The winter’s farewell in the North Adriatic coast

Where to spend the night?

Sistiana is a village in the North Adriatic coast, nearby the Slovenian border. It belongs to the Trscan bay.

I don’t know whether the road would ever take me to this coastal part of Italy, had I not have to spend the night, so that I could easily reach my final destination, Val Gardene.

Hotel or agritourism?

Usually, when I have to spend a night or two somewhere on the road, I use booking, Booking, or even better, their map so that I could, location-wise, (with pointer just like in the picture below) have a better view on all of my possibilities for stay.

I prefer agritourism, if there’s a possibility for that, to hotels, because, in that way, I can get to know the ‘soul’ of the region. Hotels are sterile and similar everywhere. In agritourism, the owners introduce the guests to their culture, customs and the lifestyle, and you can enjoy it more. Unless you have high expectations regarding your accommodation, for which a hotel would be a better choice, agritourism often offers even greater comfort than the hotels do.

Sistiana is a small village, but it has all of the essentials for a normal life. Staying there for one day is perfectly fine, to enjoy the place and everything it offers. Of course, you’re in Italy and you won’t starve, nonetheless you’ll probably eat more than you had planned. Eyes should be fed, and Italians know just how to do that.

My motto has always been ‘eat now, cry later’.

The best option for accommodation this time, was Bonavia B&B, a house with a backyard and a guest entrance. In case you don’t like this one, you can try your luck in winning some discounts:

https://youtu.be/EwkKR67Myqo

A real family house with spacious rooms and a dining room, the biggest room in the house. Elena was a great host. She was a very pleasant and cheerful woman, who spoke our language fluently. Breakfast which was included in our stay was a real Italian one (prosciutto, Brie cheese, croissants, cherry, etc.). The one thing I would have to object to was the temperature in our rooms during the night. As I usually tend to feel the cold, and am used to sleeping at 23⁰ degrees in our rich country, and they threw me there at 18 ⁰ degrees… I managed to take a bath, and then jumped out of tub and immediately tossed in the sheets, blankets, basically everything I could find 🙂 . However, there were positive sides of that change in temperature, so everything I ate that day I quickly burned.

What to see?

Although it is a small village, there was a lot to see. The house is about five to ten minute-drive away from beach and a small harbor Portopicolo.

There’s Sistiana bay in the neighborhood, a natural reservation Duino, known for its white limestone cliffs and rare species of animals and plants that can be found only there, Falesie di Duino. In the distance on a cliff, there’s a ‘Thurn und Taxis’ castle, from 1389 (the same year when Kosovska bitka took place in Serbia) 🙂 . Castello di Duino, which is a private residence of the Princess Torre e Tasso. It is possible to enter the castle and visit its 18 rooms, a German bunker from 1943 and visit the colorful park with various Mediterranean flowers.

Are there beaches?

At the moment when we got there, the beaches weren’t as clean as possible, but it was all caused by nature, none of it was done by humans.

It was brisk at the time (the beginning of February) but you could feel the spring in the air

I believe it is even more beautiful now

Would I go back again? I think so. At least for some fresh fish off the grill