Piran

<p>Slovenia's coastline is only about 46 kilometres long, and Piran is what it does with it. The town fills a narrow headland at the end of the peninsula, held inside medieval walls, and five centuries under the Republic of Venice left it looking the part: shuttered façades in ochre and rose, a Gothic palazzo on the square, and a campanile above the church of St George modelled on the one in St Mark's.</p><p>Tartini Square — a broad oval of pale marble, once the inner harbour, now filled with café tables — is named for the violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini, born here in 1692 and standing in bronze at the centre. Cars stop at the edge of town, which keeps the alleys to pedestrians; the walk up to the town walls for the view over terracotta roofs to the Gulf of Trieste is short and unmissable, and the fish restaurants along the waterfront are the best on this coast.</p>