Hungary and Austria: Trieste (6.19.25)

Jonny's six-year-old son, Thomas, told me my homemade meatballs were not as good as the ones "from Italy." I told Thomas that I would go to Italy to see what really good meatballs taste like.  On June 19, 2025, Dave and I drove to Trieste, the seaport on Italy's Adriatic coast.

 

Trieste was developed by Queen Maria Theresa, in the mid-1700s, as the Hapsburgs' only seaport. Queen Maria Theresa is the sovereign on the "coin" monument above.  We took a walking tour and our guide described Trieste as a "mini Vienna," filled with baroque squares and buildings built by the Hapsburgs.

The Hapsburgs built canals so that trading ships could sail close to downtown warehouses and trading centers.

After World War II, Trieste was a free territory for several years, before being relinquished to Italy.  It was governed by the U.S. and British.  I suppose that is what this sign is all about.

As a port town, Trieste has always been a multicultural center. It still is.  Our guide led us to this beautiful Greek Orthodox church.  Trieste is, she said, full of different ethnic communities.

Trieste was originally founded as a Roman seaport.  It is also the spot where Mussolini gave his first nationalist, anti-Jew speeches before World War II.  Perhaps coincidentally, Mussolini built a house and administrative center right across the street from these Roman ruins.  He proclaimed that the Italian people would reclaim the glory of Rome.

One of the chronic problems of driving in Europe is the lack of parking.  Dave was constantly scouring city streets, looking for an empty parking space or the entrance to a parking garage.

I didn't find good meatballs in Trieste, but I did find excellent lasagna.

The gelato was great, as well.

Hungary and Austria: the Lake Country (6.18.25)

The Salzkammergut, near Salzburg and Hallstatt, is filled with beautiful lakes.  On June 18, 2025, we wandered among them.  I pulled out my driving map and we followed each road in the area which was lined with green on the map.  The green lines indicated the most beautiful drives!

An early stop was Attersee, one of the most popular resort lakes.  It was the summer home of Gustav Klimt, one of my favorite artists.

We passed mansions by the lakesides, as well as quaint churches and houses in the little towns along the lake shores.

Some of the lakes were so clear that we could see the stones under the water.

Other travelers luxuriated in the peace and beauty of the lakes.

We stopped for one of the sumptuous Austrian parfaits at a lakeside cafe.

Hungary and Austria: Hallstatt (6.17.25)

My memories of Salzburg are of massive crowds of tourists and incessant ads for "Sound of Music" location tours.  We decided to stay overnight at Hallstatt, a smaller version of picture perfect Salzburg, on June 17, 2025.

Hallstatt is perched on the shores of the deep green Hallstattersee, with mountain homes clinging to the cliffs surrounding the town.

We stayed at the Gasthof Simony, right in the center of town.  We could see the main square out our bedroom window.

We slept in a sleigh bed, in a pink room with its own porcelain space heater, so Austrian.

We wandered through the town, with its picturesque houses, churches, shops, and fountains.

Masks like this one are used during certain Austrian celebrations.

There are three salt mine tours in Austria--one near Salzburg, one near Hallstatt, and one near another of the Austrian lakes.  The whole area is known as the Salzkammergut, named after the salt in the ground below.  The salt mine near Hallstatt has been used for some 7,000 years.  We took a salt mine tour and saw a preserved shoe dating back to those very early days of mining, as well as an ancient leather ladder.

Our tour guide took great pride in his job of shepherding us around the dark tunnels and teaching us about the salt industry.

Our tour included a bevy of school munchkins who were sternly instructed by their teachers to stay behind us and not bother their older "betters."

We walked through old mine tunnels, watched displays which included huge, backlit salt crystals, and slid down several long wooden slides.  The salt miners did use slides to get around the different levels of the mine, although their slides were not as polished, safe, and comfortable as ours!

We rode out of the salt mine on an old mine train.

I finally got my weinerschnitzel dinner, as Dave and I sat on the back porch of our hotel, looking out at the Hallstattersee.