1/8/20 -- Last Full Day Here: War Memorial and Wine Tasting

Our primary objective today was the Collio wine region north west of here and near the Slovenian border.

However, on the way was a monumental World War I memorial built  by Mussolini to consolidate many smaller cemeteries in the region. The hill opposite the monument was one of the cemeteries that was emptied for the memorial and it is now a memorial part with artifacts from that war. The monument holds more than 100,000 remains, about 60% of whom are unidentified. There were also rock-lined trenches, some with bunker-like tops, on the hill. It is always sobering to see sights like this. Nearby, there was also an Austrian-Hungarian cemetery, where we stopped briefly as well.

The only woman represented here.

Above/below: each level has a wall of  names like these.

Above/below: Mostly enclosed bunkers.

 

The Alps were clearly visible

This  cemetery was one of many emptied to fill the monument
on the other side of the road. It is now a memorial.

Just down the road was the Austria/Hungary cemetery.

 

The rest of the day was a lot more fun. We drove to the Perusini winery, which is a medium-sized family run operation. We got a walk among the tanks and barrels as well as a look at their tower-like office before heading to the house for a light lunch and tastes of 5 different wines. They are large enough that they can export their wines to the US, but the process at least triples the price, so we are bringing 2 bottles home with us. The youngest son came down to sample lunch and it turns out that he is the winemaker, so we had an interesting conversation with him as well as his mother, who was our hostess for the day.

The tower on the property. We actually went into
this section later.

Barrel room under the tower. They mostly use stainless steel tanks
and we walked past a bunch of them on our way here.

This is a swinging ball that I didn't quite
understand the significance of. I took a bunch of
photos trying to get one that wasn't dark, but
when the ball was illuminated, the rest wasn't.

Inside the main room of the tower. The room above is their office.

Artwork representing the entire facility.

Looking back down from where we are to the barrels and swinging
ball below.

Since we were so close to the border with Slovenia, we drove there
and then came back to Italy. I guess we can add another country
to our 'visited' list

 

After lunch, we headed back to Trieste to pack for the trip home and find out how early we need to get up to catch our 6:25am plane home. Air France is having strike problems and although they are sure their long-haul flights are solid, our first leg is to Paris, so it may be at risk. As of 12 hours before boarding, they are still projecting our plane will fly. I hate to think of the challenge of getting home with all our stuff if something changes!