late September 2026

Piran

Sunshine and seafood
We spent 3 days in this walled city wandering around the old town, swimming in the Adriatic, and taking a trip to Sečovlje Salina Nature Park to look for birds and learn more about the 700+ year history of the salt trade.

Another day we took a hike along the coast and through the country side filled fruit trees (including pomegranates), grape vines and olive groves. We were dreading a really steep climb (per All Trails) on our return to town. We were thrilled to come upon a new, pedestrian/bicycle tunnel that stretched 500 meters through the hill!

The seafood in Piran was so fresh and delicious. Over the course of our stay we sampled sardines prepared 3 different ways plus mussels, squid, sea bass, octopus and bakala.

We also got to see a type of cormorant, called a shag, hunting and eating small fish along the sea wall. Neither of us had ever been close enough in the PNW to witness a cormorant zooming through the water and grabbing little fish (we are more easily entertained these days by these sorts of things, lol).

One evening we shared a table with two young French guys who are on a multi-month trek. They have been friends since their early school days and just started their travels from Metz (near Strasbourg). They are taking about 3 months to get to Bangkok without using air travel. In France you can actually take extended time off and have a like job waiting for you when you return. It was a fun conversation! They shared their Instagram page; I think they are hoping to find a sponsor to help fund the adventures they document on social media. One of the guys was named Pierre (because of course he was) spent a lot of time in the south of France as a youngster. He had a lot of insights for us to consider during our extended stay there.