Okay, I do know that Pierre Lynch was in Slovenia quite recently, but anyone other than him?
Anyway, goodbye Croatia, hello Slovenia!
Two and half hours after leaving Croatia we were at the customs dock in Piran. Ten minutes after that we were checked back into the EU! We picked up a mooring line in the municipal harbour and hopped off Coral to do some sightseeing.
Croatia was a pretty sleepy experience this time of year (November), but Piran was HOPPING! Tourists everywhere and cafes full to bursting, the energy was infectious.
The main square, Tartini Square, is huge. It used to be an inner harbour, but when it became polluted with sewage in the late 19th century, the town decided to fill it in and make the square.
After passing through the square, we walked up the hill and climbed the town walls. I was exhausted, but there were adorable Asian tourists doing the same thing in four-inch heels, so I sucked it up. The view was totally worth it, and most internet searches will turn up this exact same photo looking down on the town.
After that hike we had earned a drink, so we found a seaside cafe and enjoyed the sunny afternoon and spectacular view along with throngs of other people.
After the sun went down I headed off in search of a grocery store and a Slovenian courtesy flag for the boat. We never did find a courtesy flag, but groceries were cheap and plentiful.
The next morning we saw something we haven’t seen in our entire time in the Mediterranean–the tide had come in! The tides in the Med are generally pretty negligible, but the northern Adriatic sea level changed by well over a foot.
We left Piran and headed north, spying something else we hadn’t seen our whole trip–fall colours. Not nearly as colourful as Canada, but the trees had a distinctly fall look to them. An hour and a half later we were on a mooring ball in Koper, our second and final Slovenian port.
Mike went out for a walk to explore while I enjoyed some rare alone time. Seriously, before this trip, between painting in empty houses and wasting time in my office, I spent about sixteen hours a day alone–this has been an adjustment. Good thing Mike is so pretty to look at.
When Mike returned, he announced that he had stumbled upon a multiplex showing English movies, so we decided to have date night! The walk there was interesting: the port is in the old town, but less than a kilometre away the city gets very modern with new, wide roads and large, sleek buildings. The movie theatre was in a giant shopping mall, another relic from our past. We decided to see Murder on the Orient Express, which was fun-ish. I enjoyed it more than Mike since I seem to be the only person on the planet who was not familiar with the conceit of the story. He didn’t realize until after that I hadn’t known the ending, so I am very lucky he didn’t inadvertently spoil it for me. (When I told Thelma, Mike’s mother, that I was reading Anna Karenina, she immediately commented on, thus revealing, the ending. Yes, the book is a cultural icon, but I didn’t know, dammit!)
We wandered through the old town on our way back to the boat but got thwarted a couple of times by a fashion photo shoot that was happening, so we went back to the main drag and stopped for a nightcap. Outdoor seating with heaters under every table–delightful!
In the morning we visited customs and immigration, but they said they didn’t need to see us as we were already in the EU. Excellent. Italy, here we come!
You found my Slovenian doppelganger!
Aw, you’re reading my blog! Missing you, JJ.
I have often thought it would be interesting to have an Instagram account with all the shoes I have seen on people that are incongruous with the scene. That being said I did wear practically neon Nike’s throughout Spain.