With the beginning of the holiday season we decided to treat ourselves with a little trip. On a sunny cold morning of the 17th December 2024 the majority of junior students from Civil Engineering High School in Rijeka took a trip to Trieste, Italy. We also visited a nearby cave and a picturesque castle.

Our trip started in the early morning hours when we set off from Rijeka. After a cosy ride we arrived to Trieste. Trieste is known as the city of coffee and windows; coffee since it’s a free port for coffee importation and windows because of the numerous windows that offer stunning views of the city and sea. We saw this ourselves when we got the opportunity to explore the architecture and the culture of the town.

Shortly after visiting Trieste we headed for the beautiful cave Grotta Gigante, which was literally breathtaking as it has one thousand steps one has to climb to reach the bottom of the cave and to return to the surface. But putting this minor inconvenience aside, the cave is amazing and its acoustic is also very impressive, which we discovered by clapping our hands all at the same time. Our guide told us a lot of interesting facts about stalactites and  stalagmites, about natural processes taking place within the cave and about the cave’s chemical composition. 

As we all made it out of the cave safe and sound, we got on the bus to visit the best part of our trip, which was a pretty little castle called Castello Di Miramare. Situated near the city centre, the castle is simply stunning with its big, well kept gardens and an indescribably beautiful exterior. There are fountains, a terrace with cannons, stone stairway with beautiful details and auxiliary facilities. It’s very peaceful and relaxing outside the castle while its interior offers insight into the castles’s past with a lot of historical exhibits and colorful rooms packed with numerous details.

 

After enjoying the nature and architecture of the castle as well as the fresh smell of the sea, we started our trip home with new memories and new stories to tell. We had a really nice time and we all agreed that we couldn’t wait for our next journey together.

Written and photographed by: Lea Šimić, class 3AT

Edited by: Sanja Bura

January, 2025