]rieste
Shopping in Trieste
Day 6 - [T]riesteThe day started early again – 6 am this time, after dozing for a bit – so I got up, showered, dressed and headed down to Bar Hortis for ‘breakfast’. I’m almost a regular. They remembered my coffee order. I had another very light breakfast of coffee and pastries. I do not see this becoming a permanent life change.
Back in the AirBNB, I worked on the daily blog post. It took hours. I’m writing this in the evening to get a headstart and not have so much of the morning used by my record-keeping. Especially as I have trains to catch.
After posting the blog, I tried to bend the rail pass app to my will and book a train to Innsbruck, through Verona where I hoped to have a layover to visit Casa Giulietta. I’ve seen the perfect trip on Rome2Rio but couldn’t convince the app that the route existed. I’m too much of a novice to make it be smart. After a few futile attempts, I decided to drop that idea and book the trip straight-through. I’m going through Venice, apparently.
Having achieved that, I set off to the train station to secure my seat reservations. I can do that in the app, it seems, except that *I* can’t do it in the app. I’ll keep trying. I had always planned to walk to the station to get the seat tickets. I then had a few ideas for what to do, one of them being a visit to Castillo Miramare, recommended by Paola.
traffic from my lunch spot
My walk through central Trieste revealed that Saturday was very busy! People everywhere, all the restaurants were busy, there appeared to be a big function going on in one of the main piazzas, and traffic was chaotic in the tiny streets and lanes. I decided to jump into a cafe for some lunch as soon as I saw something appealing and with some space. I had a very pleasant light lunch reading the news and watching the busy-ness flow past.
After lunch, I walked to the train station by a lazy route that I’d not walked before. Trieste is a lovely city. I’m finding the relentless concrete/stone blocks of buildings a bit tedious now, but there is always something interesting lying just up ahead.
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I found the train station easily, then walked completely around the interior looking for the ticket office, which was hidden behind hoardings because there’s internal refurbisment underway. I acquired my seat reservations and then pondered my next steps. I decided to attempt to get to Castillo Miramare without preparation. This was an out-of-comfort-zone decision for the anxious traveller. But I figured, how hard could it be?!
I checked on Google Maps how to get there. There’s a regional train that goes right there. I bravely approached the automatic ticket dispenser, worked out how to order a round-trip ticket, agreed to buy the ticket I had selected even though the train was leaving in 1 min (I was 50 m from the platforms), had the tickets dispensed and ran off to get the train.
Unprepared as I was, something flew out of my bag as I rounded a corner, slowing my rush to the platforms. I hit the platforms and they all had trains on them. I quickly checked what my train number was, realised that I’d rushed past the board saying which trains were on which platform, went back, discovered it was on platform 1, and ran up to the platform as the train pulled away!
Bugger! Oh, well, get a ticket on the next service. The ticket only cost €1.50. However, when I got back to the ticket dispenser, the next service was nearly 90 minutes later (Saturday timetable, I suppose) and that would mean I wouldn’t have enough time to get my return journey (already bought). It was suddenly all a bit too hard, so I abandoned the plan. A €3 lesson in the military’s 6P mantra: Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
Plan B was initiated, wander around more of Trieste and visit one or two art galleries. Also, if convenient, do a little shopping for my stereo project in SML and for a couple of travel necessaries. Off I went.
taken after I’d left
Strolling along, I passed a store called “Fam Store” that looked a bit like a “dollar shop” back home. That might have the travel necessaries I was after, so I ventured in. It turned out to be Aladdin’s cave (another one!). Seriously, they had everything. Not quite CostCo-level everything, but a pretty good try. I got a power adaptor, a power cable for the stereo, soap and a soap container (which I’d left back in SML), and some toothpaste. I didn’t get the speaker cables I need, but the guy recommended that I try Unieuro in PAM Giulia. I didn’t need any of the haberdashery, halloween costumes or decorations, men’s, women’s or children’s wear, home decorations or homewares, electrical appliances or devices, nails, screws, or assorted hardware, or any of the dozens of other ranges of goods available in this store.
The Unieuro that the Fam Store man had suggested was nearly two kilometres away, right up at the end of Viale Venti Settembre. There was an art gallery on the Viale Venti Settembre that I had thought to visit, about halfway to PAM Giulia. I decided to head to the art gallery and see how I felt about the rest of the journey after that.
When I got to the location of the art gallery, I could not find an entrance anywhere. No signs, either. I checked twice that I was really where I needed to be and I was. Frustrated by this phantom, I decided that I might as well wander up to PAM Giulia. That was a pleasant stroll. Again, I was following Google Maps to get the the Unieuro store. It took me around the outside to a different entrance than I approached off the end of V.le Venti Settembre. By the time I found the store, after asking directions from the Informazione kiosk, it turned out to be literally just inside the doors I’d first approached!
It’s really hard to photograph perspective |
buildings at the end of the viale |
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of the ridge adjacent to the viale |
The store that helped me with stereo stuff in SML was a very small Unieuro. This store was like a huge Harvey Norman electrical section, or the Good Guys. Eventually, I asked for some assistance and they did not have the speaker cable that I needed. The guy directed me across the road to Brico Io. This store was another Aladdin’s cave, limited to hardware, etc. It was essentially a Bunnings, stuffed into a U-shaped shopfront. After wandering around a bit (and not realising that there was more to the store than I’d seen, I asked for assistance. The young man told me about the whole wing of the store I’d not seen yet. When I got there, I was able to (eventually) find exactly what I needed. I acquired some pliers with wire-striping capability and I was done!
My second day in Trieste was perhaps not quite as touristy as I might have imagined, but the satisfaction of getting my shopping done and the adventure involved in achieving it was pretty satisfying.
The walk home was straightforward, however, it did involve climbing the hill in the middle of the city again! That wasn’t easier the second time. It’s a ten storey stair climb.
I had planned to have dinner at a little place near the AirBNB but when I got there they told me they were fully-booked for both seatings. Good for them, I guess. I wandered off further into town which was very busy still. My host had told me that there is a big regatta on Sunday and lots of people were in town for that. It involved a bit of a festival surrounding the actual boat race. I’d seen some of the market-style gazebos being erected over the last couple of days. Eventually, I picked a nice looking place that was suspiciously empty, given that many other restaurants were heaving. L’Antiquario was really nice and had on its menu the dish that Paola had recommended, with the wine pairing she’d suggested. Dinner was sorted! And delicious.
| Daily facts: Location: Trieste Temp: 16C Weather: Overcast; rain overnight |
Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance ... OMG Tim, it's my new mantra! Well done on the shopping for when you return to your Italian home in SML. Pity for Castello Miramare, next trip :)
ReplyDeleteBack on day 3, you described yourself as an "anxious traveller". I hope that train experience doesn't just provide reinforcement. :-) -- GW
ReplyDeleteYes and no. It reinforces it because I had to discover that I was supposed to detrain and jump on another train by asking a fellow traveller. But it also assuages it (a little) because I made the transition without incident and the journey was successful. So, I guess, neutral?
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