Piran - A Town without Cars

We are spending our second day in Piran... it occupies part of the precious 45 klms coastline that Slovenia holds. It's a pretty coastal town... Venician origins... walled city... medieval streets narrow enough to share a cup of coffee with your neighbour without the bother of going downstairs and walking across the road. Initially, the narrow streets were a defence tactic to slow down invading armies... so you could drop stones or hot oil or other welcoming gifts on top of your new friends.

City authorities have opted for a car-free town... at least as far as tourists are concerned. You park your car at the city limits and walk your way in. Alternatively, they provide free shuttle bus services for the frail... like us. Sounds sensible... perhaps a touch idealistic. But the benefits are very clear. We found that many more young kids were playing on the streets unsupervised. Parents still had to worry about older kids speeding their push-bikes around blind corners and wiping out the toddlers. The feeling we had was that the kids felt that they owned the streets. There was less concern with stranger-danger. The openness and friendliness of young adults was a point of difference.

We were sheltering from the rain in a cafe when 20 schoolchildren aged 12-13 barged in... all shouting to each other as is the want of young teenagers. The cafe owner... fearing they would upset his customers... tried to hunt them away. The young kids cornered a group of geriatric cruise boat people... who were only too pleased to have the attention of local youths. Joye and I listened to the delightful conversation... the kids were respectful and interested to learn about life on a cruise ship. The kids explained with great enthusiasm who was related to whom... who was good at particular activities. The cafe owner was a character in his own right... he demanded the kids had to buy something if they intended to loiter on his premises. That demand gave rise to another round of excited conversation as they sorted out who would buy what to satisfy the minimum of the owner's demands.

How do you account for the charm, confidence great social skills of Piran's youth... it may be a long stretch of logic... but I put it down to a 'car free' town... where children grow up feeling that they own their community.