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PIRAN |
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PIRAN , at the very tip of the peninsula 4km from Portoroz's bus
station, couldn't be more different. There are tourists here too, lots
of them, thronging the main square, packing the ranks of restaurants,
milling around the souvenir-stacked harbour. But few actually stay (most
are in fact from Portoroz's hotel complexes), and the town preserves
tangible remnants of atmosphere in its sloping web of arched alleys and
little Italianate squares.
The centre of town, a couple of hundred metres around the harbour from
where the buses stop, is Tartinijev trg , named after the eighteenth-century
Italian violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini, who was born in a house
on the square and is remembered by a bronze statue in the centre. With
its striking oval-shaped interior, it's one of the loveliest squares on
this coast, fringed by a mix of Venetian palaces and a portentous
Austrian town hall. Just off the square there's a small Aquarium (daily
10am-noon & 2-7pm; 350SIT), with a rather sad set of tanks full of local
marine life. Opposite, across the bay of the harbour, the Maritime
Museum (July & Aug Tues-Sun 9am-noon & 6-9pm; rest of year Tues-Sun 9am-noon
& 3-6pm; 300SIT) pays further homage to Tartini with a copy of his
violin and assorted genuine memorabilia, along with an interesting
display on Piran's salt industry and a scatter of paintings that
includes native ex-votive works by Piran sailors and a ropey portrait of
the local authorities by Tintoretto. Follow Ulica IX Korpusa uphill from
the square to the barnlike Baroque Church of Sv Jurij , which crowns a
commanding spot on the far side of Piran's peninsula. The campanile is
visible from just about everywhere in the town and may seem familiar -
it's a replica of the one in St Mark's Square in Venice. Five minutes'
walk further up, the town's formidable sixteenth-century walls stagger
across the hill, the remaining towers providing excellent views of the
town below.
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