I'll take the bus to...where am I going again?

The next day we had originally planed to go to Bled, but the weather was going to be a little iffy, so we changed our plans. Lizzie and Jen stayed in Ljubljana and went to the Architecture Museum, National History Museum, Natural History Museum and a delicious ambiguous Asian restaurant.

I, however, had calculated everything I wanted to do in Ljubljana, and figured out that it would only take 2 days, max. So I wanted to get out of there! I decided to try to catch a train to Maribor, because it had been recommended to me by a friend, but missed it by about 2 minutes. I asked the lady selling tickets if there was a train to anywhere else fun and she said No, I should go catch a bus. So I walked over to the bus station and looked at their time table. The next bus was to Piran, at 10am! So I bought a 12 Euro ticket and went to Piran!
 

I got on the bus, and enjoyed the ride through the countryside. Some very beautiful countryside. There seems to be an RV culture here. There were lots of RVs all of the place!

It took about 2.5 hours to get from Ljubljana to Piran. Piran is a sea-side town at the very very edge of southern Slovenia. Lonely Planet states that the “town’s name comes from the pyr, Greek for fi re, as fi res were once lit at Punta, the tip of the peninsula, to guide ships to the port at Aegida (now Koper).”  It was a very beautiful town. But very dead- it is a summer town and I was there in winter. Most of the places to see were closed due to the weather- some were even under reconstruction.

As I was walking into the town I passed the Maritime Museum. So I went in. I was free! They had an exhibit about the Yugoslav Navy Flyer's, then some about the recovered artifacts in their area. You had to wear fuzzy slippers over their glass cases.

Then I went into the center of town. The main square is named in honor of some violinist that liked there. I went into the Tourist Info Center where I grabbed a map and asked about the buses back to Ljubljana (4:30pm). I wandered up to the top of the hill and passed by a Monastery to the Cathedral of St. George. Where I got some AWESOME views of the surrounding area/water.

 

Then I went down around the “punta” (the historical snout of Piran) where there is a “lighthouse” and a Church. Oh and the “beach.” I was able to touch the water (a little thing that I started doing while I was in Russia).

 

All of the churches there, had bars over the entryway- where you could walk into the church entryway and see the church, but not go into the actual church. Like this:

 

After wandering around in the back “streets” of Piran I came across the Aquarium. It was very cool, small, but interesting. They sadly wouldn’t let you touch the sting rays. :( But they put a sign on there telling you not to, or I would have. Here are some pics from inside:

 

Then it was back to the center and eating lunch. I got cous-cous with zucchini, but couldn’t finish it because my stomach is acting up. The waiter was nice and thought I didn’t want the food, or something was wrong. When I told him it was my stomach, he said “You should have soup. That is what we do. You need soup.” Then he gave be saltine crackers on the way out. :)

I went and grabbed some souvenirs before grabbing a cup of hot chocolate (American style) while watching the ocean. It was relaxing and calming. Just what I needed to recharge my batteries.

 

Then I headed back to the bus stop, and caught the bus back to Ljubljana. When I got back, I went out to Mexican. Well, not really. It was supposed to be Mexican, but it was worse than Skopje (which is actually pretty decent).

All in all, I had an amazingly awesome day.

 

See you around the globe!