Venice, Trieste, Slovenia, and Croatia

My wife and I just came back from visiting our older son, who has been on a college work-study this Summer in Venice and Trieste, and then taking a trip to Slovenia (Ljubljana, Bled, Postojna Cave) and Croatia (Pula, Rovinj, Plitvice Lakes, Split, Dubrovnik). It was a delightful trip, even beyond just seeing our son. A few thoughts:

1. Most impressive man-made sight: Venice. Yes, it's full of tourists, but there's a reason for that. A City of Islands, a citypelago, unlike most other places on earth.
2. We spent three days in Venice, but no-one offered us any Dogecoin.
3. Most impressive natural sight: Postojna Cave in Slovenia. Glorious.
4. Leibniz cookies, continental Europe's answer to the Fig Newton.
5. Best meals, from cheapest to most expensive: Geco Pub in Trieste; Ćiri Biri Bela in Split; Arsenal in Dubrovnik; Bled Castle Restaurant in Slovenia.
6. In Trieste, we stayed on Viale 20 Settembre. (a) What's the significance of September 20? (b) That street name, unsurprisingly, is seen in many Italian cities; why is it somewhat ironic in Trieste?
7. It was very easy to get around in English (admittedly, in the relatively touristy places we visited), and the people were generally very friendly.
8. Dubrovnik in Croatia was once the Republic of Ragusa, with the motto "Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro," meaning "Liberty isn't worth selling for all the gold in the world." Good sentiment! Also, winter is coming.

Comments

[Mr. Bumble]

I believe 20 Settembre (1870/) marks the unification of Italy.
Unsure why it might have special meaning in Trieste.

[Mark Regan]

Because the irredentists didn't manage to incorporate Trieste until 1918.

[Dr. Ed 2]

What, if anything, does Venice have for a sewerage and sewerage treatment system? (I don't believe it does....)

Of course, as someone who has seen multi-ton rocks tossed around in the surf like empty beer cans, living that close to the water would make me a tad uneasy. I guess they don't get storms....

[John F. Carr]

Venice is protected by barrier islands, breakwaters, and mudflats.

[Dr. Ed 2]

As someone who has also seen a storm toss a 2 ton circa-70s automobile *over* a breakwater, my response is "and...."

They used to dispose of used cars by towing them out to sea, the ocean was kind enough to return them....

[John F. Carr]

The Adriatic is nicer than the North Atlantic.

[Frank Drackman]

Ya Think????

[Kazinski]

Right, storms of course can cause waves but tides in the Mediterranean are seldom more than 18 inches. Similarly waves from storms are much lower because the wind that blows them isn't more than 500 miles as opposed to 3000-5000 miles.

[Dr. Ed 2]

An 18 inch tide isn't going to do much to flush the sewerage out of the canals....

[Anon]

They should have something by now as they charge by the pilgrimage.

[John F. Carr]

There is a species of beetle that lives only in caves in Slovenia. It is endangered, possibly due to insect collectors who want it for its scientific name. In 1937 an Austrian entomologist named it after a famous politician. It is called Anophthalmus hitleri.

[mydisplayname]

Murina hkakaboraziensis is another collectible species, particularly for those who like 1990s-ear blondes.

[John F. Carr]

Venice shares with Sweden the distinction of being a fallen superpower.

[SRG]

There are plenty to choose from!

[The Drill SGT]

Spain. Portugal. Mongolia. Persia

Maybe Holland for a few years

[Mr. Bumble]

"Venice shares with Sweden the distinction of being a fallen superpower."
In the case of Sweden at least partly as a result of invading Russia.

[Kazinski]

Still we should be forever grateful to the Swedes for breaking the grip of the Spanish-Austrian Habsburgs over Northern Europe, and making religious freedom tenable.

[santamonica811]

If you went to Lake Bled (my favorite place in Slovenia), you almost certainly walked around it. When I was there; there is a famous tree right next to the lake that grows almost horizontally, in part, so that it juts out over the water. Really dramatic. My question: Is it still there? I have not been back in almost 20 years, and I assume that, one day, the tree will fall over and topple into the lake. Is it still standing???

[Don Nico]

I did not see such a tree 10 years ago. Of course that does not prove that it is not still there.

[santamonica811]

Don,
There is NO way you would have missed it, or could have missed it, if you were within 200 metres of that part of the lake.

Alas. Your words made me sad . . . it was pretty iconic.

https://pbase.com/santamonica/image/113691539

[Lee Moore]

My Venice recommendation fwiw is to walk around in the middle of the night, say 3am. No tourists, except those following my advice, and so much easier to imagine yourself back in the 16th century.

No gondoliers yodelling out the same song hour after hour, either.

But harder to spot the dog poo, so don’t wear your fancy shoes.

[Frank Drackman]

Of course in Europe it's easy to "Get Around" in English, easier than in many parts of the US, it's the Lingua Franca, and if they don't understand you, just yell!!! Pula's a nice town, on the Adriatic Coast, restored Roman Coliseum, we'd fly over on return flights from Bosnia, nice restaurant at the Harbor, try the Schnitzel!! Did the Slovenian Caves (still think Wind Cave in SD is better but that's my Amuricanism showing)
And no mention of Lipica?? Only the home of the World Famous Lipizzaner Horses, (OK, my wife's into Dressage, so I have to be into Dressage, and the Lipizzaner Horsies are umm, well watch
"Miracle of the White Stallions" (1963 Disney) sometime

Frank "a Horse is a Horse Of course, Of course, that will cost you tons of money of course but not as much as a Divorce"

[The Turtle Dove]

Had a bus layover in Zagreb recently. Couldn't find the bus station in the bus station building because of all of the franchises and businesses renting space on the facade and along the halls. Once you got inside, you could wait in the stifling general room, or in the climate-controlled restaurant in a transparent cube in the center. The profit motive is sometimes not 1:1 with providing the shared social infrastructure.

Mr. D.

[Frank Drackman]

Had the same experience recently,
Oh, it was New York.

Frank "I (don't) Love NY"

[Bwaaah]

New York City has become much more laid back over the past two years. You can walk into a restaurant now, sit down, and wait 10 minutes before a server asks you if you want something to drink. Even with the 25% increase in prices (and expected tips), it surprises me that restaurant owners don't still want to pick up the healthy profit an additional round of beverage sales brings to the ticket. In the "old days" (i.e. 3 years ago), they'd immediately train the servers to get that first round drink order within about a minute of a party having been seated. It's what they call a win-win-win (i.e. guest, server and owner all benefit from that touch of hospitality). But the owner now apparently bites his/her tongue, and instead simply thanks the server for having shown up to work.

[Anon]

After I pointed out to my Dad how weird it was that there were naked old men carved into the side of St Marks Square, after that was when he said he wanted to go back again sometime.

[Frank Drackman]

Hey Now!
Remember when I was 8 or 9, visiting my Uncle in Brooklyn, (NYPD for 30 years, put THAT in your "Bitter/Klinger" Pipe and smoke it, "Coach/Reverend"
took me for a "Schvitz" thought it would be a Soda or Milk Shake, WRONG!!
OK, No Homo or Coach Jerry ensued, just alot of old sweaty guys sweating.

Frank

[Anon]

At least what you had to endure was behind closed doors this was in public.

[Kazinski]

The St Marks Bronze Horses were looted from Constantinople in 1204 when the crusaders sacked the city.

I guess its only fair, since Constantinople was known for looting from everywhere else they found something nice. I saw a 3500 year old obelisk there that the Romans took a liking to in Egypt and brought there. They also stole the 30' high Athena Promachos from the Parthenon where it stood for 1000 years then a drunken crowd destroyed it 800 years later supposedly because she favored the crusaders that were outside the walls besieging them.

[Anon]

All the sculptures looked like such a patchwork with the the mismatched colors from the weathering, it would have been nice to have a time lapse to see how the place evolved through the ages. But yeah, those horses were neat, and well traveled.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Ironically, all the restaurants in Split insist that the whole meal be on one check.

[Frank Drackman]

You're saying you can't get a Split in Split????
Well let me tell you about a little town in Alabama......
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercourse,_Alabama
Which is really more of an Intersection than a town,
so you'd have to "Do it in the Road"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4E6KtQg_z0

Frank

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

None of the right-wingers who operate this white, male blog wants to discuss today’s prominent legal developments (the target letter Trump received with respect to the attack at the Capitol; the conviction of more un-American insurrectionists, including the backwater woman who incited violence with a bullhorn; the indication an indictment in Georgia concerning election wrongdoing is imminent; the felony charges filed against fake electors in Michigan).

With Prof. Volokh back from vacation, we can expect the Volokh Conspiracy’s steady stream of transgender-lesbian-Muslim-transgender-drag queen-gay-white grievance-Black crime-transgender content to resume shortly.

[Dr. Ed 2]

You mean the firing on Fort Sumner.

This is not going to end well....

[Frank Drackman]

Jeezus, “Dr” it’s Fort SUMTER

Frank

[Bwaaah]

"With Prof. Volokh back from vacation, we can expect the Volokh Conspiracy’s steady stream of transgender-lesbian-Muslim-transgender-drag queen-gay-white grievance-Black crime-transgender content to resume shortly."

Thanks for kicking it off, Rev.

(Have you considered buying a mirror.)

[rebarbativsky]

In the spirit of #2, I should point out that Leibniz cookies are most famously served at Leibniz's Tea Room.