Saturday, April 21st. Piran. Last night was rough. Arthur woke up so many times. Not sure what happened. I cried a bit the fourth time he woke up and it was barely 1:30 in the morning. I was so tired and all I wanted was at least 2 hours of continuous sleep.
We finally got up at 7 this morning. We wanted to get out of the house by 8:30 because we were supposed to return the car at 9am. Even though we wanted to continue to rent the car so we could visit the coast, we needed to make sure we wouldn’t be charged any administration fee or something like that.
It turned out everything was okay. We were able to extend the car rental with no extra charge.
So we put Arthur to sleep for a nap and we drove out to the coast. It took us about 1.5 hours to reach Piran. Arthur was still asleep.
There were no more parking spots left near the center of the town so we had to park at the multi-story car park. No big deal. We could walk to town from there or take the free shuttle bus. We decided to walk to town.
We took the car seat out of the car and put it on the stroller. We didn’t bring the bassinet this time, only the frame. We didn’t think we would need the bassinet. We were right. Throughout the day, we didn’t really miss it. Arthur was either sitting in the car seat or in the carrier. Here’s a quick picture of it.
The walk to town was pretty. It reminded me of Catalina Island with the boats and shops.
Just before the Town Square, we got a quick scoop of ice cream.
The square looked empty, actually. There were some stalls selling jewelry, wine, herbs, etc, but there were only a few of them. I thought there would be a lot more stalls, especially since it’s a Saturday.
We decided to walk to the western tip of the town and then we would make our way to the top where the church and clock tower are located, and then wind back down to have lunch.
It was a good plan.
The small streets (more like alleyway, really) reminded me of the walk inside Marrakech and Fez Old Town, or the streets in Venice without the canals and the tourists. It was cozy, though some would say claustrophobic.
It was a good juxtaposition to the walk around the seafront.
On our way to the clock tower, we could have taken the long way for a gradual climb. However, we decided to take a short cut and climb up some stairs. I had Arthur in the carrier and Sean carried the stroller and the diaper bag.
The top gave us a real good view of the town and the sea. We could see some vineyard on the other side of the peninsula.
The way back down to the square was more picturesque than the way we came up.
There was even an old lady hanging out at her window waving at every passerby below.
So cute.
On the way to the lunch place, Arthur started to get sleepy. I found a bench for me to sit and nurse. Then Sean put Arthur to sleep.
We were then able to eat lunch in peace.
We had lunch at a self-service cantina. Good seafood platter for two!
After lunch, we walked back to the main square, bought a card and stamp, put it in the postbox, grabbed more ice cream, and caught the free bus back to the carpark.
Then we drove to Portoroz (town adjacent to Piran), parked the car, and walked around the seafront. It reminded me of California coastal town with the seafront restaurants and people sunbathing. The whole vibe felt Californian as well.
Maybe I miss Cali.
Anyway, after some more time in the outdoors, we grabbed a mocha and milkshake from Cacao (super busy restaurant), and then went back to the car to drive back to Ljubljana.
Arthur got really moody along the way that we had to pull over at a rest area gas station by the highway to calm him down.
Once back in Ljubljana, we returned the car and walked home. The guy with the soap bubbles was still in Presernov Trg entertaining the children. We’ve seen him three days in a row now.
I hope tonight Arthur would be a better sleeper. I’m so tired.
two backpacks and a diaper bag 