The name, Piran, is derived for the Greek word, Pyr, which means fire. Before the days of lighthouses, a large bonfire was maintained at the tip of the peninsula so that ships knew their limits. Now there is a modern light and bell to alert shipping.
Piran is the point where the Istrian peninsula begins, although Croatia claims Istria as their own, and Solvenia is happy to maintain that Piran has nothing to do with that. But as we drove into the area by the coast, the landscape looked very, very much like Istria, with stunted wild trees, olive groves, and vineyards.
This is the hiway leading into the town of Piran, flanked by well-watered pines. It was very similar to driving along along the coast near Opatija. The city of Piran is at the bottom of a coastal range of cliffs, so the hiway abruptly drops down to the coast. Parking is extremely rare in town, so the city has a large parking garage at the edge of the cliffs, and a free bus into the town Center. We were happy to take advantage of that.The bus dropped us off at the Square:
We got there at about 11:30 after driving across Slovenia from East to West. It was already baking hot. Piran is a tourist city, but COVID is still restricting people, so it was not all that crowded. Slovenians were there in force, though. It is traditional that Ljubljana and other places empty out during August as the locals take vacation along the coast.
The steeple sticking up into the air is a big Catholic church on the hill It is one of the main attractions.
Looking up just to the right of the church is a restored section of the ancient city wall that kept the citizens safe from land attacks by the feared Turks. It is quite spectacular. The young missionaries went up there that afternoon, but my knee had already taken a beating going down the irregular stairs getting out of the parking garage, so I didn't attempt it. I did go up to the church, though. As we neared the top I noticed another section of the old city wall, so I guess I walked up there after all.
The parts where ancient soldiers manned their battle stations are long gone, but the classic crenelations are very cool. Just a bit farther up the hill we came to the church bell tower, which is separate from the main church. The young people all climbed the 200 steps to the observation deck, while the old people waited below.
There is no doubt their view was better than mine, but I did have a magnificent view across the bay to the north from behind the church. This is a panoramic view with the church yard on the left, the old city wall on the horizon behind the other church steeple, the harbor below, and Croatia across the water. The lighthouse is out of sight to the right. Sorry.
The main door to the church was open, but an iron gate limited our entrance into more than the vestibule. On the left is a gilded statue of St. George killing the dragon and saving the fair damsel. The ceiling has a painting of the same fictional event and it is the most famous of all the medieval paintings of St. George. I don't know if this is the original, or if it is a re-rendering of the original. There are many great works of art in this church and I wish I could have gone inside to see them better.
Having climbed up from the city square, there is another path that leads down to the lighthouse.
It looks like a castle keep, but it is the lighthouse. I am not sure if it is old enough that it held the bonfire back in the day. The openings in the tower reveal a fog bell, and at the far right, atop the lowest balcony is a modern light, which is, of course, not very impressive. The 18th and 19th century lighthouses were much more imposing with their tall towers, kerosene lamps, rotational engines, and many-faceted lenses. Now we have much brighter lights that don't need to rotate or have huge, focusing devices to signal ships out at sea.
This is our crew - all the missionaries in Slovenia. I'm in it because I was taking the photo. We have two awesome elders with us in Maribor, two more in the little town of Celje, and two in Ljubljana. And we have four amazing sisters in Ljubljana, as well.
As an aside, we had lunch at the best restaurant in Piran (per Rick Steves) with mouthwateringly fresh seafood. We had the Maribor elders with us and we were joined by the four sisters. It is a little place, so we had one of the four tables inside the restaurant. Next to us was a large family group who spoke Italian the whole time. After several glasses of wine, one of them got up and ogled our sisters. He was trying to tell us that we had some beautiful daughters, as he leered at them. It was a little bit offensive, but his wife was next to him so it didn't get out of hand. He couldn't understand our English nor Slovenian, and finally the multi-lingual waiter stepped in and explained who we were in Italian. His embarassment was a good end to it.
By this time, the afternoon had slipped away and we had to head for home. As we walked back through town, we passed this Hotel.
It is too bad that the gold highlights don't show up very well in the photo. Up near the roof, under the eaves, there is gold filigree and gilded jewels around the little round windows. It makes the building quite visually stunning.
We were all very hot and thirsty by then, but the young people decided to take off for the city wall with its view that is reputed to be even more stunning than the one from the church. Not us, though.
We found a sidewalk cafe with good shade and a breeze. We had some cool drinks and tested their cheesecake. By the time the elders returned we had cooled off a bit and were able to get back to the car.
One final note. We know very few people in Slovenia. So, what are the odds we would recognize someone at a rest stop along the freeway as we drove back across Slovenia? As we pulled into a parking spot, I noticed a baby in a woman's arms. The woman had her back to me, but I recognized the baby! It was the Branch President's daughter, and their family was returning from a week-long vacation on the coast. We had a nice chat, and parted company.
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