excerpted from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32698-2002Jul19.html<BR><BR>Note: I don't know if this URL will still be good a week from now or not.<BR><BR>A Heartfelt Triestemonial <BR><BR>By Annie Groer<BR>Washington Post Staff Writer<BR>Sunday, July 21, 2002; Page E01 <BR><BR>"I'm going to Trieste," I announced to my nearest and dearest in March.<BR><BR>"Where?" half of them asked. <BR><BR>"Why?" inquired most others.<BR><BR>Only a few knew anything at all about this Adriatic seaport in far northeastern Italy that has been a trading center and geopolitical football for 2,000 years.<BR><BR>It was precisely Trieste's obscurity, its blank slate-ness that endeared it to my husband and me. With no Roman Colosseum or Florentine Duomo looming like a holy obligation, we did only what amused us.<BR><BR>For Michael, that meant hanging out with a clutch of cousins or sitting in cafes, much as Italian and expatriate writers have done since the 1800s. Trieste is, after all, where James Joyce worked on "Dubliners," "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and "Ulysses" during his many years here.<BR><BR>For me, it meant ogling sumptuous interiors at museums, two of them beautifully maintained, the third endearingly down-at-the-heels.<BR><BR>For both of us, Trieste presented major gustatory delights. Its abundant seafood, local cheeses, sublime wines and rich coffees made it clear why the regional cuisine of Friuli-Venezia Giulia is serious foodie fare. Memorable meals always included a lovely local white wine called Tocai Friulano (not to be confused with Hungarian Tokay) and a robust red called Terrano, and ended with espresso, Trieste being home to several of Italy's top coffee roasters.<BR><BR>continued online...<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

The Washington Post is my hometown paper and they are great!!! All travel articles are available FREE at the Washington Post archives. They have approx the last three years' worth of articles available and all the new ones are added to the archives after they are no longer current....so you don't have to worry about not finding an article or having to pay for it, unlike the NY Times...cheapsakes that they are.<BR><BR>I also highly recommend the weekly Monday Travel Chat with the "Flight Crew"- the Post Travel Staff...this gives you an opportunity to ask a writer about an article as well as ask/answer any travel questions. The Chats are archived too, so you can go back an read any you may have missed....<BR><BR>Judy in Germany

Grazie Rex, We will be driving thru there twice in Oct. on our way to and from Slovenia. Had not planned to stop. Maybe now we will. However, the Post article on Slovenia has even more appeal--perhaps the best kept secret in Europe. We plan to find out.

Rex,<BR>Thanks for the article. I wasn't aware that The Washington Post was such a goldmine of information! I also thought that the Eastern Europe article was very interesting. The two cities are only 1 hour apart.<BR><BR>Now I have ANOTHER travel source...jsut not enough time...<BR>Jan

Molto appreciazione (did I just make that up?) for the kind responses. I have never followed the travel section of thw WP either. I was actually looking for something else. I didn't make it to Trieste last fall, and I kinda regret it.<BR>

up<BR>