We are traveling out of Italy today, through Slovenia, and ending up in Croatia. The whole trip takes less than two hours. That is enough time for a stop to see the Trieste Cathedral, have lunch in Tartini Square in Piran, Slovenia and enjoy a seaside dinner in Porec, Croatia.
As is true with many old churches in Italy, the Trieste Cathedral started life as a Roman temple and then had a series of churches built on it. Between the 9th and 11th centuries two basilicas were built upon the ruins of a 6th century church. In the 14th century these two were combined into the current church. The church is aglow with beautiful mosaics.
After admiring the Trieste Cathedral we hop in the car and in no time we are at the border with Slovenia. It hardly seems like a border since Slovenia is a full member of the EU. It is definitely a photo op though.
We head to the seaside town of Piran, Slovenia to enjoy the beautiful day and have some lunch in Tartini Square. Tourist season is not yet underway and it is pleasantly uncrowded. Sarah and I try to order something local which turns out pretty meh..
Croatia is not very far away and after a thorough examination of passports by the outgoing Slovenian official and the incoming Croatian officials, we are allowed in. We head to our hotel, the Hotel Mauro, on the waterfront in Porec. The hotel staff is so excited that we are Pilats. They tell us, oh, so many people in Croatia are Pilats. We must be Croatian or better still Istrian. John says he is Polish. They say no difference, you are Croatian. So we are big hits.
Later we hit the waterfront for some drinks and snacks.
We have dinner at the St. Nicholas restaurant. Tony, the very exuberant guy manning the hotel desk, tells us this is the best restuaranteur in all Croatia. With the exception of John’s grilled squid everything is not so great. I order a whole fish. It is dried out and has too many residual bones.
