We took a cruise on Silver Seas “Silver Spirit” in October/November 2024 departing from Fusina, Port for Venice (Italy) and visiting Trieste (Italy), Ravenna (Italy), Opatija (Croatia), Split (Croatia), Dubrovnik (Croatia), Bari (Italy), Corfu (Greece), Heraklion (Greece), Santorini (Greece) and finally docking in Athens (Greece).
Our first stop on the cruise was Trieste, the capital city of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. A port city, it occupies a thin strip of land between the Adriatic coast and Slovenia’s border on the limestone-dominated Karst Plateau. Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Slovenian influences are all evident in its layout, which encompasses a medieval old city and a neoclassical Austrian quarter.
Rilke Trail – Castello du Duino
From the city of Trieste we drove north west along the coast and then walked the Rilke Trail which is a beautiful coastal walk along the cliffs giving some lovely views over the Gulf of Trieste. We finished the walk at the Castello di Duino and explored the many beautiful rooms here before driving back to Trieste.
City Centre, Trieste
Returning to Trieste we explored the streets and admired the many beautiful buildings. There was a large canal, Canale Grande, with many boats berthed right in the middle of the city. The large Unity of Italy Square was surrounded by some great architectural buildings which housed Government offices. The large Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Spyridon was an imposing and beautiful Neo-Byzantine style building right in the city centre.
Looking out over the bay in Trieste before we left we spotted the large super yacht owned by Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko which had been seized by the Italian authorities as part of EU sanctions following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. I had previously spotted this yacht in Phuket, Thailand many years before.
Passionate Photographer …. Lost in Asia
Stuart Taylor of HighlanderImages Photography has been making images for over 40 years focusing on Asia with a documentary/photojournalistic style.
Stuart is available for a variety of assignments in subject areas of photojournalism, commercial, architectural, real estate, industrial, interior design, corporate, urbex, adventure, wilderness, and travel.
E-Mail : staylor@highlanderimages.com