GO SLOVENIA:With almost no motor traffic and tourists thin on the ground, this Slovenian town is an idyllic seaside gem, writes Maxine Jones
PIRAN, IN SLOVENIA, is nearer to Trieste than Trieste airport is, but, owing to an Italian transport strike, there seemed to be no way of getting there. The information that there were no trains or buses running and it was the weekly day off for the ferries had to be prised out of sullen officials at three information offices. At one point the only way to get out of Trieste seemed to be a ship to Albania, which I briefly considered until I realised it would take 24 hours to get there.
This was an unplanned week's holiday, the rain having chased me out of Ireland. Two days had pleasantly exhausted the possibilities in Trieste. With little idea where Trieste was before I arrived, I was surprised to see how close Slovenia - a place that to me sounded more like a fantasy land than a real country - was. Despite its closeness, it was difficult to get any information about it. The receptionist at the hotel had never been there, and the tourist office would only give me information about the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy.
I returned to the kindly padrone of the two-star hotel I'd been staying in. We'd discussed Istria at breakfast, as he'd pottered around the tables making sure everyone was okay. "It used to be ours," he said, referring to the peninsula of land now divided between Slovenia and Croatia. Then an argument ensued with his wife about exactly how long it would take to drive to Piran. He said 20 minutes; she insisted it was longer.
The padrone turned up trumps, finding a driver to take me to Piran at a reasonable rate. The border with Slovenia was only 12km away, and Piran 34km. We drove past fields of cars ready for export to the Middle East and skirted the coast until Trieste dwindled to a smudge of grey on the opposite side of the bay. Entering the small harbour town, I could have been centuries away. The taxi was not allowed in. Cars must pay an entrance fee, and once a certain number have entered no more are permitted.
I sat in the vast oval of the marble-flagged piazza, opening on to a harbour of bobbing boats and overlooked by a bell tower. The centrepiece is a bronze statue of the town's hero, Giuseppe Tartini, an 18th-century violinist after whom the square is named. The scale of Tartinijev Trg, with its Venetian palaces and grand Austrian town hall, is in direct contrast to the narrow, peeling houses piled on the hills around, topped by 16th-century town walls. Little in Piran is newer than the 16th century. The small peninsula would leave no room for development, even without the preservation orders slapped on it. The cobbled streets are slippery with generations of passing feet and motor traffic can reach no further than this square.
It was in one of Piran's old houses that I spent the next two nights. There are only a few hotels and hostels here, all of which were full, so I enquired about private rooms. These are the mainstay of tourism in Slovenia and are spare rooms in local houses, often in the central, old parts of the town. If I didn't mind sharing a bathroom with the owner, I could have one for €22 a night, just yards from the harbour and main square. Katerina, in her 50s, duly arrived to lead me up the steep, cobbled street to her home. We conversed in faltering Italian, in which I managed to convey that Dublin was not part of Britain.
I was thrilled to be entering one of the houses I'd been taking pictures of earlier. The room was clean and bright, overlooking a courtyard where a man was sanding a wooden boat and a woman was hanging out crocheted covers to dry. From being an outsider, I felt I'd been catapulted into the heart of this small community. I had my own key and didn't see Katerina again. Nor was there any evidence of her in our shared bathroom, apart from a washing machine and a basket of pegs.
I wandered the web of streets, which would suddenly open up into small Italianate squares, fringed by houses and cafes in pastel greens, yellows and pinks. In church cloisters, a photographer had laid out his exhibition. He was from the mountains on the other side of Slovenia and taught me how to say "thank you" in Slovene, "Hvala".
The sea laps around the sides of Piran as if round the prow of a ship, occasionally swelling up and splashing sunbathers on the rocks or the concrete piers. Cafes and restaurants line the prow, making for wonderful views, especially at sunset. If you sip your coffee or grappa at the tip of the prow, by the lighthouse, you really feel you are riding the waves.
Heading home, I was caught by a sudden downpour and took refuge in a bar just a few yards from Katerina's house. A far cry from the cafes in Tartinijev Trg, this one was decorated with pictures of naked women and a mixture of religious artefacts. Fishing scenes were painted on the white ceiling and, though mid-summer, Christmas fairy lights and tinsel adorned the bar. On a corner shelf, a snowman was lit up on a sleigh, next to three statues of the Virgin Mary and two Christs on crucifixes. On another shelf, a ceramic Easter bunny sat beside a framed photograph of a young Princess Diana.
I ate well both nights for less than €20 for three courses, featuring sea food and local white wine. At the Pirat restaurant, although dining alone, I felt as comfortable as at my kitchen table. At Pavel 2, the innocent-sounding lemon sorbet I ordered went straight to my head. The waiter explained it was laced with vodka and champagne. I skipped home.
On my second day, I hired a bike and tried to follow a map of scenic routes but kept getting lost, ending up in a flat landscape of salt pans. Later, my enquiries about moving down the coast to Croatia were met with blankness at Piran's tourist office. "We prefer to promote our own country," the young woman said.
I asked how far away the border was and she seemed unsure. I discovered I had been at it by the salt pans - not more than 6km. They could tell me nothing about buses to Croatia but I picked up a ferry timetable. There are two ferries a day to Porec, 45 minutes away.
When I arrived in Porec, I immediately started to miss Piran. While just as beautiful in parts, and with a Unesco-listed church, it is overrun with tourists in a way Piran isn't, mainly because the nearby modern town of Portoroz soaks up the hordes. At the tourist office, I told the girl that I had difficulty in Slovenia finding out about Croatia. She nodded. "They don't like us," she said. "They want our sea." I asked her what the Croatian for "thank you" was. "Hvala," she said. "That's the same as in Slovene," I told her. "Really?" she said. "I wouldn't know."
Getting there
Trieste airport is 90 minutes from Piran. Czech Airlines flies charters from Dublin, arriving at night. Book with Topflight, 01-2401700, www.topflight.ie.
WHERE TO STAY, WHERE TO EAT AND WHERE TO GO IN THE TOWN
Where to stay
Alabarda. Via Valdirivo 22, 00-390-40630269, www.hotelalabarda.it. A cheap, central option near Trieste ferry port and bus station. An onward journey by bus or ferry costs about €6. Ferries don't run on Mondays. Alternatively, you can book a package with Topflight, staying in Portoroz, 3km from Piran.
Hotel Piran. Kidricevo nabrezje 4, 00-386-56762502, www.hoteli-piran.si. €74-134 per night (high season). On the seafront, this is bland and plain. The focus for the traveller is really on enjoying the pretty little town.
Hotel Tartini. Tartinijev Trg 15, 00-386-56711665, www.hotel-tartini-piran.com. Starts at €82 for a room or €188 for a suite in high season. Hotel accommodation is quite scarce, making private rooms often the only option in high season. This is one of the smartest hotels
Max Hotel. Ulica 9, Korpusa 26, 00-386-56733436, www.maxpiran.com. A small hotel tucked in the middle of the old town. €70 (high season), including breakfast.
Val Hostel. Gregorciceva 38a, 00-386-56732555 www.hostel-val.com. €25 per night, including breakfast. Cheap and cheerful, situated on a side road between the sea and the town centre. There's free internet access and it's handy for a buffet breakfast and checking e-mails, even if you're not staying there.
Private rooms can be booked at Moana, Cankarjevo Nabrezje 7 (near the harbour). From €22 a night.
Where to eat
Take your pick of a dozen or more restaurants serving food with an Italian influence. Many of Piran's restaurants are located along the waterfront with open-air seating and great views. The food is broadly similar, a mixture of meat, fish and mixed grills. Prices and service don't vary greatly, either, being respectively reasonable and friendly.
Pavel. Gregorciceva ulica 3, 00-386-56747101. This is one of Piran's smartest restaurants. It is on the waterfront and recommended by the Slovenia Chamber of Craft. Its mussels are a treat.
Pavel 2. Kosovelova ulica 1, 00-386-56747102. Another smart restaurant serving a mix of meat and fish dishes, such as traditional Piran lobster. Mains are between €8 and €16. It's farther from the main drag, smaller and a little cheaper than Pavel. You'll find more locals there, too.
Caffe Neptun. Dantejeva 4, 00-386-41724237. This is a small restaurant, one street back from the harbour, with a good seafood selection, reasonable prices and a fun atmosphere.
Pirat. Zupanciceva Ulica 26, 00-386-56731481. A good restaurant, just up from Moana on Cankarjevo.
Where to go
Tartinijev Trg, the white marble, oval-shaped main square, with a statue of the violinist Giuseppe Tartini, looks like a vast skating ring and is the place to sit and watch the world go by.
The Venetian House (Tartinijev Trg 4), a red building, is a fine example of Gothic Venetian architecture and is the oldest building on the square. Built by a rich Venetian merchant to house his mistress, it has an inscription reading "Lassa pur dir" ("Let them talk"), added in response to the disapproval and gossip of the townspeople.
Look inside St George's church (Adamiceva ulica 2) and enjoy the view of the town and harbour. Climb up to the bell tower for an even better view stretching over Croatia and Italy. Built in 1608, the bell tower is a smaller-scale copy of St Mark's Campanile in Venice.
Follow the walking trails around the town, including a coastal path from St George's church to Fiesa.
If you're up for a two-hour bus journey, head for the beautiful capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, which you'll easily get around in a day.
Swim in the Adriatic by hopping over the rocks that border the peninsula. For beaches you can take a free shuttle to Portoroz, three kilometres away, but you'll be in more run-of-the-mill touristville.
For a day in bustling Venice, you can take one of the regular ferries out of Piran across the gulf and appreciate the gentler pace of Piran on your return.