Koper, Slovenia

“My Homeland, when God created thee, he blessed thee with both Hands and said, Merry People will live here.” –Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and writer

Your second port of call will be Koper, Slovenia. Here's a photo of Celebrity's Silhouette docked in Koper.

Your ship docked in Koper will be a sight to behold! A beautiful modern ship rising out of the Adriatic Sea against the backdrop of the ancient walled city provides a perfect photo op. Slovenia is officially and culturally bi-lingual; Slovene and Italian are the official languages.   While wandering around Koper's Old Town, all narrow streets and Venetian-style houses, you could be forgiven that you had indeed crossed the border into Italy. You are as likely to hear Italian spoken as Slovenian, there are Italian signs everywhere.  Koper is clean and non-touristy.

Ken and I had a do it ourselves day which was perfect as we like to be "unstructured" and unherded. Our self-guided Koper Stroll was fun. We saw the ancient 7th century Cathedral of St. Nazarius with its 5th century bell tower dominating Tito Square. The architecture is primarily Venetian. I discovered an interesting local handicraft shop with a lovely owner/ artist where I purchased a couple of treasures. In my opinion, Atelje Terracotta was the best shop in old town! 

 Here are a few of the terra cotta treasure that I purchased, wrapped quite nicely!

As we were in town on Saturday, the flea market, fruit & vegetable market, and antique vendors were in full swing. I found a beautiful antique wooden bread board but it must've weighed 5 pounds & was large and bulky so I had to sadly leave it at the antique market for someone else. 

There was a HoHo bus that took you from Koper to Izola, Piran, and Potoroz and back to Koper. Some of our group went to Lake Bled and some went to the Capital, Ljubljana.

Koper, like all of the Slovenian coast, is blessed with some wonderful fish and seafood restaurants. Look out for Koper style fast food too, Okrepčevalnica bars: small, Italian-style places which serve great food of the primo, secondo piatti variety at lunchtime. You can usually eat very well here for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant.