A Deserted Beach Town

Last week, we had Friday off from school due to a field trip to Trieste, Italy, which is located on the north eastern border of Italy. I'm in a class called Business, Culture & Society that requires us to go on the trip to Trieste. As the buses drove us to Trieste, our class may a couple pit stops at popular venues. Our first stop of the day was the largest WWI monument in Italy in a town called Redipuglia. The memorial commemorates the site of 29 months of war. It is also the cemetery for 100,000 soldiers, that included one women. When you first walk into the monument, you notice large name plates on the ground. This is the list of officers,which they listed them in order of rank. As you walk into the the monument, there are 22 terraces that include the rest of the names of the soldiers. These soldiers were listed in alphabetical order. Some of the students I was with had Italian heritages, so it was fun to see them find their last name and see how many of their relatives were listed on the monument. After climbing to the top of the memorial and taking in all of the scenery, we climbed back down the memorial and walked through some of the bunkers that still remained. I was surprised to see how well conditioned these bunkers were. Here are some pictures from the monument! 

View of the WWI monument. 

One out of the 22 lists of soldiers. 

View from the top of the monument.  

Inside the bunkers. 

The next stop we made was at the Castello di Miramare (Miramare Castle), which is right outside of Trieste. The castle sits right in the coastline and overlooks the Adriatic Sea. Apparently the castle is very iconic to Trieste. We were told the analogy that Miramare Castle is to Trieste as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. It was built between 1856-1860 and the original residence of Maximilian von Hapsburg and his wife Charlotte for 4 years. Since then, various people have lived in this castle including the Duke of Aosta, who lived there for 60 years. There was also a garden attached to this castle. We took a glance into the garden, but nothing much has been done to it because the weather is just now getting warmer. After looking at the castle, Erin and I decided to kill some time and hand out near the beach. We sat on some rocks and enjoyed the sunny weather until the busses left for our final stop of the field trip.

Miramare Castle. 

View from the Castle's balcony.

Erin and I enjoying the sunny weather. 

The last stop of the day was in the town Trieste. This town sits on the border of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Our teachers and campus coordinators told us that this town was one of the "unsung" places of Italy that a lot of tourist find very cool. We had no particular agenda when we arrived in Trieste. Our teachers told us to explore the town and try some local gelato, since Trieste is known for having really good gelato. After eating gelato in the town square, we wondered around the town for a bit. We had to make sure and grab our bags from the bus because we were taking another bus to Porec, Croatia for the weekend. Porec is in northern Croatia and is about two hours away from Trieste. After collecting our bags, grabbing dinner we met our bus driver at the central train station. Then we were off to Porec!!

Main plaza in Trieste. 

Marina in Trieste.  

We got to the hotel by dinner time just in time to watch the sunset. We rented out these apartments for the weekend that were on the same property of a hotel. One thing we noticed was how active all of the guest and locals were in Porec. Everyone was riding their bikes through the town. I even saw a handful of cycling teams out on the paths. So, during our first night in Porec, we got settled into the apartment and watched the sunset. Then we headed over to the city center to find a bite to eat and a market to buy food with. All of our apartments had kitchens, so we decided take advantage of that and cook our meals. After getting a slice of pizza and making a trip to the grocery store, Erin, Kyle, Tony and I wandered back to the apartment and started to make dinner. Since Erin and I weren't the best chefs, Tony decided to cook for us. We ended up having scrambled eggs and toast, which was so yummy! I can't remember the last time that I have had scrambled eggs! By the time we finished dinner it was pretty late. Instead of engaging in the festivities with the other 20 friends that were with us, we cracked open a couple bottles of wine and watch CNN, which was the only English speaking channel on. The four of us ended up falling asleep on one couch even though we had two other beds in the apartment!

On Saturday, everyone slept in that morning. I can't remember the last time we slept in. Everyone always has to get up early for classes during the week and when we travel, the hostels usually kick us out at a certain time during the day. Needless to say, that was a great start to the day! Once we were ready to go, the four of us went by the beach area of the hotel.  Our plan was to layout by the water and walk around the city, despite the over cast weather we were experiencing. Even though we didn't get as much sun as we expected, it was night to hang out by the water and watch the local boats drive by. By lunch time we were getting a little hungry, so Kyle, Erin, Tony and I wandered into town to find something to eat. There were rumors floating around amongst the 20 of us about a burger stand that was nearby. We found the burger stand, but it they were only serving drinks at the time since it was not prime lunch hours. After wandering around the marina, we found another restaurant that served something similar to a hamburger. It was meatloaf with french fries. At first I was skeptical about this meal, but it turned out being pretty good! The food was interesting along with our waiter. We had issues with the language barrier since we only spoke Croatian and German. Needless to say, all of us have become pretty good at charades while talking to people who don't speak English.

Sunset from first night in Porec.

Boats in the Marina. 

View of the City Center from Hotel. 

After lunch, we met up with the rest of our friends that we were traveling with at this random bridge near the marina. Before heading back to the apartment for an afternoon nap, Erin and I hung out the bridge and enjoyed the some what sunny weather. As we walked home, we walked by the beach area of the hotel. Some of the guys we were with had the brilliant idea (sarcasm) of jumping in the freezing cold water. After watching them jump into the water and seeing their priceless reactions, they begin to try and convince Erin and I to jump into the sea. Tony continued to say "When will you ever get to say you swam in the Adriatic Sea?" After listening to the guys ramble for a few minutes, I suck it up and decided to jump into the water. I made Kyle jump in with me just in case I instantly froze when I hit the water (sarcasm again). I thought I had swam in cold water before, but this didn't compare to anything in the least bit. After running back to the apartment and getting warmed up, we decided to by pass a nap and hang out on the porch with everybody. For the next few hours we enjoyed each others company and had a jam sesh. We all took turns playing assorted genres of music dating back to 1990's up until today.  For dinner, we tested our skills in the pasta making department. Correction: Erin and I didn't make dinner, Kyle and Tony decided our cooking services were not needed that night. I guess they were trying to tell us that we couldn't cook? Anyways, the guys cooked another yummy meal and we hung out for the rest of the night drinking wine and beer and yet again more throwback music. Even though we didn't attempt to find the Porec nightlife, it was enjoyable to spend time with good friends and have good food. (Cheasy and cliche I know)

Some of the girls watching the sunset. 

Some of the guys waiting for the sunset. 

Second sunset in Porec.

This upcoming week was our last week in school before finals. Besides finishing final projects and tests, our week is filled with several events including watching the Jayhawks in the National Championship and our last gourmet dinner. We also have a four day weekend because of the Easter holiday, which is the biggest holiday for Italians. A few of us decided stay home in Paderno this weekend. We are planning on doing a day trip to Vernona, night in Asolo and climbing Mount Grappa. Until then Ciao!!