First, Happy Thanksgiving wishes! I hope you all have a safe and happy and tasty holiday.
We were shaken out of bed at 6:15am by the Pacific Princess docking in Koper. That's the first time we realized that our new cabin is right over (or near) the ship's thrusters. Still, we love the cabin and we're only in it for 12 nights so we're choosing to think of it as an alarm clock we don't have to set. We grabbed a quick breakfast in the Panorama Buffet and used just a few minutes of the fast and free WiFi we can get directly from the port terminal (even without leaving the ship!). G walked off to scope out the excursion options and returned to tell us (Toledo friends Marlene and Paul had joined us by then) that there was a bus tour leaving at 9:30am for the medieval town of Piran (pee-RAHN) about a 30 minute drive away. Next door tablemates Ernie and Evelyn had taken this tour during our last visit but had gone in an overflow van with no tour guide and were not especially happy. I can see why. Our tour guide, Petra, was exceptional; I can't imagine missing out on all the great information that we received about Koper, Piran and Slovenia.
So, to ensure that we would get seats on the big bus, at 9am the four of us bought tickets for 20€ each (cash only) and chose seats on what we knew would be the coastline side of the drive. We departed right on time with a full bus and Petra filled us in on the freight port of Koper (one which Rick Steves said lacks any charm at all) and Slovenia. It wasn't long before we had the Adriatic on one side of us and beautiful rollling hills covered with mist and fall colors on the other. Several of us remarked that it reminded us of West Virginia or the Smokies. In the near distance we could see Trieste, Italy and on our return we passed the entry point for Croatia; Slovenia is a very small country, about the size of New Jersey, with about only 29 miles of coastline. We were covered most of that on our drive.
Slovenian hillside overlooking Koper
Koper waterfront
By the time we arrived in Piran, we had lost most of the sun we had seen this morning, but the town was still a gem. The entire town (with only about 4000 residents) is very walkable. Our bus left us off on the edge of the waterfront and we walked along a large marina and up to Tartini Square, one the largest squares in Slovenia. In the middle was a statue of Giuseppe Tartini, a composer and violinist once known throughout Europe. We stopped in at an outdoor cafe on the square to order a local red wine called Revošk that is said to have medicinal value in lowering blood pressure. Once again, it wasn't until after we drank wine (will we ever learn?) that we started the climb through the ancient cobblestoned alley to the imposing Cathedral of St. George. The cathedral dates from the 14th century and was decorated in the 17th century by Venetian artists. It is a large cathedral for such a small town, with the intent that invaders would view it from the sea and believe that the town was much larger and would be more difficult to attack and plunder. That's the first time I've ever heard of a church as a defense mechanism! ;-)
Risan, Slovenia waterfront
Just another of many commentaries that we saw on the US political situation
The Cathedral of St. George on top of the hill
Piran City Hall
Statue of violinist Giuseppe Tartini
I know that many visitors to Europe adopt the ABC (another bloody church) attitude when faced with the innumerable number of churches, cathedrals and basilicas, but I am definitely not there yet. I am really enjoying the artwork in even the simple churches we've visited, but Piran's Cathedral of St. George is beautifully decorated with multiple altars. We decided first to climbed the bell tower (Campanile) which is fashioned as a smaller version of the Campanile in Piazza San Marco in Venice. The cost to do this was 1€ per person and the rickety wooden stairs that took us to the top were dark and covered with pigeon droppings (major ewwwhh) but we didn't dare not hold on to the handrail. We finally reached the top and the best views of the red roofs of the town and the beautiful Adriatic Sea.
Looking up the the bell tower of the Cathedral of St. George
I think I will remember the steps I climbed (and climbed) in Europe more than anything else.
At least I had windows to look out of in the way up
Do you know what happens when one is standing right next to (as in inches away) the huge bells at the top of a bell tower when the bells ring elaboratively and extensively? I do. Now. The ringing in my ears should stop sometime next week.
Where I was standing when the bells rang. Yowza!
The Minorite Monastery overlooking Piran
View of Tartini Square from the bell tower
The door to the bell tower stairs
I had just enough time to tour the cathedral (1,50€ per person), but not enough to view the catacombs, which, as you know, is not a favorite activity anyway (no 's'). I had survived the claustrophobic bell tower; perhaps it was wise to leave well enough alone. The cathedral was spectacular with perfectly appropriate music playing softly in the background. I could have spent a couple of hours there in solitude. We had to walk very quickly back to the waterfront and use the bathroom at the cafe where we'd had wine to scrub, scrub and scrub again after all the pigeon poop. We reboarded the bus just in time and returned to the ship a different way, past large salt pans where the highest value fleur de sal (sel? flaked salt) is harvested.
Glass floor showing catacombs
Salt pans
All on board time was early today, at 1:30pm, and, as is always the case when that happens, there was a line to reboard the Pacific Princess. We went through security screening on the pier and then had to show our passports (and get a Slovenia stamp!) before we could reboard the ship. It had started to rain lightly while we were waiting to go through security and we watched sailaway from the covered Promenade Deck. The sea was mirror smooth this afternoon, and the misty rain blurred the horizon line.
We were hungry then, and went to the Panorama Buffet for pizza (and I had yummy green beans too). At 2:45pm we went to the Pacific Lounge for this cruise's BIG!!!!!! $500 Treasure Hunt Drawing*!!! (*must be present to win). We had no luck this time but Marlene did win the chocolate covered strawberries. Just as we did last cruise, she said she won back the strawberries we used to get for free on formal nights. ;-) It was time then for some periodic beautification projects (it's been a month since we left home the second time). Together we cut my hair (just part of this 'living the dream' thing that is our life) and then I colored my hair at sea for the first time this season and managed to not color the bathroom too. Go me!
By the time I was showered, G returned from a hot tub and we dressed for tonight's formal night. Pizza at 2:30pm kind of zapped my appetite and I just had a wonderful flaky pastry, roasted veggies and tuna starter and a chicken Caesar salad. We didn't stay for dessert; G wanted to get to the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall but I am over those already and took a glass of wine from dinner to the Cabaret Lounge and waited for G to arrive and the start of production show Motor City. The Company Performance Manager's parents are onboard this cruise, and after the show she came out to introduce us to them. They must be very proud. It didn't take long for us to adjust to the new cast. We love them!
We were too tired to go to the Pacific Lounge to listen to TV theme song trivia but not too tired to return to the Club Restaurant for G to get tonight's bananas foster for dessert. We appeared at the door to the restaurant not knowing if we could be seated (it's not like Anytime Dining...there are two fixed settings) but we were welcomed back with open arms (literally) and shown to an available table. I like the dining room at second seating; it is so much quieter and slower paced than the first seating. G had his coveted bananas foster and I had mint tea.
We are sooooo spoiled.
But that really was the end of our day; well, almost the end of mine. It's been just one hour since I started typing this post and will be about 2 minutes before I join G in sleep. We are tired, really tired. In fact, G said at 4pm today that he could crawl into bed right then and sleep all night. I could do the same. We need to hang on just a little longer. There are three more ports before a sea day and just a couple of weeks until we'll get all sorts of opportunityiesto rest on the many sea days back to Fort Lauderdale.
We can do this!
Oh, I forgot to mention that I ran into Captain D when he was making his way to the atrium for the introduction of the ship's senior officers at the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall. He stopped to chat for a moment and told me that the Pacific Princess was the very first ship allowed into the port of Venice the foggy morning of November 21. Then, despite the glorious weather day we'd had in Venice on November 22, the fog had again rolled in by the time we were scheduled to sail. Just 30 minutes after the Pacific Princess left the port, the harbor master closed it again. "The passengers have no idea how lucky they've been," he said. Those words echo what G and I have said repeatedly for several days. Our weather was so nasty upon our first arrival in Europe (hence the Nice incident) and even as recently as the beginning of last cruise had been very cold and windy. But things have changed dramatically. It makes us more willing to again consider these itineraries for next year, and I'm glad we're being left with a better impression of late fall cruising in the Mediterranean.
Again, Happy Thanksgiving, for the third year in a row from the beautiful Pacific Princess.