Slovenia 5 – Piran

On the way to Piran, our next destination along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, we stopped for a last climb in the Slovenian Alps.  We were right at the border between Italy and Slovenia. It is a beautiful day and at one point we are actually walking on an ancient Roman road, with stone retaining walls still intact.

We actually cross into Italy at some point and can see forever down the foothills that go all the way to the coast near Trieste.  We find along the way, the border markers that mark the limit between Italy and Slovenia – typical tourist shot with one foot in each country.

At the top of the mountain (I cannot remember its name unfortunately), there is a small chapel where we stop for a short rest.  I take the opportunity to see how well I can photograph the different ridges that slowly descend towards the sea.  This is a wide angle shot that also shows some of the ground where I am standing for comparison and a little bit of colour.

Less foreground may actually be better – still with the wide-angle.

What about no foreground with a telephoto lens…

One shot that also shows the sea on the right side.  You can see a faint horizon that is perfectly straight.  I could see a tall chimney near the sea which does not appear clearly on the photo – it still amazes me how much more sensitive the eye is than the sensor on my camera – I see so much that does not end up on the photo…

We walked down on the Italian side to a refuge where Giuseppe was waiting for us with food – another great pic-nic.

We then drove to Piran, a small town right on the Adriatic coast.  Slovenia does not have a lot of coast line so they make the most of what they have, and this is a great little city.  The center has been able to preserve its historical feel – cars are banned as the streets are so narrow that they would not fit in most of them anyway.  Piran was a vassal to the Republic of Venice for more than 400 years and the influence is clear to see.

Look at this Venetian villa – it was said that it was built by a wealthy Venetian Merchant for his mistress – is this where the expression “a girl in every port” comes from?

I went walking around town as the sun was slowly setting – best light for taking pictures…

The town is located on a small peninsula and was protected on the land side by very strong walls that as still existing today.

The name Piran comes from the Greek name for fire.  Piran was the site of maybe the first lighthouse in Europe.  This building is located where the original lighthouse was.  It is now a church that commemorates sailors lost at sea.

I saw two little girls playing in the square, bathed in the setting sun.  Great photo op, and yet I felt awkward taking too many pictures or paying too much attention!  Old Man taking pictures of Young Girl has such a negative connotation these days … sad!

There is a small harbour which is mainly a marina for pleasure boats these days.  The marina extends into the town creating a canal that cuts the center almost in two.  There are very nice sailboats which indicates that there is still wealth in this area.

Once again, I spent 1 hour waiting for sunset, taking about 200 pictures while sitting on the seawall that protects the marina.  A fisherman decided to go out for some night fishing.

In the distance, a large sailboat was also waiting for sunset, crossing back and forth with only its jib.  Must have been great and relaxing sailing.

The sun is unstoppable going down.  the only clouds are the con-trails of planes that are long gone.

Until there is only a very small sliver left.

In the evening, the waterfront was full of life, even if quite dark.  The ‘ old lighthouse’ is visible at the very left of this picture.

At the border between Slovenia and Croatia, just South of Piran, is a low lying bay that has been used for salt production for several centuries.  Still now, during the summer, there is frenetic activity here to extract salt from the sea.  There are large ponds where the sun does most of the work.

At this time of year, there is not much activity, especially since the heavy rains from a few days ago ruined the last ‘crop’.  There are several stages of concentration necessary to get to the crystallisation of the salt, and the rain just caused too much dilution of what was still ‘in production’.  During the winter, most of the work consists of repairs to the channels and ponds, getting everything ready for the new season come March.

We came back for another evening in Piran before the return trip to Ljubljana and this end of this wonderful trip.

One last shot before I sign off for this trip.

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