So it’s good to have someone to help make sense of it. We are on a full-day excursion from Norwegian Viva this time and are lucky enough to have a guide who paints in the countryside and the Old Town with anecdotes and facts that only a local would know. “What do those numbers painted on the walls mean? Something to do with the war?”
“No! It’s when we won the football!”
One section of Emperor Diocletian’s royal abode (known toGame of Thrones fans as a dragon stable) is still being uncovered. This,our guide says pointing to excavated layers,is where the Romans threw their food waste. “They dropped their dinner bones and vegetable peelings over centuries.” As she utters the words a real-life “gladiator” in full tourist-pleasing garb strolls past eating gelato as if to illustrate her point.
Later we again thank our stars for our guide when we are led past hungry crowds in the maze of ancient streets lined with bursting eateries and bars to a tucked away restaurant for what turns out to be one of the best meals of our voyage:risotto,white fish,spinach and a delicious salted dark chocolate mousse.
But if the gauge of a good port visit is how long you think about a place after leaving,then Trieste,which had not been on our radar at all before we arrived on a pre-cruise visit,is a standout. NCL is offering sailings from this beautiful city 160 kilometres from cruise-weary Venice.
It doesn’t take long before we are swept up in the Austro-Hungarian grandeur of its wide,restaurant-filled streets and the majestic Piazza Unita d’Italione,one of the few piazzas in Europe to face the water. Trieste has long been a home to coffee lovers (illy has its headquarters here) and writers,including James Joyce,who spent 16 years here and whose statue graces the Rosso Bridge over the Grand Canal.
In fact we’re told the idiosyncratic language used inFinnegans Wake may have roots in the Trieste dialect and that Joyce’s daughter,Lucia,(a tragic abandoned figure,but that’s another story) may have also influenced his work by her use of this dialect mixed with her own creative language. Another day,another rabbit hole,another fascinating port visit.
THE DETAILS
Cruise
A nine-day Greek Isles cruise on Norwegian Viva departs Trieste on August 22,2024. It visits 10 ports,including Split,Istanbul,Santorini;from $4990 a person including beverage package,specialty dining,Wi-Fi,shore excursion. A 10-day Mediterranean Italy,Greece and Croatia cruise departs Rome (Civitavecchia),August 12,2024,visiting 11 ports including Trieste;from $3825. See ncl.com
The writer was a guest of NCL.