MAY 2018 - BIRTHDAY TRIP TO FRUILI VENEZIA GIULIA

DAY 1 - LGW->MARCO POLO AIRPORT

A belated trip to celebrate two birthdays - we flew into Venice, picked up our little Fiat panda

and headed into the Veneto countryside to journey west

to a small village called Fiumicello in the region of Papariano

where our apartment waited

DAY 2 - DAYTRIP TO TRIESTE

Trieste has too many pedestrianised zones to drive and park there so instead so went 7km to Monfalcone station and the bargain €3.30pp each way to Trieste, not on the sleek, speedy-looking train

this one was ours

with sadly dirty windows for our 25 mins of views around the still-water curve of Adriatic coastline

into Trieste Centrale station. A nippy cab ride along the corniche

to Piazza Unita d'Italia, Europe's largest square located next to the sea; built during the period when Trieste was the most important seaport of the Austro-Hungarian empire, hence the spectacular Hapsburg architecture of the city's municipal buildings and other important palaces

A much-needed drink break (sampling the local drink, spritz) fortified us to walk uphill to Chiesa Santa Maria Maggiore

and the 100 AD teatro Romano ruins

After the first pizza of the trip, some more sights

and home viathe seaside resort of Grado,:some nice waterside scenery but it's rather too Miami-meets-Cote d’azure for our taste, plus all of the beach access has been snaffled. Instead, we scoop up some farm-shop asparagus to have with our strawberry supper.

DAY 3 - COUNTRYSIDE

Palmanova is an excellent example of a Late Renaissance star fort structure, built up by the Venetians in 1593, and added to the UNESCO Heritage list in 2017; hard to tell when you're there so...

Lots of gates in and out

and the utilities are proud to declare where they are

Onwards to splendid Udine

The central Piazza della Libertà has Renaissance buildings, including the pink-and-white-marble Loggia del Lionello and a clock tower

and the town-hall, Loggia del Lionello

After all of this, we'd definitely earned spritz and nibbles

Time to head back into the countryside. Sadly, Cividale del Fruili - the capital of the first Lombard dukedom in Italy from 568 - turned out to another car-unfriendly town

so all we saw was the Devil's Bridge

Continuing through wineries and hills, at a small town, we see a church high up, from which there must be a view. Superb picnic bench and vineyard view from San Giorgio - shame we had our picnic in the countryside road uphill to San Giorgio

Last town before Slovenia is medieval Gorizia, whose castle is prob 400m from the border. The Leopold Gate, built in the late 17th century

leads into the castle, within the medieval walls

DAY 4 - AQUILEIA AND HOME

Aquileia is an ancient Roman city, one of the world's largest cities in antiquity with a population of 100,000 (now 3,500) in the 2nd century AD and one of the main archeological sites of Northern Italy. It was founded in 180BC - the basilica was built in 1031, rebuilt about 1379, but the mosaics date from 4th century AD.