Trieste - Italy, but easier done from Croatia

We went here, but part of our trip to the Western Balkans, Croatia and Slovenia. It is only a few hours from Venice, but not a natural side trip. Trieste is to the east, and the rest of tourist-Italy is to the south and west.

See Trieste Road Ways. Trieste represents Venetian domination of the Adriatic, however, and giving the territory to Italy after WWII (instead of keeping it with Tito and Yugoslavia) still rankles some. The area went between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia in disputes for centuries. After WWII, the Potsdam treaties said Trieste was to be self-governing, but it later went to Italy, see www.ts.camcom.it/english/porto. Scroll down about 9 paragraphs for the reaction to the allocation. For Potsdam, see Germany Road Ways.

Trieste was an area of alleged war crimes, and for overview on that topic see www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_warcrimes. Get there if you can. It is beautiful, but its history is turmoil. For the history of the Trieste events of WWII, see cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/index.php?p=587. Go to the home page, then navigate as needed.

Trieste is a kind of Venice with the canals from the bay area, but it is cross-hatched with them. They do not substitute for roadways. See the aerial view at www.ts.camcom.it/english/porto..

Excellent photo gallery here - someone else's

We have our own photos on the posts, but often find good ones elsewhere.

See, for example, www.pbase.com/bauer/italy. These sites (and these blogs) are intended as a resource and education and entertainment for people who are unable to travel, as well as a stimulus for those who can, to do it.

More blogs about Italy Road Ways.