We drove about 30 minutes to Pirano, where Sandro's mother was born. It is a beautiful little town on the sea. You can't drive into the town unless you live there so you park above and walk down. Once we got into Pirano, I heard some people from Quebec so I went and briefly spoke to them. They were staying in Trieste as well. Sandro was laughing at me, because I will go up to anyone and start talking. I spotted a lovely ceramic bell and fish when we arrived and would get them as we left but the store hours are so funny- closed between 1-4. However, I would pick them up on our next trip in.
Pirano has to be one of my favorite places. It was another world, so charming and colourful!
We stopped for lunch in Portorose, and ate at Cacao. A sandwich and the coldest Coke I have ever had- in a glass bottle.
I found it to have a very coastal California feel- colourful hotels along the main strip.
We decided to drive to Croatia after walking around Portorose, and thought we would find a beach there. We ended up in Umag but because they aren't part of the European Union, we would have to change over some money for anything we wanted; parking, souvernirs etc... We tried to find a beach with free parking but never did find one. We got lost along the way but it was great fun and we enjoyed looking at the scenery.
One thing that Sandro pointed out was that the soil there is red. It gave such a nice contrast to any photo, and especially under grapes- the green and the red was spectacular!
We stopped in Muggia on the way back in Italy and wanted to swim but there were so many jellyfish- turned out they weren't the stinging kind but slimy to say the least. We just wet our feet and layed in the sun.
That night we were back at the Celtic Festival for some crepes and music. We saw the Shenanigans, a band out of Austia. The singers respectively are both Irish and British- We had a lot of laughs that night, the drummer always had a funny grin and the guitarist with the shortest jean shorts! What's up with that!? The atmosphere was fantastic! The stars were even brighter that night.
We went to Barcola for a beach day- just about 10 minutes drive from Sandro's. I LOVE Barcola! The cars lined up one after another along the boulevard- lucky if you find parking. What I love about Italian women is that they all wear bikinis- all of them. It doesn't matter what size you are- they are all so comfortable in their own skin. So many different bikinis; colourful ones, thong ones, some topless and let me tell you that maybe 2 out of 10 have a rockin' body- but it's great because as a young girl you won't have any doubts about what you should look like. No girl should grow up and not appreciate her body or feel embarassed. It isn't like North America at all, where fashion magazines and being as thin as you can are thrown in your face. Growing up in a beach city, you become part of the sea life- or perhaps it becomes a part of you. People stay for hours, bringing tables and playing games. It is an all day event and it's nice to see whole families take part of this. 
We drove back to Slovenia as Sandro wanted to show me where his art exhibition will be on July 8th. Unfortunately it was closed that day so we could not enter. 
