Piran before taking off.
They forgot to stop the passengers at the end of the pier for document-checking. We had to return.
The boat.
Italians in hard-hats. I’d be afraid.
Proof-reading under way.
Trieste through the windows full of salt.
Upside down.
Trieste is pretty. More photos in due time.
The grand canal.
James Joyce and I. (Photo: BM)
Throwback Thursday: winter 2012 when I went to Trieste to fetch amore from the train station for the first time. (Photo: MC)
2015 when we visited the Miramare castle. (Photo: MC)
2018, now. (Photo: BM)
Dad in his element and an optimistic seagull. Now read the poem below.

To Trieste

Written by Manja Maksimovič

Just in time I remembered that I’ve got a poem to write for the A and I Poetry Challenge. Luckily I was in Trieste yesterday where poetry tops the daily news.

The challenge tells us to “turn on the radio to any channel. Write a poem inspired by the first thing you hear (lyrics to a song, a commercial, etc.)” Over here with my parents in Slovenia news is in the air.

To Trieste in peace time 

I hate the news.
Accidents, closed roads,
crowds stuck in traffic,
hours added to travel time.
The destiny of a transit country:
beside travelling Slovenians
vacationers from Croatia
returning to central Europe,
and vice versa.
Until next week
when August begins
and Italians are added
to the jolly mix.

One Italian will stay in transit,
we will abduct him.
A heat wave is coming too,
but 35 degrees Celsius doesn’t sound like much
if you’re from Rome.
A heat wave for us
will be cooling off for him.

Yesterday father and I went to Trieste
by boat, to take roads out of equation.
Still it wasn’t smooth sailing.
The boat was Italian,
a regular line between Italy
via Slovenia
to Croatia (Rovinj!) and back.

Italian mermen wore hard-hats,
the surest sign
they had to play by all the rules.
We had to show our documents three times.
At first father was nearly denied entrance.
“Your identity card has expired,”
an Italian customs official pointed
to the date with illegible caption.
Luckily, father thought to turn it over
and on the other side it said
PERMANENT
in big friendly letters.
Luckily the Italian word for it is similar.
That date was the year of publication.

After we were cruising for a while
engines stopped.
My thoughts immediately went to Costa Concordia.
Father showed me the imaginary line
between Italy and Slovenia on the map.
We were right there.
After ten minutes the captain informed us
that Slovenian authorities
refuse to issue permission
to let us go.
We were gently bouncing for 15 minutes,
with Spaniards nearby complaining
they had a train to catch.

I felt for a moment
how passengers must feel
when a ship full of migrants
is denied docking rights
or when a migrant is singled out
and denied entrance
and families are separated.

But we continued
and docked in Trieste
and after more document-showing
were allowed to roam the streets for a day.

It was hot
but we were still together
and not a single fire was in sight.

For:

28 thoughts on “To Trieste”

  5. Number 2 looks so much like Rovinj – but it’s not, right? Gosh, so much adventuring to a little boat. Yeah, it can be a lesson in empathy, all that waiting.

    We were promised +35 today, btw. This is a real heat for us, the record breaking in 100 years. but to those from Rome, yeah… can feel like a breeze :))

    I loved your rewind of old photos. Calls on memories… I also was in Trieste twice: in 2003 with my German guest family, and in winter 2009 while visiting my friend in Portogruaro. In winter it was rainy and gray. Now I have to go again – if I want the 3d photo of Trieste :))

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    1. Thank you, Marina. Did you see Rovinj mentioned in the poem? It was especially for you. I didn’t know Piran (and Trieste) have direct connection with Rovinj! That would make for a great trip. It’s about 40 EUR, return ticket, to either Piran or Trieste from Rovinj and back.

      I think we have 35 degrees today too. So we’re staying in. 😀 I’m cleaning for amore’s arrival and later I’ll make a cake.

      And I agree, we all need the 3rd photo of Trieste. 😉 Hope you return! There is cute tea and cake shop called Ginger. Father had ginger tea and he said it saved his life. 😀

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      Reply

      1. Yes, Manja, I saw Rovinj in your poem and my heart jumped with joy. I knew about its boat connection with Venice so in my heat-melted brain it all mixed 😆

        It would definitely make a nice trip. Have you ever been to Rovinj? My warmest recommendation)) and I want to go to Piran now. That Istrian coast looks full of such gems.

        And of course, another trip to Trieste, to watch its Miramare palace)) it was such a spot, with the garden. No selfie sticks then, it will never been the same 😱😆

        It was just 33 yesterday, they say. We went for a swim. There were thousands other people but we got our spot)) this summer is crazy 😆

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        1. I was in Rovinj back in the days of roaming with friends but without my camera. High time I visit it again. I found it sweet that amore’s father has a plate from there which says Rovinj hanging on the wall. He was there back in Yugoslavia times.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. Ahh, Rovinj definitely deserves another visit, now with camera. It is full of beautiful romantic spots and corners, looks like the whole town is prettying itself up like a young girl :)) And it seems Italians have had a long-lasting love for this place, eh?))

          Liked by 1 person

  6. One of the things that, to me, would be very exciting about European travel, is that in a few hours, one can be in a different land, with different languages and cultures. Where I live, and by that, I mean, Indianapolis, I must drive at least 8 hours to get to a place that even looks slightly different from home.
    It’s more than 13 hours to the sea, and more than two days’ drive to the desert.
    Of course, we are American, so we don’t have to go far at all to experience the language and cultures people bring with them. Plenty of foreign tongues in my own community 🙂 It’s not the same at all, though, not immersion.
    I wish very much that non-Americans understood, while you drive a few hours to Trieste, I can drive a few hours in my own state, or into three other states that look, sound, and taste like my own. We’re not as big as the globe says, but we’re bigger than people think.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Oh Joey, you’re right. You’re BIG. Non-Americans find this hard to grasp. It was only half an hour to Trieste by boat. Imagine that! Never spoilt for choice. And 15 minutes to Croatia by car when there are no queues of tourists at the border. 8 hours it takes to drive between Slovenia and south of Tuscany where I live so I know how much that is…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
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    1. Great, SMSW. I’m glad to see you come hopping around, I always am. 🙂 Trieste is indeed something else. Neither here nor there but somewhere completely different. That sport looks terribly hard even from a distance. 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
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