April 29 Last full day of the World Cruise
Early this morning we continued through various traffic separation schemes as we approach Koper. We embarked our pilot at 11:00 a.m., we then set a south easterly heading to our berth and were docked at noon.
During it’s long history, Koper has been part of the Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy and the former Yugoslavia.
We went ashore as soon as the ship was docked, the weather was just gorgeous, around 65 degrees and sunny. Once on shore we followed the shore line, as this is Sunday lots of little sailboats were in the water. People were also sitting on the beach and some were swimming.
We were looking for the old section of town so we turned inland. Along this road there were many shops and a pavilion where young adults were free dancing, apparently something that was happening in three cities across Slovenia. We continued up the road and there was a Olive Oil Festival, Betty stopped at a couple stands and sampled some of the oils.
She might have bought a bottle, but there is no room in the suitcases. As a matter of fact the two we shipped home are overweight, hopefully they won’t charge us. Up the street was a open air market and the fresh vegetables looked fantastic as did the figs. Every stand was also selling Olive Oil. We then headed into the neighborhoods with crooked alleys that cars used too. We stumbled on many old palaces, churches and shops. 95% of them were closed and most of the restaurants in this area were also closed. We then came to Tito Square, the former Platea Comunis and today’s central town square. It is flanked with secular and religious buildings boasting a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque features. The Cathedral of the Mary’s Assumption was built in the 15th century in the mixture of the Gothic and Renaissance styles, it acquired it’s Baroque interior in the 18th century renovation. The city bell tower that leans on the Cathedral's façade was originally a fortified Romanesque structure converted into the bell tower between the 15th and the 17th century. Also on the square was the Praetorian Palace, the symbol of Koper, built during the 1400’s in a combination of Gothic and Renaissance styles. Atop the palace is a statue of Cybele whom the Romans worshiped as their goddess of fertility and nature. Also on the square is the City Loggia, a beautiful arched colonnade that was designed and built in 1462. It is the only surviving loggia in Slovenia.
We were getting hungry and headed back to the waterfront area where we hade a couple steaks. Mine was like shoe leather and the gnocchi was just parsley potatoes. But the cold Slovenian beers were good. Service was slow but we enjoyed sitting in the outside dining area. After lunch we went next door and got a couple gelatos and found a bench where we enjoyed the fresh air as we watched the locals. Then we headed back to the ship and stumbled on more great building, gates and fountains.
The cylindrical rotunda baptistery of John the Baptist
Saint Nicholas Church, Seat of the former Brotherhood of Fisherman and Sailors in 1594
It was a very pleasant afternoon. It was nice to visit a city on a Sunday afternoon, with no one trying to sell you anything or taxi drivers trying to rip you off. These were very friendly people and we would definitely come back here to visit.
They love their dogs here too!
And Whimsical Statues too!
Back aboard the ship we finished packing our suitcases and had to put them in the hallway. We sailed away from Koper, Slovenia at 7:00 and only have 101 miles to get to Venice so apparently we will be doing circles during the night as we are scheduled to arrive at 7:00 a.m. The Venice airport will not let anyone into the airport earlier than 3 hours before your flight. We will be able to stay aboard the ship until 2:00 tomorrow afternoon but have to leave our room by 9:00 a.m. We might be able to go ashore in Venice if the dock is near anything. They will then transport us to the airport and we will be off on our little visit to Dublin, Ireland.
