I LIKED Trieste.
There was the incorrigible informality of the people, the zephyrs blowing in off the Gulf of Venice, the trattorias and osterias tucked down back streets — and the prosecco.
It's easy to understand why James Joyce stayed there for eleven years.
He wrote some of his greatest work in this north Italian city, including significant parts of Ulysses and Dubliners.
For more information, head to the Joyce Museum (Museo Joyce Museum which offers a comprehensive overview of the author’s time in the city.
It’s on Via Madonna del Mare 13, on the second floor of the Public Library Attilio Hortis.
But it was time to bid adieu, or should that be ciao, to this fine old city.
We were on board the Bohinj Railway that ultimately connects Trieste with Prague.
Our train left Trieste Centrale bang on time at 9.30am.
We snaked and clanked through the suburbs, past time-worn warehouses and busy shunting yards, and were soon edging into the lush prosecco countryside.
The terrain began to ruffle and fold, and a rumpled patchwork quilt of farms with endless rows of vines covered every hillside.
It looked like the idealised label from a wine bottle — or a landscape from one of my better dreams (which are quite often remarkably like wine bottle labels).
Giardino Viatori looking down on the cities (Pic: Fabrice Gallina)Our destination was only forty minutes away: Gorizia and Nova Gorica — basically one town, but historically divided by a border which split it between Italy and Yugoslavia. The latter nation is no more, but Nova Gorica is now in Slovenia.
“I suppose it’s sort of like Pettigo and Ballyhummom — the High Street in Pettigo is in the UK, and Main Street is in Donegal. Or like Strabane and Lifford,” my travelling companion and fellow journalist Brian said.
I looked out of the carriage window. As the train executed a magnificent curve, the sparkling waters of the Adriatic came into view, with the prosecco vineyards sweeping down to the sea.
Old dusty tracks connected small farms, each seemingly with their own spread of vines, gnarled olive trees, almond blossom.
The train chugged around another corner and the romantic and beautiful edifice that is Miramare Castle, perched on the edge of the Gulf, heaved into view.
I turned to Brian and shook my head slowly. “Nah,” I said, “not really like Strabane.”
After about 40 minutes of mountainside, farmland and vineyard rolling past, the train arrived at Nova Gorica.
Along with its neighbour, Gorizia, this is to be the first borderless European Capital of Culture, part of a project called GO!2025.
Dance, music of every hue, exhibitions, concerts, gigs are all on offer — for information click here.
The border (Pic: Luigi Vitale for PromoTurismoFVG)Aside from the culture fest, Gorizia and Nova Gorica together make a very weekendable destination.
Gorizia and Nova Gorica
Gorizia, with its baroque architecture and its beguiling mix of Romantic, Teutonic and Slavonic influences, was known as "the Austrian Nice" during its sojourn under Austro-Hungarian rule.
The A-Hs were given to architectural extravagance, and if you’re like me you’ll enjoy that in a town.
Nova Gorica has historic churches, glamorous palaces, and verdant parks, just like its neighbour across the border.
But it also social realist buildings and concrete offices and apartments blocks — a reminder of more oppressive and less imaginative times for the town.
But it wears its history lightly, with the tendrils of the Soviet empire apparently long buried.
Both parts of the conurbation have standalone charms, so it’s not difficult to see why the Brussels people chose the conurbation as European Capital of Culture.
Castello di Gorizia (Pic: Fabrice Gallina, PromoTurismoFVG)For wandering about and acting the flaneur, Gorizia’s Castello neighbourhood is a highlight, its cobblestone streets leading to its imposing medieval castle.
Interactive exhibits depict life in the area right across its turbulent past.
Café and bar society thrives in both towns.
My digs, the Grand Hotel Entourage, Palazzo Strassoldo, on Piazza San Antonio, stands in in the lea of the castle. It’s beautiful, stylish, elegant — and your friends will be extremely jealous when you tell them about it.
The hotel restaurant, IIl Bearnese, one of the finest in the area, is set in ancient vaults on the ground floor, which date back to 1480 give or take. It’s full of candlelit corners that almost demand you get up to no good.
The building was for a time a palace of the Bourbons, and they, as you will know, lived like kings. In fact the Bourbons are my favourite royal family.
Favourite whiskey and biscuit, too, for that matter — and you can’t often lump dynasties, elevenses and whiskey together quite so readily.
The menu at the Grand Hotel Entourage is largely traditional flavours of the area.
I can highly recommend the mezze luna (bit like ravioli) of black truffle and porcini wild mushrooms, roast tomatoes and sage butter.
Use any excuse to dine here. Sit back enjoy the meal, order up a vintage Ribolla Gialla classic wine, and don’t think about the bill.
The wine list features the best labels from the Collio Groziano vineyards, part of the Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) region, often called Italy’s best kept wine secret.
Like the town itself, the wine region stretches across the border into Slovenia.
But you don’t necessarily have to go vintage.
You can go cheap and very, very cheerful — cheeky little wines in the supermarkets from about €5 euro, more assertive appellations around the €10-€20 mark.
Fontana di Nettuno in Gorizia (Pic: Luigi Vitale for PromoTurismoFVG)A litre of prosecco will set you back from around €5 — you’ll have passed the vine that provided it on the railway journey up.
Eating places are easily come by. I headed for Tratorria Da Gianna on Via Carlo de Morelli.
It occurred to me as I drew closer — this is probably the sort of place you could get some grilled monkfish straight from the Gulf of Venice, served with fine companions such as orrechiette pasta, mixed with broccoli, and maybe a smidgen of chopped garlic and doused with olive oil.
And I was right! My luck was in. More Ribolla Gialla, cameriere, per favore!
Nova Gorica across the border is equally well served with cafes and bars.
But then, they’ve had plenty of practice in the vintner trade. You might imagine, if it has happened to cross your mind, that the oldest vine in the world is probably in Italy or France, or maybe as an outside bet Spain.
But in fact it's right here in Slovenia. You have to travel to Maribor, just two hours by rail to the northwest of the country.
There, a five hundred year old creeper, with official accreditation, takes the honour.
It’s in the astoundingly aptly named the Museum of the World’s Oldest Vine by the Stari Most (Old Bridge).
There’s an option to have wine tasting throughout the tour. My advice is: take it up, here.
Ponte sul fiume Isonzo (Pic: Luigi Vitale for PromoTurismoFVG)At one time, until 1989, the dividing line between Gorizia and Nova Gorica was a border between two worlds, two belief systems, two divergent philosophises.
But the history of the two cities remained deeply interwoven. Over the centuries, the region has seen the usual uninvited guests come and go: the Romans, Napoleon, the Habsburgs, Yugoslavia’s communists.
In fact, some people birn in the early 20th century could say they lived in Austria-Hungary, then Italy, followed by Yugoslavia and finally in Slovenia — without ever moving house.
But then that’s the history of central Europe, where rubbing along with your neighbours has always been something of an exotic concept.
“Just like Strabane and Letterkenny,” Brian said.
Grand Hotel Entourage currently has classic double rooms starting at €140 per night
Thanks to PromoTurismoFVG for their help and support in this trip
See More: European Capital Of Culture, Gorozia, Nova Gorica
