Slovenia
Koper, Slovenia
Koper, Slovenia: A Venetian Old Town on the Northern Adriatic
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Titov Trg, Koper's central square, is one of the best-preserved Venetian piazzas outside Italy — the Praetorian Palace on the north side is a fifteenth-century loggia-and-arched-facade structure that served as the seat of Venetian municipal government for three centuries, and the Koper Cathedral (Stolnica Marijinega vnebovzetja) on the adjacent square holds the remains of St. Nazarius, the city's patron. The Rotunda of John the Baptist on the cathedral square is an early Romanesque baptistery; the three buildings together occupy a single pedestrianized zone that takes 20 minutes to walk through unhurriedly. The old town's lanes extend in every direction from the square and are quiet on most cruise call days — Koper sees far fewer visitors than Venice or Dubrovnik, which makes walking through the medieval fabric an unexpectedly pleasant exercise.
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The coastal trail running south from Koper toward Izola covers about 4 kilometres of marked path along the Adriatic shoreline, passing small rocky beaches, working fishing boats, and the kind of ordinary Slovenian coastal life that doesn't rearrange itself for tourism. Izola itself is a smaller fishing town with a preserved old core on a former peninsula; the harbour is working and the restaurants around it serve local fish with Malvazija wine from the inland vineyards. The same trail continues toward Piran but covering the full route requires three to four hours each way and is more practical as a one-way walk with a return by local bus.
Piran, 25 kilometres south of Koper by road and reachable in 40 minutes by bus, is the most architecturally intact of the three Slovenian coastal towns — a compact Venetian-influenced peninsula with a cathedral tower offering views across the Gulf of Piran toward the Croatian coast. Tartini Square, named for the composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini who was born here in 1692, is the elliptical main square and the logical arrival point; the surrounding lanes are dense and navigable without a map. The restaurant scene in Piran is oriented toward Italian and Adriatic seafood, and the local Teran wine from the Karst plateau pairs with the grilled fish and seafood risotto that appear on most menus.
The Slovenian Karst plateau, 30 kilometres inland from Koper, has two significant attractions that work as half-day additions if the ship's call allows time. Lipica is the original home of the Lipizzan horses — white Baroque-era horses bred for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna — and the stud farm at Lipica still operates as a working breeding facility with guided tours and occasional riding demonstrations. Postojna Cave is 60 kilometres from Koper but accessible in about 90 minutes; the 24-kilometre cave system is navigated partly by underground train, and its formations include the olm (the blind cave-dwelling salamander endemic to Karst caves), a creature that is reliably strange regardless of the visitor's appetite for cave tourism.
Good to know
Overview
Cruise ships use Koper's passenger terminal at the edge of the old town, so you can walk off the ship and into the historic center. Koper has been a regular cruise port since 2004 and sees roughly 60 to 80 ship calls a year.
- The tourist information center is in the Praetorian Palace on Tito Square, Titov trg 3.
- The cargo Port of Koper, Slovenia's only seaport, lies beside the town and is a main route for goods heading from Asia into central Europe.
- Koper is officially bilingual, with Slovene and Italian as its official languages, and its Italian name is Capodistria.
- Italy lies just to the north, and Koper is one of the main road entry points into Slovenia from Italy; buses to Trieste take 20 to 40 minutes.
Koper on Your Own
Koper's old town is compact and walkable from the passenger terminal, and its main sights are close together around Tito Square. A simple plan is the square and its buildings, a climb of the bell tower, a walk south to Prešeren Square and the Muda Gate, and time by the sea before all-aboard.
- Tito Square: The square is surrounded by the 15th-century Praetorian Palace, the Loggia opposite, the Cathedral of the Assumption with its bell tower, and the former Armory and Foresteria.
- The bell tower: You can climb the cathedral's bell tower, which holds one of the oldest bells in Slovenia, cast in 1333, for a view over the town and the Bay of Trieste. Tickets are sold at the tourist information center.
- Prešeren Square and the Muda Gate: Čevljarska ulica, a cobbled lane, leads south from Tito Square to Prešeren Square, with the Da Ponte fountain of 1666, and to the Muda Gate, the only one left of the town's twelve gates.
- A short ride: Piran, a Venetian Gothic town, and Izola, another former island town, are both along the coast and served by regional buses.
- Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.
- Carry ID: Always carry a copy of your passport as identification, since the police can fine visitors who cannot show ID when asked.
Getting Around
The old town is easiest to see on foot, and red local buses run from the main bus station to the old town and the newer districts. Regional buses run along the coast to Izola and Piran and across the border to Trieste.
- Local city buses are paid with a bus card, sold at the tourist office and at a kiosk at the main bus station, or by bank card; cash is not accepted on board.
- Koper's railway station and bus station are next to each other, about 1 km south of the Muda Gate.
- Some taxi drivers waiting at the bus and train station have charged visitors well over the normal fare, so call a local taxi company or agree the fare first.
- The Parenzana, a narrow-gauge railway that ran from Trieste through Koper, Izola and Portorož to Poreč between 1902 and 1935, is now a cycling and walking route.
Food and Wine
Slovenian Istria, the coastal region around Koper, is known for its wine and olive oil. Look for local red refošk and white malvazija with your meal.
- Refošk, the Refosco grape of Istria, makes the region's main red wine, and malvazija is its main white.
- Olive oil from Slovenian Istria is one of the region's main products, along with cherries, figs, radicchio, tomatoes and asparagus.
- Salt is still made at the Sečovlje saltworks near the Croatian border, one of the last working saltworks on the Adriatic.
- Marežganska Kanava, a stone farmhouse in the village of Marezige in the hills above Koper, is the venue of the local Refosco festival.
Tipping
Tipping practice in Slovenia varies, and many locals do not tip beyond rounding the bill up to the next euro. Rounding up is the safe local habit, and in places that see many visitors some people leave more.
- Restaurants and cafés: Rounding the bill up to the nearest euro is common.
- Tourist areas: Larger tips are sometimes accepted where there are many visitors, but they are not expected.
- Currency: Slovenia uses the euro.
Culture & Local Life
Koper's culture is both Slovene and Italian, shaped by Venice and by the Istrian countryside around it. Its art treasures are in the cathedral and the regional museum, and its villages keep older traditions.
- The Cathedral of the Assumption, built in the second half of the 12th century, holds the Sacra Conversazione, a Renaissance altarpiece of 1516 by Vittore Carpaccio.
- Carpaccio, the Venetian painter, lived in Koper, then called Capodistria.
- The Koper Regional Museum has been housed since 1954 in the early 17th-century Belgramoni Tacco Palace on Kidričeva ulica.
- The Holy Trinity Church at Hrastovlje, a village in Koper's municipality, has frescoes of 1490, including a Dance of Death, that were rediscovered under whitewash in 1949.
- Škocjan Inlet, east of the bus and train stations, is Slovenia's largest brackish wetland, a nature reserve with many birds, Istrian cattle and Camargue horses.
A Brief History
Koper began as an island town, known to the Romans as Capris, and became the capital of Venetian Istria. After Venice fell it passed to Austria, Italy and Yugoslavia before becoming part of Slovenia, and the island joined the mainland as its saltpans were drained.
- Aegida and Capris: Pliny the Elder mentions the town of Aegida, and the Roman name Capris is said to come from the goats raised on the island.
- Justinopolis, 568: Romans fleeing the Lombard invasion from nearby Tergeste, now Trieste, settled here, and the town was renamed Justinopolis after a Byzantine emperor.
- Venetian Capodistria, 1279 to 1797: Under Venice the town became the capital of Venetian Istria, Caput Histriae, the head of Istria, and grew rich on trade and salt.
- Plague and decline: Repeated plague in the 16th century cut the population from a peak of 10,000 to 12,000, and Trieste's free-port status from 1719 took away Koper's trade.
- From island to mainland: A road built in 1825 gave the island a second link to the mainland, the saltpans were abandoned by 1912, and under Italian rule draining them ended the town's life as an island.
- The 20th century: Koper passed from Austria-Hungary to Italy after the First World War, and after the Second it was in Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste, under Yugoslav control. Most of its Italian residents left by 1954, when the zone became part of Yugoslavia.
- Slovenia's port: The Port of Koper, first established in Roman times, is the country's only seaport, and Slovenia adopted the euro in 2007, the first of the newer member states to do so.
- To learn more ashore: The Koper Regional Museum, in the Belgramoni Tacco Palace at Kidričeva ulica 19, covers the town and region in an exhibition titled Between the Serenissima, Napoleon and the Habsburgs.
Family Fun
With children, Koper makes a short day: the old town is small, the bell tower is a good climb, and the town beach is close by. Older children may enjoy a bike ride on the Parenzana.
- Younger children: The town beach is just west of the marina, and the Da Ponte fountain on Prešeren Square is modeled on Venice's Rialto Bridge.
- School age: Climbing the cathedral's bell tower gives a view across the town and the bay, with one of Slovenia's oldest bells at the top.
- Teenagers: The Parenzana cycling route follows the old railway along the coast toward Izola, and bikes can be rented in town. Škocjan Inlet nature reserve, with its birds, cattle and horses, suits nature lovers.
Beaches
Koper's town beach is just west of the marina. For more choice, the coastal towns of Izola, Portorož and Piran are reached by regional bus along the coast.
- Portorož, next to Piran, is a popular modern resort.
- Izola, a former fishing town, is now a popular resort too.
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