Lido di Jesolo and Trieste, September 21-22

As I left the Venice airport, I drove north in the trusty diesel Opel Meriva and looked for small roads (not Autostrada) that would take me east to Trieste. There aren't that many choices, and although I didn't know for sure where I was headed, I thought I'd like to spend the night by the Adriatic north of Venice. This thinking, and following roadsigns to places that included the word "Lido" ("beach" in Italian), led me to Lido di Jesolo, where I did in fact spend the night. I think for anyone contemplating a visit to Venice, this place would be a great place to stay. You can find a description of things to do and how best to get to and from Venice (bus and ferry) by using this link: http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/veneto/lido-di-jesolo.html


My sister took these pictures in Venice while I was exploring the surrounding territory.









I arrived in Jesolo slightly after sunset and found what I will call the main drag. This is a two-way street, with cars parked on each side, about a mile long and one block inland, paralleling the beach. The area between street and the beach is built up with apartments and hotels. On the ocean (Adriatic) side, an uninterrupted sidewalk runs the length of the beach in front of the block of hotels/apartments (like a boardwalk, but at beach level). This permits anyone to have access to the beach. Of course, the hotels and apartments all have their cabanas and other infrastructure out there as well, but access - and the view of the water - is unimpeded. The main drag, meanwhile, is lined with restaurants, shops, banks, office buildings, and euro arcades for the kiddies on both sides for its entire length. I parked, saw a lighted sign for the three-star Hotel Ancora ("Anchor" - note the nautical flavor), walked up a narrow street towards the beach, and registered. The room was comfortable, the most reasonable price of the whole trip, and it was on the beach. The hotel, and the entire town, for that matter, were quite deserted: high season had ended early in September, and the hotel itself is closed from October 1 to April 10. But some restaurants and hotels stay open throughout the winter, and I was glad to have found this hotel, and the Lido di Jesolo, for future reference and definite potential revisit.



The next day, I set out for Trieste, again taking the local roads vs the Autostrada so I could enjoy the scenery - lots of farmland. I stopped in one small town because I saw a beautiful church spire off to the right - that's in the first picture here. I sat in the parking lot in front of the church for about 15 minutes, just soaking up the sun, to the putt-putt of a power lawnmower being used across the way on an otherwise totally quiet Saturday morning in the northeast corner of Italy.


This next group of pictures is from another small town on the way to Trieste whose post-WWII church tower I saw from afar and wanted to see more clearly up close. It turned out that the tower was next to a very old church, and lo and behold, as I walked around to the front, here was a group of young men "decorating" a newlywed couple's escape car in a very professional manner: heavy duty light green industrial strength plastic wrap and white balloons, which kept popping due to the overly-enthusiastic actions of the designated balloon-inflator.




I figured where there's a decorated post-wedding chariot, there must be a wedding, and sure enough, I entered the church just as the couple was in the last stages of the ceremony. Not being an experienced wedding crasher, I think I upset a couple of what I took to be ex-girlfriends of the groom way in the back of the church (well, they were all dressed up and didn't appear to have any escorts...) when my cellphone camera emitted its synthesized "I'm-taking-your-picture-now" click. In any case, I got the picture and I was glad to have stumbled on a very human tableau in this beautiful setting. The girls approved of my rapid departure from the church.
These two pictures are taken from the window of my hotel room outside Trieste. I saw the hotel sign, parked, and registered at about 3 pm. The hotel (Hotel Belvedere) is located on the coast about 8 km before the city in the suburb of Sistiana. This hotel was also on the verge of closing up for the winter.
After a brief nap (testing the bed), I drove down the coast road into Trieste right at about 5 pm. These photos were taken from the coast road. But there was so much bumper-to-bumper traffic that I backtracked and took the inland route that stays on top of the hills. That's why I arrived at the water's edge in downtown Trieste at twilight.

I parked in the (jammed) parking lot and walked around the city for an hour or so. There were lots of people out in the streets and restaurants, all having a great time on Saturday night. This is a spectacular city at night. The first picture shows the customs house.

This trimaster is either running its diesel engine (see the plume from the rear mast) or the cook is using the barbecue pit tonight.

I don't know the names or uses of these buildings, I just had my cellphone camera. Next time, I'll invest in a guide to the city. But I'd found out what I wanted to know: Trieste also is worth a revisit, and the hotel is clean, well-located, and reasonable.




I drove back to the hotel at about 9 pm, had a quiet dinner of an ice cream cone (real gelati, of course), and turned in early.