We all  put in our top three or four places we wanted to visit in Slovenia and Piran  was on everybody’s list. It’s a small town of approximately 4000 people(off season, I imagine) and is squeezed onto a small peninsula in southern Slovenia. It’s a walled town which meant we had to park our car in the parking garage at the top of the hill and make our way into town to find accommodation. Piran grew wealthy on salt produced at Secovlje which was then shipped to Venice and was part of Italy until 1954 when it became part of Slovenia.  Around the same time the majority of Italian speaking population left town, by boat I am assuming as Italy can be seen on a clear day just a stone’s throw away from the beach in Piran.

………a stone’s throw from our waterfront!

We did not have reservations in Piran so started off at the tourist bureau looking for an apartment for the five of us………..three bedrooms, two bathrooms was our usual request. This can, at times,  be hard to find so in Piran we split up when Marco showed us his little apartment units in the same building and although they were two bedrooms they were quite small but very clean with everything you needed. Marilyn, Jim and I shared one and George and Gerry took the one above us. They were very reasonably priced, but just a little too small to cook in, so we ate out all three nights and found good food and wine close by.  Our first day we decided the car wasn’t moving so we spent the day walking the hills of Piran, getting touristry lost, exploring the shops, having cappuccino before noon and wine shortly after before we all headed home for a ciesta. Our host Marco recommended a restaurant for supper (his friend’s) and we were all pleased and headed to the waterfront for a nightcap and then crashed for the evening.
The next morning we walked to the parking garage with a full itinerary for the day. First stop, Skocjan Caves, northwest for about an hour – they are known as one of Slovenia’s most spectacular places to visit. The Skocjan caves are a UNESCO world heritage site and according to our guide are “…the world’s largest network of subterranean chambers and to this day remains only partially explored.” We joined a 90 minute guided tour and walked about three kilometers underground admiring stalagmites and stalactites as well as underground waterways and rock bridges and of course the power of the river running through it. Absolutely amazing and something you must Google for more info as I cannot to it justice…….and no pictures were allowed inside. Once we exited all five .

of us agreed it was so worth the $$ and the time……..as well as a great walk with over 500 steps to get out……”oh legs don’t fail me now!”
From there we went to Lipica, located very close to the Italian border, and known for the Lipizzaner horses which have been bred there since 1580. I am not so much into horses since I was thrown from one when I was 19 so this was not on my list. I was, however, totally impressed with the tour and learned things about the life of a Lipizzaner that I never had a clue about……..and was in awe of their beauty and size.   After an hour’s tour we decided that was enough for us to take in so we wandered around the beautiful farm admiring the mares who were in the field,  visiting the giftshop, buying nothing and then we headed out for our final event of the day, the salt pans.  Fortunately, however, we missed the turn, ended up close to home and all agreed we should save it for the next day as we were all  getting tired and still had to walk from the parking garage to our apartment.  So we called it a day………… except for pre-dinner drinks and supper of course!

We missed George and Gerry on the Lipizzaners so no picture to show…….but they were on them!  Very calm horses indeed!

Unwinding after riding the Lipizzaners and our walk down the hill to Piran.    Thinking the horses have taken off with George and Gerry as they’re nowhere in sight!