Trieste is a beautiful coastal city, situated close to the Slovenian border. In fact, it is so close that you can see it from Koper! (But too far to walk there.) Have you ever wondered, when walking close to Žusterna, which city is opposite you? It is too close to be a part of Koper, and too far to be the Debeli rtič. The answer is: the city you are looking at, is Trieste.
As a city, Trieste is simply too big to describe it in one entry, so I decided to describe the event that Trieste is the most famous for. It is a sailing regatta, named Barcolana and it attracts visitors and competitors from everywhere.
The event usually happens at the end of September or early in October and it lasts whole week. The dates are different every year, and they are known a few months before the event.
Besides the regatte, there are many things going on during Barcolana. I think that the best way to describe the event is simply a diary – style story of my first visit of it:
My first visit of Barcolana was three years ago, when I went there with a schoolmate. Before that, I have never heard of Barcolana. We went there on Saturday. We took a bus in Koper, which stops at the station next to the event place. The return ticket cost six Euros.
As I mentioned above, the central bus station in Trieste is situated right next to the place where Barcolana is happening.
Even though it was a rainy day, there was still a lot of people. It can be very difficult to walk through such a crowd with an umbrella, but luckily, the rain did not last long. But the whole day was very windy.
To get to the centre of the event, where most of the things are happening, just walk with the crowd towards the port. During the way, you will be stopped by promotors, which will give you free samples and discount cards. You can get many different things, like keyrings, haribo gummy bears, mini Coca Cola, a 25% discount card in the biggest shopping centre in Trieste and many other interesting and useful things.
When you will be close to the port, you will see stalls, where people (which represent companies) are selling different things. It is like a big open – air shopping centre. You will see items like mobile phones, sporting clothes (Adidas, Nike, more or less known sailing brands,…), sailing equipment and other stuff. And you can buy all of this at highly discounted prices. Everything is original, just a lot cheaper than it would be in the store.
Last year, the Erasmus organization in Koper organized a visit of Barcolana with a bus transfer, and from what I heard, many foreign students attended it and they loved it. Unfortunately, I could not join them, because I was on my Erasmus exchange in Lisbon. The price was eight Euros and it included a bus transfer from Koper and back, guiding at the event and a drink by your choice in the previously selected bar. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.
