Fun things to do in Trieste

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The Giant cave is lovated about 12 kilometers from Trieste center and it is reachable by car or with the bus number 42 that start in Piazza Oberdan and arrive near the cave.
It is open all year round, from October to March 10.00am-4.00pm with one visit every hour, April to September 10.00am-4.00pm with one visit every 30 minutes.
Admission is 11 €, there are different reductions, check their site for detailed info.
The inside of the cave has a temperature of about 12 degree all year so wear warm clothes (during summer a sweat shirt or a fleece will do).
After you pay your ticket you will wait your guide near the cave entrance and than proceed to descend. It is a long way down and than up, about 500 steps each way, so wear sturdy shoes.
The cave is one of the largest and tallest of the world and it offer a wonderful view over hundreds of stalactites and stalagmites. It has been equipped with a good lighting to allow the exploration and it is kind of a wonder how they could visit it in the past centuries when they used just candles light..
The guide I had was very informative, I went with the first tour in the morning and there were only three of us so we had time to stop and look and to ask lots of question. The guide said the first tour is always the quieter.
The visit last about one hour.

Along the street to reach the cave building there is a nice restaurant/cafeteria to make up for all the calories lost during the visit. It has good coffee and bakery stuff, the bathroom were very clean.

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There is a great way to see all of Trieste from high up, and the best part is that it is not costly!
The blue tram begins in the center of Trieste (Piazza Oberdan) and immediately heads up the hill to Opicina. Along the way there is an unusual boost of a small motored car which gives it enough power to reach the top. From this northern edge of the hills you can see the waterfront and most of the city below. On a clear day you can see very far, but at any rate, you should take advantage of this tram. You can use a normal bus ticket to ride this tram, and the tickets can be purchased where it starts at Piazza Oberdan. There are stops along the way, but I suggest you ride to the top, and on the way back, you should stop for a few minutes and walk along the edge for photos. This stop is at the obelisk built to celebrate a road that the Emperor built. There will be another tram in twenty minutes and this will be about the amount of time needed for photos, etc.
The exact cost was 1.15 euros, and the ticket there is good for 240 minutes on a Sunday, 60 minutes of every other day. A bargain!

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Trieste is a great place for people who like to walk without wearing out your feet. The center is compact and you can wander around for several hours and see quite a bit. I would suggest that you start at Piazza Unità d'Italia and head towards the canal, walk up the canal and then head back towards the Piazza, and then you walk past this and go into a small pedestrian street. There you can find some restaurants where you can both rest and take in some local cuisine.

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This WWII Prison Museum was opened in 1975. Originally a rice mill built in 1913, but empty at the time of WWII, the Germans took it over for a prison. Also during the war it was outside the city, but now it is surrounded by city structures. I found it to be smaller than expected, but the effect of seeing a terrible part of history still has a great impact.
The building is six stories in height, but you are not allowed to view into the upper floors. Once through the long corridor past the visitor's office you will immediately see the Death Cells, where prisoners who were to be executed were jailed. You only have to look into one of them for one to begin to imagine how terrible this was.
There is a museum which has displays showing photos of some of the prisoners, their letters to home, and devices used for torture. The city has done a fine job in collecting this material and displaying it in a way that you can become more familiar with the prisoners and their life.
During the war over 25,000 partisans and Jews were imprisoned and i 3,000-5,000 of them were killed, either by shooting, beating or in the crematorium converted from the rice mill.
My research finds that there was a trial after the war, but none of the SS Officers were punished.
After the war it was used as an immigration camp for Yugoslavians wishing to escape communism.

The visitors center has some books, mostly in Italian for sale. The two ladies that were there that day were friendly, and took the time to answer questions about the museum. There is free parking along the side of the prison, and you can see it all in just over an hour. Free admission.

Right off the port is the big canal built by the Romans. It is not long, and made more difficult for boats because they have to wait until the tide goes out in order to venture into the harbor. Along the canal can be found many outdoor bars, and on the east side is the vegetable market. There is plenty of seating on the edge of the bridge and if the wind is not strong, this makes a nice place to sit and take it all in.

Trieste has a number of Literary Trails/Itineraries marked out for visitors. Here James Joyce is treated as a famous son of the city to the same extent as its native sons, Italo Svevo and Umberto Saba. The Joyce trail has 45 plaques on various buildings which were significant in the author's life and times in Trieste and copies of the route can be obtained from the touist office on the main piazza, Piazza Unita D'Italia. I discovered the tourist office around lunchtime and got a copy of the itinerary but before that I had come across several of the plaques and locations. Having the little map and booklet is great though because it tells you the significance of each of the locations and you can see which ones are clustered together. The map lists 36 locations in all, with no less than 9 addresses where the family lived. In the three tips below I will describe the ones I found of most interest.

This beautiful, Venetian style building had caught my eye soon after arriving in Trieste and I'd taken a few photographs of it without having any idea of its significance. Once I got my little trail itinerary however, I discovered that this was the Central Hotel where Joyce and Nora spent their first few nights in Trieste when they arrived on October 20th 1904. On arrival, Joyce apparently left Nora sitting in a park in front of the railway station and went off in search of accommodation. On the way, in typical Joycean style, he became embroiled in a fracas with some English men on the Piaazza Unita D'Italia and ended up being almost arrested. They stayed here for a few nights before moving to a rented room on the Piazza Ponterossa.

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The Giant cave is only 15 kilometres from Trieste on the Karsk. It is the biggest tourist cave in the world and has been opened to the public since 1908.
It is placed near the homonymous village and can be reached easily from the town also by taking a bus or the famous tram of Opicina. The enormous hall is 107 metres high, 280 metres long and 65 metres large. A confortable and steep path and a suggestive electric lighting allew a pleasant visit of about 45 minutes. The tourist can have a look at the wonderful and charming underground world represented by the caves and at the rich calcite concretions, the highest of which is no less than 12 metres high.

The exceptional characteristics, and the constant temperatures in the Giant cave during the whole year, have suggested to place two geodetical pendula, 100 metres high approximately (the longest in the world) and other scientific instruments. The Museum of speleology is near the cave and besides the various speleological, geological and paleontological finds it also includes some valuable archeological pieces and a poster collection of the cave. Two wide parkings are available on the outside. Visits are sheduled in good times and with expert guides.
It is closed on January 1st, December 25th and on Mondays.
Opened every day in July and August.