Let's start in the living room. Behind the door, there were cupboards on the right and left where you could easily store the empty suitcases.

The living room was an elongated room with a sitting area and dining area. Brightly furnished and quite pretty.






Behind the mirrored door in the living room was a bathroom. It was a bit oddly located next to the sofa, but overall it was a full bathroom, albeit without a proper shower.


A double sliding door led into the bedroom, which was quite spacious and could probably have served as a junior suite.






Behind the desk was the second entrance, in the middle was the bathroom, and on the right was the minibar and walk-in wardrobe.

The wardrobe wasn't particularly large, but it offered enough space.


At first glance, the bathroom looked very good, with two washbasins opposite each other, a large bathtub in the middle, and a separate toilet and shower.







Unfortunately, not all that glitters is gold. The bathtub was large, but when we wanted to use it one evening, the water ran in so slowly that after half an hour there was very little water in it, which was almost cold again. So it was rather unsuitable for bathing.
The square shape of the shower was rather impractical, and showering was not really a pleasure. Also, the door did not close properly and the bathroom quickly became flooded.
Above the suite was a terrace, which can be seen above the Tivoli sign in one of the exterior photos. There was also a lovely jacuzzi. While it was warm on the first evening, it was freezing cold on the following evenings. Only on the last evening had it been reheated somehow. The view was mainly of the harbour and, of course, the sea beyond.







It was October, and this dude was a bit ahead of his time.

Something had led me to believe that it was a wellness hotel. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite the case, as there is no indoor pool. The hotel does have three pools, but they are all located on the grounds of Puro Beach, which closes at the end of September. I didn't really like that. In hindsight, I could have gone to the sea, which was actually quite pleasant. But I only found that out on the last evening. Here are a few impressions of the closed Puro Beach and the beach below.

The Castello di Duino is located very close to the hotel. The tower dates back to the 16th century, but most of the castle had to be rebuilt after the First World War.


A first glimpse into the lower part of the park.

The path to the entrance, the view of the sea, includes the old castle, which was closed on that day.


The entrance.

Firsthall.

The central part of the castle is the inner courtyard with access to the tower.




The chapel.




At the tower.






The interior of the castle.

















A walk around the castle.

Finally, a visit to the bunker facilities from the Second World War.















A view of Portopiccolo.

As I mentioned earlier, we booked half board at the hotel. Right at the beginning, we were given this menu.

GF isn't a fan of raw fish, so they wanted to cook everything for her. When we arrived at the restaurant in the evening, we were in for a surprise. At 8 o'clock, the place was empty; we were the only guests. Later, another group arrived, but that was it. It didn't help that the back of the restaurant had been darkened; the atmosphere was already depressing.



Salmon tartare with wasabi-almond crunch - raw

cooked version

Both of good quality.
Blue prawn and shrimp gyoza with double-fermented soy sauce and saba reduction


Some kind of Lemon cake


In terms of quality, everything was fine, but unfortunately the atmosphere was rather poor. However, the hotel is unlikely to leave its restaurant empty voluntarily.

Let's move on to breakfast. First, there was a menu with hot dishes.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case today, the prices for individual dishes were cheeky, especially since there was salmon on the buffet, for example. I would be interested to know whether they take it from the buffet when you order it.
The (included) items we order were fine, but nothing that stood out.



I liked the buffet much better; the quality and selection were very good.










At first, I was surprised that there were no sweets. But then I noticed the table at the back of the restaurant. A great selection of sweet treats.







I was very satisfied with the breakfast, especially considering the size of the hotel.

In the morning, we headed to Trieste. Unfortunately, we had chosen the worst possible time to visit the city, at least from our point of view. Barcelona 57, the world's largest sailing regatta, was taking place in the city that weekend. Let's just say it was crowded. Even finding a parking space was a challenge. In the end, I had to use the car park at the train station. The problem was that once you had parked as intended, no one else could get through. An employee then asked me to park diagonally. It looked a bit messy, but it was the only way.

After all that stress (an hour spent looking for a parking space and stuck in traffic), I needed a gelato. I chose Gelateria Zampolli, which has been awarded 2 coni by Gambero Rosso.

The special thing was that they had tables inside to sit at, which is very rare in Italy. The selection was huge.



The gelato was good, but not my absolute favourite. But still a very high level, clearly above what was offered in Ljubljana. Let�s say I would drive 1 hour for it at the moment

Time to explore the whole city. First Piazza Vittorio Veneto.


Then there is the Grand Canal with its caf�s and many beautiful buildings.








James Joyce statue

Finally, the Church of Sant'Antonio Nuovo, which was always closed during my visits.


Police Lambo.

Many nice buildings.


Yes please.


Old Stock Exchange



Palazzo Modello

The undisputed centre of Trieste is Piazza Unit� d'Italia. On this day, all kinds of containers had been set up for the regatta, and it was very crowded.

The Roman theatre is located in the centre of the city and can be visited free of charge.

Santa Maria Maggiore dates back to the 17th century and is also known as the Jesuit Church. It is now looked after by Franciscans.


There was some renovation work going on inside.

Right next to it is the Chiesa di San Silvestro. Unfortunately, it was closed.

The arc dates from 33 BC.

A steep path led up to the cathedral.

The Cathedral of San Giusto dates back to a Roman temple and was mainly built in the 14th century.





Inside, too, it has retained the character of a Romanesque basilica.