The slow train eastbound from Venice hugs the craggy, forested Adriatic coast as it nears the city of Trieste, affording tantalising glimpses of the Castello di Miramare, a fabulous folly built out on a promontory in the 1860s by the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Maximilian and his wife Charlotte. With his fairytale castle barely complete, the young aristocrat took the opportunity to become Emperor of Mexico, an adventure which would soon end in tragedy.

At the station in downtown Trieste, we find ourselves a stone's throw from the Serbian Orthodox church, the old synagogue and much else to remind us that this was once a most cosmopolitan port, the only sea port for the sprawling Austro-Hungarian empire, dismembered after the First World War.

Veteran travel writer Jan Morris enthuses over this somewhat cryptic city, not quite Italian, no longer Austro-Hungarian, and now tucked into a pocket of Italian territory almost encircled by Slovenia. Trieste lacks the must-sees of other cities in northern Italy, in spite of a history extending back to Roman times, but in some ways that is part of its charm. Launches bob at anchor in the Grand Canal whilst café patrons nibble their cicheti snacks and sip Campari spritzes on the nearby Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia, a vast and imposing town square conceived by Austrian town planners.

These images were taken in May 2010 with Nikon D300 using RAW format, and are available for licensing.