Koper - Trieste - Piran, Driving the Slovenian Coast.

Tucked away between Italy and Croatia is the little country Slovenia, once part of Yugoslavia. Today took us back into Italy to the city of Trieste.
According to our guide, although situated in Italy, it has never really been Italian. You could not be blamed for thinking that you are somewhere in Austria as you walk the streets. The architecture is something that you would expect to find in Vienna, thanks to its connection to the Hapsburg
Monarchy. It is amazing how many countries throughout Europe have a Hapsburg influence.

This is the first port of call for many newly built cruise ships, as it is home to the head office of the Fincantieri Shipbuilding company. One of their ship-building yards was next to us in Venice, where they are currently building the newest Carnival Ship.

 
There is no excuse for bad coffee here; Trieste is known as the "Coffee capital of Italy" and home to the internationally known coffee company "illy". 

 

We walked part of the city visiting some of the main sites including a Serbian Orthodox church, St Spyridon, and the Greek orthodox Church St Nicolao, where in both I lit a candle in memory of our parents. Apart from the language of the service, orthodox churches are not much different in
appearance.

Stopping for coffee, and as if he knew we were coming, a young busker sat himself just near us and started playing his digeridoo.

To cover all religions, our next stop was the Cathedral of St Giusto, arriving just as a wedding was finishing up. Simple from the outside, the interior was beautifully decorated with Byzantium mosaics.

Being Saturday, many had made their way to the beaches. Not quite the big sandy beaches that we are used to, but with their narrow shoreline, it was interesting to see people sunbaking on the footpaths or sitting in the shade of the nature strips lined with trees.

Speaking of the Hapsburgs, Miramar castle, is spectacularly built on a Karstic rocky promontory, and was a gift by Maximilian to his wife, Charlotte of Belgium. We weaved our way in and out of each rooms with their beautiful frescoed walls, decorated with treasures collected from all round the
world. An interesting piece of design was a small round glass bottom fountain found at the top of the grand staircase. What made this so fascinating was the fact that on the ground level the glass bottom of the fountain formed a rippling ceiling rose around the light fitting that hung there. You might say a very early form of skylight.

From there we headed back to Slovenia, travelling to the opposite end of the peninsula of Trieste to the small fishing village of Piran. A market was in full swing in the main square which was also lined with café's and restaurants. Like the legs of a spider, the narrow laneways radiated out from the centre.

 Onwards and upwards we were led by our guide, first visiting a small Franciscan Monastery. Displayed around the courtyard were photos depicting how life used to be in the village many years ago. It
showed the fishermen working on their nets, farmers selling their fresh produce, generally everyone just carrying on with their own business. A real piece of interest was a large olive tree root system that had been turned into a chair.

Further up the hill we ventured to the Church of St John, sitting high on the peak with 360 degree panoramic views looking back down to the village and across the sea to Trieste where we had been that morning.

Heading back to the ship we hit what looked like a major traffic snarl, and after a couple of phone calls, found out there was an incident between a semi-trailer and goodness knows what else… But not to worry "I know a short cut!" and with a flick of an indicator we were now heading off at speed
along the very narrow back roads of Piran and Portorose. Beautiful scenery as weaved around the farmlands of olive trees and grapevines, praying that there were no other oncoming vehicles, which would be no match for our van!
Made it back safe and sound with a little time to spare, and we made the most of the free wifi before heading onto the ship. 
 

Gaznjo's Port tips.
Our tour was with Istranka Koper, they have a stall selling tours to all the
highlights of Slovenia. A hop on hop off service covering the five towns
that dot the peninsula. A trip to either the Postojna and the Skocjan Caves.
Trips to Ljubljana and Lake Bled just to name a few.