Blogs from Piran, Istria, Slovenia, Europe

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Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran November 29th 2022

27-28 nov Je m'éloigne enfin de Postojna alors que la ville baillait sans cesse depuis le début du weekend. Je suis, ce matin, dans le premier bus qui part vers la mer Adriatique. J'ai comme plan de m'établir pour deux jours à Piran, ville côtière compressée entre l'Italie et la Croatie. Tout se passe comme prévu. Le territoire bosselé nous fait faire le saute-mouton dans les collines encore givrées par la nuit. Hors des patelins éteints, les rares demeures aux toitures rouge brique détonnent dans le fond des pâtures allumées ou dans les oliveraies. Les plateaux se courbent, se recourbent puis s'allongent jusqu'à rapidement annoncer les villes de la côte: Koper, Izola puis enfin Piran, ancien port vénitien tout droit sorti d'une toile de la Renaissance (population: 3804 habitants). La vieille ville ici s'étire en pointe ... read more
Costal
Port Piran
Pêcheur Piran

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran July 31st 2022

We get an email from the Australian Government website warning us that if we’re going to be in Slovenia for more than three days we need to register our presence with the local police. We’ve been here for eight days now, and this is the first we’ve known about this requirement. This is not good. We crossed the border when we arrived here without even slowing down, let alone showing anyone our passports, so I guess it’s possible the Slovenian authorities don’t know we’re here. We Google "police stations in Piran". The ten reviewers have given the one here an average of 1.8 stars, with comments including “incompetent gypsies”. Hmmm. We don’t particularly want to risk getting arrested so we decide to take our chances and just sneak back across the border tomorrow, and hope that ... read more
Piran sunset afterglow
Tartini Square
Musicians

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran July 30th 2022

We wake up in an awful hurry. The bombs going off outside the window are shaking the building, and the flashes from the explosions are blinding. Mad Vlad’s clearly decided to move onto his next target, and he’s picked poor old Slovenia. Well that’s what it sounded like, but it seems it was just a thunderstorm. Issy says that wasn’t “just a thunderstorm”, it was the loudest brightest thunderstorm she’s ever experienced, and it’s a bit hard to argue. I leave Issy catching up on some thunderstorm deprived sleep while I head off exploring. First stop is the belltower of the church on the point, and then the lighthouse next door. The views from the tops of both are excellent. It’s a belltower day. Next stop is the St George’s Church belltower on a clifftop overlooking ... read more
Piran waterfront
Piran waterfront
St George’s Church belltower

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran September 14th 2019

We walked (all down hill this time) with our suitcases to the boat dock, and left on the 9:00 am hydrofoil to Piran, Slovenia, 40 minutes away. We were very glad to leave our dingy airbnb, especially after being awakened several times in the night by a man right outside our window yelling for "Vera" to let him in...! It turned out that our initial inclination to abandon our money and find a new place in Trieste would have been a good idea. While the apartment was quiet at night (a major consideration in Trieste, since it is a very noisy city), the place had nothing else going for it, and the "owner" turned out to be a nasty man, who accused us of urinating in the bed (via email) and wanted to charge for us ... read more
First Slovenian cat!
I bought this from a local artist in Piran
Swimming in front of the cafe

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran August 16th 2018

Slovenia 2018 Travelled with Gaz, Keri and the three girls. Stunning place. Couple of days in Piran then we drove up to Lake Bled.... read more
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IMG_1385
IMG_1387

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran April 28th 2018

We had arrived in Zagreb late so managed to find the main square and have some cheese sticks, truffle pasta and gnocchi before passing out. Early to bed, early to rise. I managed to sneak out before 6am and get a good look at the city. I was pleasantly surprised as I had not heard too much about Zagreb. The early morning light was great for photos. I walked a series of parks: Park Zrinjevac, Park Josipa Jurja Strossmayera, Park Ledeni, over to the Botanical Gardens, and back via the Mimara, the National Theatre and the Museum of Arts and Crafts. I waked to the elevated town along the Strossmayerovo šetališteto to see St. Mark’s Church, then back past Zagreb Cathedral. While Ann got coffee, Riley and I took a short drive to the Zagreb Mirogoj ... read more
Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb
Mirogoj Cemetery, Zagreb
The pathway at the Plitvice Lakes waterfalls

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran July 25th 2017

We stayed just across the border from Croatia, right next to the salt-marshes where we started our tour of Slovenia. Initially disappointed by the 1km walk but ended up spending all morning there. The 1km walk was not very interesting as there were too few birds and those mainly gulls with a few egrets. The museum at the end was interesting, especially seeing locals still working the salt pans in traditional methods with their wooden sandals, wooden ‘rakes’ for gathering the salt and carts on tracks that run up the mud banks. We drove back over the border and turned off in no-man’s land to visit the other half of the park. This was wilder and we saw quite a lot of water birds and looked around another museum, including a renovated old salt workers cottage. ... read more
Traditional salt marsh worker
Piran
Piran from the marina

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran June 10th 2017

A gentle ride along the Adriatic coast road to Piran, concludes the biking tour of Slovenia.The hotel Tartini is located in the town square and our balcony overlooks the small town harbour. Saved the best till last. All the towns in Slovenia are bike friendly and with a few exception the roads were quiet and the drivers courteous. A very positive experience for my first bike tour.... read more
Piran town square
A room with a view
Piran town square

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran June 9th 2017

I must go down to the seas again to the lonely sea and sky, I left my shoes and socks there, I wonder if they are dry. A great day riding down 500 m to the Adriatic, but all the way Spike Milligan's adaption of this poem kept repeating in my mind. Dropped into Italy for cappuccino at Muggia the back into Slovenia for dinner at our hotel. Fresh turbot. Excellent.... read more
Modern infastructure
Gateway
Muggia Italy

Europe » Slovenia » Istria » Piran October 24th 2016

So we’re back talking about Piran this time, a home of sorts for two weeks, but first let’s talk about why Slovenia has the little smidge of hemmed in coastline in the first place. I have another blog that does history, you can find it here. Mostly I'm going to try and keep that out of this one, but the coastal bit's irresistible. The reason Slovenia has such a constrained chunk of coast has plenty to do with the strange breakdown of Empire in the 20th Century. As a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Slovenia was committed into the First World War as a part of the Central Powers. Austria's imperial authority, stretching back to the Thirty Years War, was resting on some extremely creaky foundations by the time WWI rolled around to kick them out ... read more
Whales?
Piran
Abreast of the sea.




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