blugreen

... I was a child. Two of my great-aunts live there, and several of my cousins.
A former city-state on the Adriatic Sea, Trieste still shows the bones of its medieval former self. A beautiful city, it is not part of the main landmass of Italy, but sits on the Eastern shore of the Adriatic, surrounded by Slovenia.
I spent a little time there when I was 21, and found it to be fast, like the Sydney I live in, but smaller and much older.
Being a border city, it is a mix of cultures, and has a great nightlife.

food
books
food
books
food
books

Get the picture? Good, cheap food, lots of new and second-hand bookshops, a cinema, many cafés, several pubs and bars, and a thriving ‘alternate’ queer culture (although not quite so alternate as it once was). There are still lots of second-hand furniture places at the South end of King Street, and funky hairdressers, gothic clothing shops (and more food) in Enmore Road; as well as two theatres, the New and the Enmore.
It’s also easy to get to, with several bus routes and two rail lines nearby.