A day by the Adriatic Sea

I had heard about the beautiful Venetian-Gothic town of Piran through my friend Pat.  Once I got to Ljubljana everyone I spoke to said I must go and see it.  Piran is named for the Greek word Pyr which means fire.  This was inspired by the fire that was lit on the top of the peninsula to guide galleys into the port at nearby Aegida. 

I journeyed here by bus which was a two and a half hour trip each way.  However the bus was comfortable, the ride smooth and the scenery outstanding.  Upon arrival my first port of call was a coffee shop (with a loo - yay!) right by the bus stop.  Now this was not your typical bus station coffee shop...I ordered my coffee and sat outside to enjoy the view...

After I had my caffeine fix I walked towards town and when I saw the scene below I think my words were something totally not cool like "holy shit batman"!  I mean...WOW!!!

I had been worried that being a Catholic country there might not have been many shops/restaurants open on Easter Sunday but boy was I wrong!  What a relief!  I was distracted by a passageway and then another and another...I am going to do a blog post about them in the future.  Here are a couple. 

What can I say..I was in absolute photographers heaven.   I finally came to a square where a fellow wanted to show me a church (not the popular one) by a river....where he slept.  Uh..no thanks. 

Out to the waterfront again....

 Well there had to be a dog at some point right?  Don't worry its owner was nearby...

I then wandered up to the 17th century baroque Church of St George.  Its bell tower is like a small version of the San Marco campanile in Venice.  Piran (Pirano) was under Venetian rule for over 500 years hence the fantastic buildings. 

I am trying to keep this blog in some kind of order as if I posted photos as I took them you would get majorly confused.  I aimlessly wandered all day back and forth between places photographing - as I mentioned it is a photographers paradise and I don't even know how many pictures I took but LOTS.  Rest assured this is not the last you will see of Piran! 

The walk up to the church had me feeling peckish as I had only had yogurt and a banana at breakfast which was six hours ago.  I managed to land the last spot at one of the seafood restaurants along the sea front although sadly my view was a motorcycle with the sea behind it.  Ah well, it was outside and I had a seat and that was the main thing.  Being right by the door I can't even begin to guess how many people were turned away.  At the bus station later a woman was saying that she and her husband could not get into any of the seafront restaurants as they were all packed so I am lucky I went early. 

I ordered breaded scampi which was pretty good. 

My table was the one by the door - my server is standing with her back to me. 

The main square was attractive as well - named Tartini Square after violinist Giuseppe Tartini whose statue is in the centre.    Walking across the square was hazardous to your health with all the kids on their scooters, bikes, roller blades - take your pick out of anything that moves fast and can take you out flat. (there were more than in the picture below trust me)  I made it over to the market without getting hit and bought myself a simple little pair of hand made earrings for 5 euros. 

After some more wandering it was time to bade farewell to beautiful Piran and board the 4:15 bus back to Ljubljana but not before treating myself to an Italian ice cream!!