🗺️ About Piran
Piran sits at the tip of a narrow peninsula along Slovenia’s very short stretch of Adriatic coastline. The town has been shaped by both the sea and the salt harvested for centuries from the nearby Sečovlje salt pans.
Piran came under the protection of the Republic of Venice in 1283 and remained connected to Venice for nearly 500 years. That history is still easy to see today in the narrow stone streets, colorful Venetian-style buildings, and the tall bell tower modeled after St. Mark’s Campanile in Venice.
The town’s most famous native son is Giuseppe Tartini, the Baroque violinist and composer born here in 1692. His statue stands in the center of Tartini Square, which was once Piran’s inner harbor before it was filled in during the 19th century.
⛵ Piran, Slovenia: Our Last Cruise Stop
After two fun-filled days in Dubrovnik, our ship headed north through the Adriatic toward Piran, Slovenia—our first visit to this small country.
Most of the ship’s excursions and third-party tours involved at least a two-hour drive into the countryside, so we decided to skip them and enjoy a relaxed day exploring Piran on our own.
After doing a little research, we mapped out an easy day of sightseeing and good food. We tendered into town around 10:30 under pleasantly cool skies in the upper 70s, which felt wonderful after some of the hotter days we had experienced around the Mediterranean.
Our plan was simple: walk around town, visit the walls and church, have a nice lunch, and return to the ship with enough time to pack before disembarking in Venice the next morning.
🏖️ A Walk Along the Shoreline
We started by following the shoreline to the left toward the old town walls. The water was every bit as clear as it had been at our other Adriatic stops, although Piran has very little in the way of a natural beach.
Instead, the town has created a concrete shoreline with ladders and small platforms leading into the water. Locals and visitors had claimed their spots with beach chairs and towels, swimming and visiting without a grain of sand in sight. It was a different kind of beach scene, but everyone seemed perfectly happy.
Eventually, we reached a dead end and discovered that the walls were closed for a two-hour midday break, so we turned around and headed back toward the center of town.
🏛️ Tartini Square and St. George’s Church
Tartini Square is large and open, with the Town Hall on one side, the marina nearby, and shops leading into the narrow cobblestone streets of the old town.
We browsed a few stores, picked up a couple of small things, and gradually made our way uphill toward St. George’s Church, which had come highly recommended. Along the way, an older woman was sitting outside playing the harp beautifully, adding the perfect soundtrack to our walk.
At the top of the hill, we reached the church, bell tower, and small museum. The original church on this site dates back to the 12th century, although the building we see today was rebuilt in Venetian Renaissance style between 1592 and 1614. The freestanding bell tower, completed shortly afterward, was modeled after the Campanile in Venice.
Admission was €5 per person and included the church museum and bell tower.
Bob decided to skip the climb, which turned out to be a good call. The stairs were steep, narrow, and wooden, with small carved landings at the beginning of each flight.
The view from the top was well worth the effort. I could see nearly the entire town, the sea, our ship anchored to the south, and even a faint glimpse of the Italian coastline to the west. It was beautiful.
Back downstairs, Bob and I explored the small but interesting museum together. It included archaeological finds and several impressive gold and silver religious pieces, including one showing St. George slaying the dragon.
St. George became Piran’s patron saint, and the church was named in his honor.
Then we stepped inside the church itself, and it stopped us in our tracks.
We spent quite a while looking at the frescoed ceilings, the ornate main altar, and the side altars filled with carved figures of saints. Despite the church’s age, the interior felt surprisingly light and airy.
It was beautiful from every direction, whether we were looking from the altar toward the doors or back toward the altar from the entrance.
🍽️ A Great Lunch and a Little More Exploring
By then, we were getting hungry, so we reluctantly left the church and passed the harp player once again on our way downhill.
We had researched a few restaurants ahead of time and were hoping to try Rostelin, a family-run seafood and pasta restaurant tucked into a small square. We arrived just before the lunch rush and found a shaded table with a great view.
My ravioli and Bob’s pasta vongole were both very tasty.
After lunch, we wandered through a few more of the tiny side streets. Along the way, we met an older gentleman displaying his artwork in the window of his home. His small paintings captured the feeling of Piran perfectly, so we bought one for €5 and enjoyed chatting with him for a while.
Anna, our ship’s excursion expert, had also tipped us off to a wonderful gelato shop in the old town. She was right. The gelato was rich, creamy, and exactly what we needed before returning to the ship.
With full bellies, we made our way back to the harbor and the now-familiar Windstar tender tent. We waited only a few minutes before our tender arrived.
👋 Farewell to the Adriatic
Piran was a perfect ending to an already wonderful cruise—relaxed, beautiful, and easy to explore without a long tour or a packed schedule.
But our journey wasn’t quite over. We still had three days in Venice and four days in Geneva ahead of us before finally heading home.
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