Bluest Blue Sky. Blue Waters. This is the best unplanned trip. Piran is our first pit stop on our way to Croatia. From Trieste, Italy, we reentered Slovenia after driving for under an hour. One feels you’ve never left Italy though, as we drove along the Adriatic Sea hugging the coastline. The route was scenic but the sky that time of day we arrived in Piran was just magnificent! At 9:30 in the morning, we certainly didn’t expect those cottony clouds.

Tartini Square is the main piazza here. So named to honor its beloved son Giuseppe Tartini, a violinist and composer. His house is located around the square which is now used as a default place for events and other public affairs. We crossed the Square past the 19th century town hall with stone lions and found the path towards the belfry at the top and climbed up. The Church of Saint George gives Piran its very Renaissance Venetian feel. At the time we visited, there was an ongoing baptism and the church was full. Spent time watching the baptism ceremony versus scaling up the staircase in the tower. In this summer heat, no thanks. But the view even at the foot of the belfry is worth the uphill hike.

Someone was playing the harp on the cobblestoned path to the tower. Tartini would have been pleased. Perfect as musical background to the hilltop Catholic Church dedicated to St. George. If only that melodious harp music can flow through the Church recesses where the 17th century paintings and altarpiece made of marble are located. But what strikes me more is the faithful replica of the bell tower to the Campanile in Saint Mark’s Square in Venice. You can’t miss it anywhere you stand within the port town of Piran.

We felt almost sorry to leave Piran. While waiting for my friends at the designated place, I silently stood watching a local tie his tiny boat amidst a row of yachts and speedboats in the wharf. His sun-kissed skin shows the wrinkles of a life dedicated to sun worship, sailing adventures and a pseudo-bohemian mindset. I gave up on the video as the old man took his own sweet, long time to get his boat safely moored. It’s the same relaxed and carefree vibe you sense everywhere within the island.