In case you can’t tell by now, Al and I really love Slovenia. We’ve had several half-serious conversations about how we can make it work logistically to move here permanently.

If the amazing historic cities, stunning mountain ranges, and friendly people weren’t reason enough to want to come to Slovenia and never look back, it turns out they also have one of the most beautiful (albeit tiny) coastlines I’ve ever seen.

When you book a trip like this in advance, you always hope you are giving yourself enough time in each place. The fear is that you’ll book too many nights in a place that you end up not connecting with, or not enough nights in places you end up loving.

With Slovenia, I think we gave ourselves the perfect amount of time. If we stayed any longer, we would never leave. After we left Lancovo, we headed to our last planned stop in Slovenia’s coastal town of Piran, located on the southwestern edge of the country, along the Adriatic sea. The town’s origins date back to 178 BC, after the Romans conquered the Istrian Peninsula, where Piran now sits.

When we arrived to Piran, we were exhausted from going non-stop from the past week, but were infused with new life immediately upon entering the city. It also felt completely different from the rest of Slovenia. The town is only made up of 26 miles of land, and doesn’t allow cars, so it is a perfect walking city.

It is made up of narrow cobblestone streets that twist and turn at every stop (which are often compared to the streets of Venice), colorful pastel buildings, and more outdoor restaurants and bars than you could possibly need, all while being surrounded by the shining blue waters of the Adriatic sea.

Friendly tip: do not go to Piran on a summer weekend. It was so crowded to the point of suffocation when we arrived on Sunday night, but completely cleared out for us by Monday.

We spent our time here walking around the city, swimming and reading by the sea, visiting some of the historic landmarks, and of course, eating and drinking. It was the perfect Slovenian city to get us ready to transition into our next country, Croatia.

Here are some shots to give you an idea of what life was like in Piran:

Loved every street.

Piran from inside the old wall

View towards the ocean

St. George’s Parish Church in the background

Sun setting over St. George

The Pier of Piran

loved the colors on these buildings.

The water is as blue as it gets.

happy in Piran

Once again, the church

I want to steal those shutters.

Steets of Piran

Red roofs everywhere

How do I get on one of those boats?

Walking along the water

Al and I laughed a little bit too hard at this.

ugh, so pretty.

We’ll always love you, Piran.