Discovering Slovenia: Beauty of Slovenian coast

There is nothing new about the fact, that Slovenia is not a maritime power. But we also have sea and our own coast. It is still being negotiated if we have access to international waters.

Some figure facts: Slovenia has around 46 km of coast. If we divide this among approximately 2 millions of us, each gets 2.3 cm of coast. Our coastline is covered with different facilities. We have Koper (biggest city on the coast) with its port. We have Portorož, luxurious seaside town with a lot of hotels, casinos, bars shops and restaurants.

But there is a special place, where we would set our 2,3 cm each. In a small, medieval port town, known as Piran.

Piran is situated right at the end of cape, overlooking the Piran bay.  Throughout all the years, it kept its medieval look as typical port town. It has its fort on top of the hill and small, narrow streets that are protecting citizens.

Protecting from what?

Harsh sun and wind, of course. Burja (or bora in English), can get very rough there. It sounds great for windsurfers. The only problem is that wind is blowing away from the coast and towards open sea and you could get in trouble without enough experience.

Garden of church Sveti Jurij (St. George) on the hill offers a great view on the city and the whole bay. Behind the church, there are walls of old town with football ground and cemetery in the middle. Climbing these walls offers another great view on the bay.

But to really get a feeling of the city, you have to mingle. Tartini square is the best place to start. The main plaza in town is a small tribute to Giuseppe Tartini, one of the greatest violinists, who was born in Piran. If you are lucky, you will be able to see the flea market, where people sell antiques.

We would also recommend that you sit down at the terrace of Cafe Teater and have a drink with a nice view on the Piran bay.Take a peek inside as well. The place is really neatly decorated.

A walk from Tartini square past the Cafe Teater will bring you to the most western point of Slovenia, cape Madona. There is a small church at the end of the cape and usually there can be windy on the other side of the cape.

The indoor alternative is Piran Aquarium. A visit will take you through sealife in the local sea and coast. Small and nothing special, if you are used to aquariums in the big cities, but still.

A full day in Piran should be enough for you to get a feeling about it. Of course, you are more than welcome to stay longer and visit other coastal places like salt making park. But more about this in another post.