Eataly (Trieste) one of Europe’s Crossroads

Dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

I am spending a few days in Trieste, Italy, which is supposed to be the coffee capital of Italy, a country which loves their coffee. There are coffee shops everywhere and I am doing my best to sample them. I toasted to my close friend Brent, who recently passed, as he was a great coffee lover.

In days of old, ships would land here with coffee from Africa and South America and then their wares, including coffee, would be distributed throughout middle Europe. Slovenia is just about five miles away and Croatia not far the other direction. 

Because of its central location and good port, this is a melting pot of many cultures. On my ride into town, I stopped for a picture and met Sameer, a Pakistani who works in the nearby hotel. He was on lunch break and offered to buy me a coffee at the shop across the street. He went to university in Glasgow and had worked in the UK, Germany and now Italy. He used to work in the shipyard at high wages, but when the yard closed helps manage a hotel.

He was surprised at my age, telling me that his father and others in Pakistan think that once over about age 60 its time to sit at home, watch TV, and sleep. He would carry news of my alternative lifestyle at my age to share with his family and friends. I am glad that I could inspire someone by my riding.

At my next photo stop, I met a bus driver from India and a holidaymaker from Hungary. In town here I met Japanese, Chinese, lots of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians. This really is a melting pot. 

Most everyone I meet thinks it is kind of stupid to be riding a bicycle in the winter here as it is “so cold”. In fact, the weather is about perfect for riding, with weather in the 30’s F in the morning and getting to over 40 F in the afternoon. There so far are just enough hills to warm me with my efforts. I am still finding a downside that lots of businesses are closed, but there are adequate restaurants and hotels and hostels available so far. 

So far in my fifty days of riding since landing in France, I have only seen less than half a dozen other bike tourers. I sure wouldn’t want to be touring here in the summer with the heat and traffic, so would think there would be a lot more now, but no, just this crazy winter rider.

I noticed a very large sailboat anchored in the harbor. Very large. In fact, I did some research and found out it is the 468 foot long boat, worth about half a billion dollars, owned by Andrey Meinichenko, probably the richest man in Russia (net worth of 25 billion). It was confiscated by the Italian authorities after Russia invaded the Ukraine. Now it sits at anchor off the town. Money doesn’t guarantee beauty, as I think it one of the ugliest boats I’ve ever seen. 

I rented a small apartment here in the center of the city to regroup and do some planning while the country stays mostly shut down for the Christmas holidays. There are just enough restaurants open, but the grocery stores are all open and its fun to shop and try to figure out what’s in the packages and enjoy the choices here, then take them home and cook them. And I get to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables than I get in the restaurants. 

Interesting note: almost all bread is sold in closed brown paper bags in the grocery. It is served that way in restaurants too. Twice I saw wait staff toss the bagged bread across the room to customers, I assume they were regular customers as no one threw any at me yet. I’m not excited about their bread here, kind of a tasteless white bread. 

Trieste is famous for being the home of the writer James Joyce for a ten year period. Supposedly, he wrote his book Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man here and started his Ulysses during that time. There’s a museum dedicated to him (closed for the holidays) and several coffee shops named after him. Hemingway had Paris, he had Trieste. 

I’m next to ride the shoreline of the Istria Peninsula which is both Slovenian and Croatian. I’m looking forward to experiencing these countries and their historic port cities. First I’m trying to arrange a non-bike exploration tour. I’ll let you know if I can make it work out.

Till later.

Sending love,

Charley