"Kevin Costner was here?!!"

"You're damn right he was. It's the bleeping Adriatic!"

To take advantage of a Swiss holiday, Travers and I flew to Venice, Italy, to spend a few days in a nearby city, called Portoroz, just on the opposite side of the Adriatic, in a small country called Slovenia. We picked up our rental car and drove the short 2 hours to our hotel, the Kempinski Palace Portoroz! We strolled the small town that evening, passing by some live music being played out by the beach, then walked the boulevard lining the sand (having some fun with our shadows), eventually stopping at a restaurant and cocktail bar called Alaya, where we had a couple drinks and some local cuisine.

The next day was spent sitting poolside at the hotel. We were lucky enough to get a cabana, so we parked ourselves for several hours, me reading my kindle, and Travers using the ipad to watch the slingbox.  We were in heaven and were so happy to have some sun and relaxation! Travers even spent some time in a nearby hammock. And if we hadn't been hungry, I think he could have stayed there all day long!

Eventually, we made our way out of the hotel and took a brief walk up the coast.  The views were fantastic, with amazing blue water and sunny skies.  We made our way back through town, stopping again at our new favorite place, Alaya, for some refreshing cocktails and tasty burgers!

That evening, we hopped on a bus to the nearby town called Piran. This is a much larger town but still quite small, and lots of people from Portoroz go to Piran for a visit.  We arrived just before sunset, so we quickly strolled into town, past some cobblestone buildings, through a large plaza with a mariachi band, and headed towards the water to catch the sunset.






















After the sun set, we explored a bit more of the town, and eventually settled on a restaurant for dinner called Restaurant Pavel Piran, where we had tasty food and a really friendly waiter.  After dinner, we walked one or two doors down and found some live outdoor music and lots of people, so we stopped for a drink or two to watch, dance, and enjoy the warm summer night.

The next day, we started again by the pool, getting another cabana and spending several hours soaking up the sun.  We decided to go back into Piran that evening and wanted to get there a bit earlier so we could explore the town while it was still light out.  So we eventually left the cabana, got ready for the evening and headed back on the bus to Piran.  Unfortunately, seeing Piran during the day, also meant that it was going to be hot out and we would certainly start sweating. And even more unfortunately, we were wearing some nice clothes to be in for dinner. So after we climbed up a fairly steep hill to see the popular church and fantastic views of the town from above, lucky Travers was able to 'air-out' so he didn't get his shirt too sweaty. It was all worth it though to see the breathtaking views of the ocean and town below.

After we made our way back down the hill, we stopped for a refreshing beer at a local pub, befriending the waiter who suggested we go to his friend's restaurant for dinner that evening, Casa Nostromo. At first, we weren't sure we would go, but after walking by and seeing the fun but nice ambiance, we decided to check it out. And we are so glad we did as it was one of the best meals we have had, ever. And we've eaten in a lot of restaurants in a lot of countries, and this was by far one of the best.  We started with two oysters, followed by 4 scallops, finishing with a whole fish. You could tell that everything was fresh and expertly prepared. We savored every bite and were able to chat up the wife of the owner afterwards and hopefully express our delight at this delicious meal!

After dinner, we went to a nearby bar where the waiter from the local pub, as well as the owner of the restuarant were hanging out and listening to the live music that was being played.  We drank and we danced, but eventually had to leave as the next morning we would be driving through the Prosecco region of Italy, before dropping the car off and taking a boat into Venice!