December 12th, 2023
It is happening!
Let's start with some background: In 2022, I was cleaning up this travel sheet I have in Google where I listed some places I would love to visit, but I got rid of those I didn't see happening. That's how my Baltics Trip became a thing because I just couldn't delete Tallinn. But in that same sheet was also Ljubljana. I think that city has been on my list since I learned at school it was elected Green Capital in 2016. Instead of deleting it like many other destinations, I started planning a trip... because what else is one to do at work in September?

It was originally supposed to be my after-season-trip in 2023 but with all the stuff happening at work *sigh, eyeroll, possibly another sigh*, I ended up staying closer to home and it has become the 2024 after-season-trip goal.

But who can I go with?

While I am more than willing/capable of going on my own, my Baltics trip showed me it's not nearly as fun. Also, Slovenia feels more expensive than France with regards to accommodations. Under 100€ a night doesn't feel like a thing. A travel companion gives your budget a boost. Kind of. There are plenty of groups on Instagram and Facebook for female travelers wanting someone to go with. But it was often the equivalent of an organized group trip and end up with a big group. I just wanted a single extra person. And do I really want to go with a stranger? Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I think we've all seen enough true crime to know that's a potentially dangerous idea.

Since the parents are in Spain at the time of my vacation, they aren't an option. But who isn't necessarily in Spain at that time? That's right; the darling sister Mariecke! Which comes with its own challenges, let's be honest. Getting Mariecke to go along is patient work; you gotta take your time convincing her, especially if the destination isn't already on her own list. You gotta ease her into it, ask once a month, possibly twice a month if she'd be interested. Patience and virtues and whatever.

It all paid off last week when she went to Fuerteventura, and she asked me if I had dates for her already. I mean, no, I wanted to ideally book in December, but my planning was a mess. The original planning was a bit like "Oh, this looks fun, let's add it." and some of "Oh, pretty! Added!" and that's not necessarily good for traveling. Now, I suddenly had to put together a proper planning! Talk about pressure. But I got it done, of course I did, it's not like Slovenia is that big. And now I had dates for Mariecke.
Not sure what she needed them for though. She didn't want to ask her work if she could put down vacation dates yet. Something about waiting until May or whatever. But I just wanted to book the tickets ASAP.

So yeah... I emailed her work. I mean, I didn't go behind her back doing so. Mariecke was fully aware of the email, she gave me the email address, but I wrote her manager a nice email. Since working in tourism makes it difficult for Mariecke and I to travel together and I'd like to surprise her with a vacation for Christmas. Her manager kindly replied and granted my request. 

I booked the tickets and the accommodations that same evening. Mariecke just needs to keep it to herself for a week and pretend she doesn't know anything until Christmas. It's quite the scheme but it was fun!

Now, it is official; Mariecke and I are going to Slovenia after the season ends, yay!

P.S. "I feel Slovenia" is the slogan of their Tourist Board that I have blatantly stolen for this travel log :)

September 25th - More mountains than expected
The night before we left, I slept at Mariecke’s place. The cats were very interested in the weird noises coming from the second room, which would have been me… sleeping on the air mattress. Or trying to sleep as they kept waking me up. Mariecke too. Basically, we didn’t have the best night’s sleep.

We got stuck in the bouchons in Nantes, but we made it with plenty of time to spare at the airport. We aren’t used to national flights since we try to avoid connecting flights at Charles de Gaulle like the plague. Consequently, we were early as if we were about to take an international flight. At Prêt à Manger, we got a chicken sandwich and an iced mocha for breakfast. Fun fact, mocha is called mocha because the coffee beans grow in Mocha, Yemen. Who knew?!

The only time we’ve been to Paris CDG was horrible enough that I’ve not been back. Alas, it couldn’t be avoided. But as we didn’t have to change terminal this time, it was fine. Kind of. The gate announcement took forever. I had to go to the bathroom and totally could have gone fifty times, but I didn’t want to miss the announcement.

We sat at the back of the plane where there were a few empty seats. After the schnebbel cart came by, I switched seats so we each had window seats to enjoy the views. We flew over snow-capped mountains, which I presumed were the Alps. The mountains never disappeared again. I knew we would start our trip in the Julian Alps, but I didn’t think the whole country would be so mountainous. The funny part is that the horizon goes like this: tall mountains, completely and utterly flat, tall mountains.

As we were waiting for our luggage and browsing the tourist brochures, I received an SMS from Air France that “Your baggage item number … didn’t make it on board.” And I didn’t get it once; I got it twice! This has never happened to me! EVER! We went to baggage claim, gave the mister all the information he requested and, well, moved on without our bags. We did call Mom, because Jacky is with her and Jacky is the insurance claims wizard.

We picked up the car, which fortunately went fine. The bank tried to get me to get a credit card so that I could do the security deposit but, at work, I take dozens of security deposits a day. I know that’s possible with my regular card, and indeed, no issues here. We got a Suzuki Swift, which I’ve never driven before. It’s about the size of a Twingo but with more space in the boot (though that’s not difficult). It had lots of fancy add-ons that I could have done without (heated seats is the weirdest f***ing thing!). Otherwise, it’s a nice little car. 

We spent the next couple of hours shopping. For clothes, essentials and groceries. It’s really annoying because you know you need stuff, but you don’t necessarily like what’s available. We’ll make it work. No choice in the matter anyway. Let’s just hope we get it all back because it’s money we hadn’t expected to spend.

It was slowly getting darker as we drove the highway up to Bled. And suddenly, there was Lake Bled on the right with the castle on the hill and the church on the island on the lake. Despite the cloudy weather, it looked nice. From there, it was another half hour to Bohinj though it felt longer. The mountains were all dark and ominous and their peaks hidden in the clouds. 

We made it to the end of the road where we had the apartment, but we weren’t sure which building it was in. It’s all tiny roads and pretty buildings and the old man in the last house must have wondered if we were after his veggie patch. But we were in the right place. Roman, the owner, showed us around the apartment real quick and left us to settle in. It’s a spacious place, sparsely furnished but it has everything we need. After a quick dinner and mini Zagreb cream slices for dessert, we were basically done for the day.

Fingers crossed the weather will be okay tomorrow morning so that we can visit Vintar Gorge and walk around Bled, because my umbrella and coat were in my suitcase, ffs.

September 26th - What goes up must come down!
The alarm went off bright and early at 8:00 and damn, did I not enjoy that. After a simple breakfast, we were on our way to Vintar Gorge. I found the parking system very difficult to understand online so when I saw their Park & Ride, I jerked the steering wheel to the side and went there. So, we parked there, got our tickets and waited for the shuttle bus.

As you go into the gorge, you are handed a hard hat, and you follow the one-way path through the gorge. The water is a gorgeously clear light green, with big rapids and calmer pools. It was relatively calm walking through, though occasionally, other people caught up to us. We are slow walkers when we take our pictures. And we took soooo many pictures!

At the end of the gorge, there is a huge waterfall, and you walk right over the top. Here you also have to choose if you want to take the slightly longer but easier countryside walk back to the beginning or the shorter over-the-mountain walk. Obviously, we wanted the flat countryside walk. Nope, that was work-in-progress, so everyone had to take the other one.

I walked along easily enough but Mariecke lagged behind with all the climbs (540m up). There was a German couple who struggled as well: we would catch up and pass them, pause and they would catch up to us and pass. Once at the top of the walk, it was all relatively flat and easy going. Going downhill wasn’t fun either but, in the end, we made it back in one piece.

In fact, we deserved a pastry. We got a slice of kremsnita, which is a cream cake and a local specialty. It was a big slice that we shared. As we were finishing up, the Germans finally made it to the end, and we gave them a thumbs up.

As we were walking back to the shuttle bus, we decided to stop at the big backdrop of the gorge where you could get your photo taken. Except it wasn’t just taking a photo and emailing it to your friends, no, no! It was taking a photo, paying and printing as a photo, or paying, printing as a postcard and snailmail it to friends. We got the pictures and it’s actually pretty fun to do. It’s a physical souvenir of the gorge.

Next stop was Bled Castle and Bled itself. The castle is built on top of a hill, and the parking was at the bottom. But the climb wasn’t nearly as high as the earlier mountain, only about 60m elevation difference. Though that’s lots of stairs to go down later.

Honestly, the castle was very expensive for the little thing that it is. The views over the lake were gorgeous, no doubt about it. But that was about it. It was very small, and we didn’t go into the exhibition. And that was about it. I went up to the tower and the covered wall-walkway and then we left again.

We took the thousand and one steps down to Bled. The path ends at the church, which was stark white against the black skies behind it. It started raining a bit at this point, but it wasn’t bad and it didn’t last long. By the time we made it to the lakeshore, it had already stopped. The lake is a beautiful turquoise that won’t come out properly in the pictures until they’ve undergone some editing.

Initially, the plan had been to hike around the entire lake. However, after the Bled part of the shore, we turned around and headed back to the car. The view was the same and we already had fifty pictures of the lake, the castle, and the island with its church to sort through. We decided not to take the boat to the island. There isn’t much to do on the island but what is there you need to pay for. I’m never okay with paying to visit a church. And again, the view would have been pretty much the same. The only thing I would have really liked was to try to specialty cake they make there. But oh well.

We went through some souvenir shops but only got two stickers of the Slovenian flag. I want to buy a magnet but at the same time I feel like I’ll end up with a ton if I get them everywhere. Might get a postcard tomorrow though.

At this point, we both had the impression it was way later than it actually was. It was only about 15h30 but it felt like dinner time. We drove partway around the lake before heading back. We checked on the bags and I think mine made it to the airport but Mariecke’s hadn’t yet. It was still in transit. Yesterday as we landed in CDG, she joked “Imagine our bags end up going to Singapore” and now we wouldn’t be surprised if it did go there. Hopefully, they’ll get here soon, otherwise we might have to do some more shopping.

Tomorrow, we have a ropeway planned but the mountain it goes up has been in the clouds since we got here. Hopefully it’ll clear up a bit.

September 27 - Oh look, a waterfall!
It started raining last night and it rained all day. There was so much water that the river we’ve crossed the past two days has actually gone up several meters. It used to be well below the bridge. Now, not so much.

With the rain, we struggled with what to do. And when I say “we”, I mean “I” because Mariecke is just following the flag. I had a trip with a ropeway up the mountain planned, a boat trip across lake Bohinj and a walk following the lake shore back. None of that was possible.

We started in Bohinjska Bistrica, where we got umbrellas at Intersport, you know, as ours still hadn’t arrived in the suitcase. We also checked out the local church. After that, we drove to Lake Bohinj itself (specifically the village of Ribčev Laz), though it was quite a quest to get there. The windshield kept fogging up and the heater on the highest blast wasn’t enough to clear it. We needed to have a window open, but that meant letting the rain in. I swear, it was a whole thing. But we made it.

We parked the car and stopped by the visitor center. They had a cute t-shirt but only for kids, which is a bummer because after three days and two nights in the same shirt, I’d love to wear something clean. The girl at the desk was able to give us some alternatives for the day. But how much can you really do in this weather? We wandered the shoreline just a little. The water was obviously a lot higher as the lakeside benches were now underwater. It didn’t make the view any less impressive. The dark shapes of the mountains in the clouds and the foggy lake in the middle.

Saint John the Baptist church stands right next to the lake and the river. We didn’t go in, although, I did pay to go up the church tower. The view wasn’t very different, but you get a slightly broader picture. I did learn that Mount Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia, is the national symbol of Slovenia. Before the country’s independence, it was already part of several coats of arms. Now it features on the national flag as well as the 50 cent coin.

From there, we drove halfway around the lake and partway up a mountain to Slap Savica (slap is Slovenian for waterfall). There were lots of little waterfalls along the road, rushing down towards the lake. So much water that it’s almost impossible to believe it’s only been coming down since last night. Before climbing to the waterfall, we decided to stop at the cafe for some coffee with cream. Once we realized we had to pay for the waterfall, Mariecke decided not to go and get even wetter. But I didn’t like the idea of having driven all the way there and then not see the damn waterfall, so I went. Plus, they had a student discount, and I have a student card!

The climb to the waterfall only goes up. Sometimes, a warm wind would blow, which was nice but also a little freaky because where is the warm air coming from? Almost at the end, I could see a waterfall through the trees but then the path would turn the other way and I was confused. I looked it up later. There are two waterfalls, which have created two different rivers down to the lake. The roaring of the water along the way is also so impressive. The river several dozen meters below the path and still so loud.

Finally, I made it to the waterfall… and it was like going down in a log fume ride. I got soaked. My jeans were soaked. My feet were already wet but were now swimming in my shoes. And did I see the waterfall? I’m not sure how much I saw. The wind blew the water at me, blinding me as effectively as it soaked me.

I made it back to the car, wanting nothing but a hot bath.

Since there was still no news about our bags, we decided to drive back to Kranj and do some more shopping. We did stop for some pictures of the Goldenhorn statue by the lake but then, on the highway and heading south. The further we left the Alps behind, the better the weather became. On the way back, the closer the Alps, the more rain pelted the windshield. Such joy!

We did get some more stuff to wear and then stopped in Bled because Mariecke saw a tote bag yesterday and regretted not buying it. I’m so glad that, for once, it wasn’t me! And when we got to the apartment, guess what was waiting for us? Our bags. A little annoyed because I bought an expensive raincoat at C&A when I had one in my bag but also very happy my bag is here. Tomorrow, we leave Bohinj and Bled behind and head into the Alps, where the weather isn’t supposed to be good.

September 28th - Imagine, il faisait beau…
This morning, I woke up, no idea what time it was and just peeked around the curtain. The sky was blue! I immediately had to tell Mariecke who was still asleep but whatever. After that, I couldn’t go back to sleep again so I got breakfast cooking, and we cleaned the apartment.

We decided to go back to Lake Bohinj and take some pictures under blue skies. It’s completely different! The second stop was a viewpoint somewhere up in the mountains, but we didn’t find it. And, unfortunately, as we drove down the other side of the mountain, we were once again under a thick cover of gray clouds.

We drove up to Kranjska Gora, where I had a walk around the Jezero Jasna lake and along the Pišenca river. It wasn’t nearly as full as some of the other rivers we’d seen. It was also exceptionally cold as we walked around the lake in the rain. We were glad we had those expensive raincoats now, even though I’m still annoyed we had to buy them in the first place. The coats weren’t that warm though, and we decided to grab a cup of hot chocolate before I tricked Mariecke into doing the walk with me. I told her we’d start and if we wanted to turn around, we could do so at any point. And suddenly we were at the halfway point so might as well finish it, right?

We also got another picture taken like we had at Vintgar Gorge, which is fun. We even got this one on the first go.

After that, we drove higher and higher into the Julian Alps. The altitude went up with each hairpin turn. Halfway up, there is a Russian chapel where we stopped for a brief visit. It’s Russian because, during WWI, the Austro-Hungarians used a lot of Russian war prisoners to build the road through the Alps. Some of them died in an avalanche. The chapel is a tiny little thing. Of course, just like everywhere else, there was a lot of water coming down alongside the road.

The road went higher and higher still, before it went down again. There were plenty of places where you could have stopped for the most impressive views on a clear day. Today, everything was hidden in the clouds. Still, we stopped at a random viewpoint where we couldn’t see much, and the wind and rain left us cold and wet. The car indicated it was about 4°c!

Down and down, back into the valley we went. In total, there were 50 hairpin turns (going up and coming down).

We stopped in Trenta for a short while but the hike I had there didn’t tempt us in the rain. So, from that point onward, the next stop was just supposed to be the apartment. But the Soča river was beautiful. I pulled over three times, just so that we could take some pictures of the roaring water!

Our apartment tonight is a small studio on the top floor but it’s fine for one night. Where it all looks rather nice, cooking is impossible. It took forever to boil water for pasta and when I wanted to fry them just in a pan, they just sat there for 20 minutes before I gave up.

I did drag Mariecke back out for the final walk of the day. That was a total letdown. I had a walk to Slap Virje planned, another waterfall. We paid for the parking and set off. But because of all the water, the path was inaccessible. We went the other way but there was so much water everywhere that we turned around pretty quickly again. So yeah, annoyed I paid for the parking like a good person and didn’t get anything in return.

Tomorrow, the weather should finally clear up. The clouds were already gone around sunset, leaving us with a few pretty pictures of the mountains in the sunset. We’re heading to Italy; it should be sunny all day and I’m looking forward to it. Not to mention that, while I don’t speak Italian, I feel more confident over there than here with a vague “Dobre dan”.

September 29 - Is that… is that the sun?
Yes people, the sun has stuck around all day!

I’m totally incapable of sleeping in and was up just past 7 this morning. I took a shower and by the time I was done, Mariecke had already packed up some things. It wasn’t even 8:30 yet when we left. But there was a bit of driving through the mountains today, so I wanted to get started early.

Our first stop was yet another waterfall, Slap Boka. This one did have free parking, which is a rarity in Slovenia. This is the highest waterfall in Slovenia, though I’m not sure if that means the highest drop or the highest origin point. We saw it from the road, but we climbed the short way up to the viewpoint. The view wasn’t necessarily better but at least we did a bit of walking early on.

We started on our way down the mountain but stopped again some 20 minutes later. The church of St. Anthony in Korabid is located at the top of a man-made platform (or something) on top of a hill, overlooking the mountains and the valley. We drove all the way up to the beginning of the stairs and explored a little. It is also an ossuary for the Italian soldiers who died in this region during WWI. The church itself wasn’t spectacular, but the thing as a whole was worth a stop.

Especially since we then drove two hours down to Italy!
We crossed the border in the most random place. Between one turn and the next, we had left Slovenia and welcome to Italy, I suppose.

Yesterday, I tried to find some more things to do because we booked our visit to the Grotta Gigante at 14:00 so there was some time to fill. I always like to look on Pinterest for travel blogs and inspiration but in this case, I couldn’t find anything. All the travel bloggers talk about the same places to visit and even the hidden gems are always the same. Well, I found us a real hidden gem!

The town of Duino was our first official stop in Italy. There was a free parking lot not far and someone was leaving just as we got there. The town is comparable to Luçon I suppose. Not very big and not much to do, but there is one main attraction as well as a big supermarket. The one attraction: Castello di Duino and Castello Vecchio. They go together.
So, who was going to tell me the Ponte Vecchio in Florence literally means Old Bridge, and Vecchio wasn’t just the name of some historical dude?

We walked around the gardens for a while, enjoying the views of the Castello and the Adriatic Sea. On one side, we could see Trieste in the faraway distance, on the other side we could see the Castello Vecchio on the next rocky outcropping and Monfalcone in the distance.

From the inner courtyard, we climbed the tower for even better views and enjoyed the sun. There were three viewpoints indicated, all overlooking the Adriatic and the Golf of Trieste. The inside wasn’t really what we were there for, but we walked through all the rooms, nevertheless.

The Castello Vecchio was just down the street and nothing but ruins. We completely missed the information panel on the old castle, but the views were pretty and isn’t that basically what we want?

The stop: Grotta Gigante.
Mariecke is a little claustrophobic, so I had her look at the cave beforehand. But it’s called Gigante for a reason. It’s the biggest single-room cave in the world (according to the Guinness Book of Records). It’s 500 steps down and 500 steps back up with a constant temperature of 11 degrees. Also, from the top opening to the deepest part of the cave, it’s just shy of 600m. But you don’t go that far unless you go with a professional, a hard hat and a torch. Let’s just say that part wasn’t for us.

But the part we saw was amazing! The scale of the cave is what makes it so impressive. It definitely served as the inspiration for some underground dwarven city in some fantasy movie or something. The stone was white (limestone), red (from metals in the rock) and black (from candle smoke in the first half of the 20th century). Some of the stalagmites and stalactites are still growing. When they are wet, it means they still grow, and you aren’t allowed to touch them. They grow about a millimeter every 15 to 20 years. The biggest one is around 200 000 years old, called Ruggero Column.

You can’t even tell because there is no perception of depth in most of the pictures, but this is the way down.

The steps back up were a bit of a challenge but we made it.

The final stop I had planned for the day was Miramare Castle just outside of Trieste. It’s a beautiful castle located right on the edge of a rocky outcropping overlooking the Adriatic and Trieste. Very much like the Duino castle, I suppose. It was, however, way busier. And when I say ‘busy’ I mean ‘ridiculous, go-home-people busy’. I forgot it was Sunday afternoon and the first sunny day in a week’s time, I think.

We did manage to park the car without too much hassle but quite a bit of patience. The road up to the castle is covered in trees and you get a glimpse here and there. It doesn’t look like a typical castle, more like a sea-side mansion but it’s beautiful! Most of the park is just trees, but there are some parts with fountains and flowers and sculptures. We took our time and despite all the people, it didn’t feel all that crowded. Before leaving we got an iced coffee, which is apparently not done in Italy (then it shouldn’t be on the menu).

Driving through Trieste is an absolute nightmare. Google wants to send you places you aren’t allowed to go; everything is uphill and on a steep incline, every parking space is occupied twice over. Finally, we made it to the apartment building where Rosaria was waiting for us. We took two bags up to the apartment before she got in the car with us to show us the way to the parking garage. Because apparently nothing is easy in this city.

Once back at the apartment, she showed us every little thing there was to see. OMG, there is so much shampoo in the bathroom! She also left bottled water and biscuits and apple juice and tea and more just because they can’t offer breakfast, While the apartment definitely isn’t my taste, it’s big and surprisingly quiet once the windows are closed.

It’s been a surprisingly long day, and we are both ready for bed. The early mornings are catching up to us, I think.

September 30 - Trieste, touristy but not
I slept in a little this morning. I heard Mariecke get in the shower but because we were in different bedrooms, it didn’t bother me. I slept a little longer until 8:30, which is the latest I’ve slept so far.
After a quick breakfast, we grabbed one of the many Trieste maps we had already collected and headed out. It started out as a gray day and even a little chilly, but it cleared during the morning.

There is a first century Roman arch in the middle of a square, we saw a bunch of churches and eventually made it to the different piazzas. The Piazza Unita d’Italia is the biggest but it was, unfortunately, covered in ugly white tents left over from a science fair. The buildings surrounding the square gorgeous Art Nouveau palazzos with intricate details you need to take the time to notice. I got ambushed by a Hong Kongese girl who needed a bunch of photos taken but only had ten minutes before rushing back to her bus, what a way to travel.

There was also the Piazza della Borsa, where we had our first cup of Italian coffee. I had a cappuccino and Mariecke a latte macchiato. They were served with a glass of water, which we still haven’t figured out. Is it a palate cleanser? Is it to try and get rid of coffee breath? We don’t know.

We walked partway down the stone pier from where we should have had some nice views of the Piazza Unita d’Italia but didn’t because of all the ugly tents. Still, the view of the bay is nice, and you do get the feeling that Trieste is a pretty city. Unfortunately, it needs some TLC and a lick of paint. Some buildings are covered in graffiti and others are just abandoned.

Next, we walked along the Canal Grande di Trieste. Here the buildings looked a little better as it’s obviously a touristy area. But even so, for a touristy place it wasn’t full of tourists. We wandered through the streets before climbing up the Giants’ Stairway to the Castello di San Giusto. It wasn’t much of a castle. It could have been a big central courtyard surrounded by a wall. I tried asking for a student discount and the woman immediately assumed we were both students. I just paid and didn’t say a word.

I thought the most interesting part of the visit was the Roman exhibition. Trieste was founded before the Romans came but eventually became a Roman colony. They had a bunch of mosaic floors on display, statues and pieces of frescos.
We didn’t visit the cathedral but, on our way to lunch, decided to pass in front of the Roman theater, which wasn’t much more than steps in a semi-circle shape.

For lunch, we went to Bianco, a restaurant Rosaria had recommended because the prices weren’t too bad. We got a plate of fried calamari and an Al Pesto pizza. Service was super quick; it felt like we waited less than 10, and yet I saw the dude making the pizzas fresh inside. The food was good; the service was a little unfriendly. And I find it super weird that you don’t get a carafe of water with your meal for free.

After a filling lunch, we walked around some more and eventually got gelato somewhere. I got yogurt and almond & orange, though I don’t know what possessed me to get almonds as it always tastes like marzipan and I don’t like marzipan. Mariecke got yogurt and classic strawberry. We took our ice cream to the marina where we sat by the water. We watched the water taxi come and go and even debated whether to get a roundtrip ticket for the last boat to Monfalcone. In the end, we didn’t. It’s a two-hour trip. One way. It would have taken forever, though I do think it would have been a nice trip.

We got our final souvenirs and headed back to the apartment. Trieste definitely isn’t the busiest place in Italy with tourists, which was nice. There is some beautiful architecture, but it needs some cleaning up.

October 1 - Back to Slovenia
Remember how the car wasn’t parked by the apartment? It was an adventure on its own just to get it and make it back to the apartment. It almost felt like we drove through all of Trieste to make it back again. But we managed… somehow.

Before we got going with my original plan, we visited the Giardino Botanico Carsiana. It’s a small free botanical garden focused on local native plants. There were different landscapes with their own native plants. It wasn’t much but it was a nice little visit and we still somehow managed to spend an hour there. Mostly because we took close up pictures of flowers and that’s not necessarily an easy thing to do. I think if you visit in spring and with sunny weather, the experience is entirely different.

Next, we drove to Muggia, which is just a small sea-side village across the bay from Trieste (you can’t see it because it’s hidden behind the mountain). Here, we just had a nice walk through town. While the inner port was cute, and the houses were brightly painted as they were in Trieste, the rest felt a bit… tja. It just fell a bit short, I suppose.

There is a castle, but you can’t visit it. There is a port and the sea, but all it has is a good view of the industrial port across the bay. There is, somewhere, an archeological museum, but it’s only open on Saturday. You get the gist.

In the end, what took the longest was our final Italian coffee with Italian croissants. One had pistachios sprinkled on top, as well as a pistachio cream filling. The other had a jam stuffing, but it was also a whole-grain croissant, which is just wrong. It was still good but wrong.

We followed the coast to drive back to Slovenia. We wanted to stop and get a picture of the “Slovenia” sign, but it was covered in stickers. You could only just make out the name. We have noticed that petrol costs the same everywhere in the country. Every-where! And it’s way cheaper than in Italy.

Koper was a bit of a mess. The parking everywhere is full. It might have been because it was lunch time but still. Everything was full. Want to park at a store? No, even they have their own barriers to limit entrance and exit. In the end, we found a spot somewhere. Not sure how we did but whatever!

How to describe this town? First of all, the lack of sunny weather didn’t work in its favor. Some of the streets were cute and Titov Trg (Tito Square) was surrounded by Venetian style palazzos and had a Venetian style church tower. But at the same time, some of it felt in need of some TLC.

Naturally, I went up the church tower. The town didn’t try to preserve its historical charm as two apartment buildings stuck out above the old town. On the other side was Koper’s industrial port, which also took away from it. But you still get good views all around.

We wandered the streets some more and ended up getting another coffee with a piece of the local (Piran is local enough) pie called Š'torta. It’s a sponge cake with a layer of caramel and salt from Piran and olive oil. It even had some sort of fake creamy olive on top. It was quite good. Strange but good.

And that was about it for our day. We picked up something for dinner at the supermarket and then went to our hotel. I can see Izola from the parking. I’m excited to go there tomorrow but the forecast only announces rain and even a thunderstorm.

October 2 - Between Italy and Croatia
Free has sent me a total of 27 messages since we crossed the Italian border into Slovenia yesterday. 27 messages to welcome me to Slovenia, to Italy and even to Croatia. For some reason, we’re in this weird spot where the phone network isn’t sure where I am.

I don’t even want to write about today. The rain has come back and while there were a few dry moments, the day was mostly a wet one. You try not to let the rain get to you but that’s basically impossible.

We are staying at the Belvedere hotel, which has breakfast included. This meant that we could pile up on bacon as well as some other things. They had a cheese burek! I discovered yesterday that I really like burek but that it’s also very oily. Mariecke put a bunch of things in her bag because we all know who raised her and honestly, are we surprised? No, we are not.

Izola is down the hill from the hotel. This had to be one of the places I was most looking forward to. I follow them on Instagram and I kept seeing so many lovely things. But guess what, it rained, and it rained, and it rained. Parking is paid everywhere in Slovenia but in Izola, we had to first hour free. Well guess what? We were done so quickly because of the rain that we didn’t have to pay.

Next, we drove to Piran, which is a lot more touristy, or at least better known. You can do day trips here from Ljubljana. We started at the city walls where we snuck Mariecke in as a student (we’ve decided that I’ll go first, ask if they want to see my student card and depending on that, we get Mariecke in as a student or not. So far, no one has asked to see it). There isn’t much to the city walls, just a few towers and stretches of the wall itself. But they offer great views of Piran downhill. I also love the shape of their battlements, not flat but more V-shaped.

From there, it was all downhill. Literally rather than figuratively. It was a steep descent to town. You couldn’t see much looking out over the water, but we could see Strunjan, another town where I had originally planned a short walk that wasn’t worth doing in the rain. The bell tower was under construction, but you could still go up. Weirdly enough, I didn’t rush up the viewpoint. Maybe I’m getting sick?

Instead, we continued around the tip of Piran and were suddenly assaulted by much stronger winds and heavier rain. I would have gone up the small lighthouse, but it was closed (despite the sign saying it was open every day of the year). Instead, we found a cafe to grab a coffee and wait out the worst of the rain. While it never really cleared, there was a difference in brightness.

I don’t know if Piran’s boulevard was build at sea-level, or if it was high-tide, but the sea was definitely trying to take over. We walked through some of the narrow side streets that would have been a lot prettier in the sunlight, and eventually emerged on the main square, Tartinijev Trg. From here, you can see the clock tower up the hill, part of the harbor is to one side and townhall is in the pretty building. It was a pretty square but again, it would have been so much prettier in the sun.

We headed into the aquarium to waste some time as it wasn’t even noon yet and we were basically done for the day. It’s a small aquarium, located in a pretty old building you never would have guessed housed an aquarium. There were only three rooms and we both paid student price again. Honestly, it was nice. After that, we made the ridiculous climb back up the hill to the car.

We returned to Izola for lunch. As we couldn’t cook, and I had seen the region is known, among other things, for its seafood, that’s what I wanted to try at least once. So, we parked in the same parking and walked around. Honestly, it wasn’t busy at all. There were hardly any people about and I think we all gathered at the same restaurant.

I had the mussels and Mariecke got the fried squid and calamari again. It was different from in France; the mussels weren’t served in a pot, which helps keep them warm, and they weren’t mariniere either. But they were good. There was plenty of garlic! For once, the sauce was actually tasty enough to soak it up with the bread.

And after that… well, after that we went back to the car and yet again didn’t have to pay for parking. Then we went back to the hotel and that was basically it. No! We got a piece of Izolaka cake, which is obviously the cake of the town. We took it back to the hotel and Mariecke went to ask if we could borrow a fork. They were apparently confused by the request. The cake was okay. Nice to have once but I don’t think I’d want to eat it again. I found the cake part a little wet.

We did go to the hotel’s restaurant during the afternoon for another coffee but aside from that we did nothing. Just wasted time and watched the rain. We were lucky though that the thunderstorm that had been announced all afternoon didn’t start until the evening. And it wasn’t as severe or as long as I thought it was going to be.

Tomorrow is supposed to be yet another rainy day and I’m kinda done. It didn’t feel like a holiday. We’ve been here a week now and we’ve had two good days. It’s just sad.

October 3 - Flixbus galore
I think I sound like a broken record, but it rained nonstop today. Not even a dry moment! And the forecast doesn’t look any better. It’s just sad.

Today, we left Slovenia behind again and drove into Croatia. Initially, we had a cave and a castle planned in Slovenia, but we changed it for a sidetrip in Croatia. Looking back, maybe we should have stuck to the original planning. Too late now.

We took some mountain road to cross the border; it took us into the clouds, and I swear, in this part of Europe, the speed limit is a suggestion that everyone ignores. It’s ridiculous. We eventually made it to Rijeka. The parking I had found was completely full and yet we got a ticket to enter so somewhere something wasn’t quite right. In the end, we parked somewhere illegally because we couldn’t figure out the ticket situation. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

We just walked around a little bit. We took mostly pictures of pretty buildings, such as the National Opera in Rijeka, the clock tower and in the pedestrian shopping street. We visited a church and then I insisted we head up to the Martimine and History Museum of the Croatian Coast. Quite the name, I know.

It was a small museum, but it took us out of the rain. I was about to sneak us in as students again when the guy told us it was free today. That feels like the first good news I’ve had in a while. There was a collection around Rijeka from Roman times to the Middle Ages, there was something on seafaring, and a collection centered on the building. Unfortunately, almost everything was in Croatian but whatever. It was dry there.

We grabbed something to eat at a bakery and made it back to the car before getting on the highway. I had another stop planned in the north of Croatia, even further than Zagreb, but halfway to the capital, we decided to just head straight to the apartment. Driving the highway was an absolute nightmare. So much rain and wind, the car barely makes it past 50km/h in fourth gear on a good day, imagine trying to push it to 130km/h in a storm. Because yes, it turned out to be storm Cassandra.
I did see so many Flixbuses on the road! Like, so, so many! Where are they all going? Where are they all coming from?

So yeah, we’ve settled into our slightly religioulys-themed apartment and are basically done for the day. At this point, I’m not even going to hope for better weather tomorrow. What’s the point? 

October 4 – But at least it didn’t rain!
Okay, I get why it’s religious themed. The guy who owns the place is a monk. It all makes sense!

Aside from that, we didn’t need an umbrella today. After breakfast, which was included with the apartment, we got in the car and drove 30km to Maribor. Sure, the weather wasn’t good, but at least there was no rain. It was at least 10 degrees colder than yesterday, and we wished we had a scarf, but at least it didn’t rain.

The vibe of the day is completely different when it’s dry. We walked around, taking pictures of the pretty buildings and we went into a few of the shops in the big shopping street. I wanted to go up the cathedral’s clock tower but it’s only open July to September, which was bummer. On Glavni Trg, the main square, the wind blew a lot harder, and it was definitely a lot colder, but it was a nice looking square. We went down to Lent along the Drava River, where we had a look at the oldest still-fruit producing grapevine. It’s been doing its thing for over 400 years and still going.

We had a coffee and decided that, as we were basically done in Maribor, we would finish with a visit to the Aquarium and Terrarium. We both got in as students, again. It was a quick visit as there weren’t many tanks, but it was nice. It’s not a big aquarium like in La Rochelle so you definitely don’t expect any big shark or whatever.

As we left, I wanted to see if we could take the ropeway I had planned for here. I wasn’t sure how high up in the mountain it would take us. And there isn’t a point in going up if it’s in the clouds like it was the case with the ropeway in Bohinj we didn’t take. Well, the mountain was clear, but because of all the recent rain, they hadn’t been able to schedule the maintenance, and they decided to do it on the first dry day. So, bummer. We decided to have lunch in a pizzeria at the bottom of the ropeway though. The prices were good, and the pizzas were both very big and really tasty.

If the weather allows it, we might come back tomorrow before heading towards Ljubljana.

We drove back to the apartment to park the car, and we went to walk around Ptuj. It’s a small town but it looks pretty. There were a surprising number of tourists. We climbed the hill up to the castle, but Mariecke didn’t feel like paying to go in, so we stuck to the lower courtyard, which was free.

Then down, down, down to the riverside we went. This is still the Drava River, just like in Maribor, and there was so much water in it! So fast. On the other side of the footbridge there is a big ring that you can take a picture through and it’s the perfect view of the Ptuj ‘skyline’. We wandered the streets a little longer, taking advantage of the dry weather before we felt we had done enough for the day.

And that was our day. The feeling was totally different. You don’t have to drag yourself out when it’s at least dry. So, yay for that!

October 5 - To Ljubljana with a detour
We started the day with another good breakfast by the monk and then checked out. The weather was okay. There were even a few blue spots in the sky. We drove back to Maribor, hoping the ropeway would be open today. And it was!

Up we went in a cabin with some Slovenians and we enjoyed the views as Maribor and the many surrounding towns slowly appeared over the trees. The mountains were mostly clear of clouds too. I’m actually glad it was closed yesterday so we could do it today. The only difference was that had we done it yesterday, we would have done a walk I had planned. Today, there was more shit to do before returning the car. We took some pictures and then went back down.

We asked Google to navigate us toward the next stop and wasn’t that the biggest mistake we could have made. The shortest route wasn’t actually paved. We had to go up a mountain over a gravel road. Almost 15km of gravel to drive over slowly and hope we wouldn’t come across another car. It was not what I expected. And suddenly we hit the asphalt again like everything was fine.

Our second stop was Pot med Krošnjami, which literally means “Path between the treetops”. That’s exactly what it is. It’s a little out of the way in the middle of a ski resort. Along the boardwalk up to the big circular upward spiral part of the walk (vague enough for everyone?) there were information signs as well as ‘fotostativ’ spots. They basically provided people with a place to put their camera or phone for selfies. We really enjoyed these on our way.

It was really cold as we were at 1500m altitude. Like, at this point we would have liked a hat and a scarf. And the weather didn’t work with us either. It had gotten really cloudy, and so for a viewpoint, there wasn’t much to see. But like so much during this vacation, we made the most of it and still had a good time. At least it didn’t rain!

Considering the time, I didn’t think we had time for the final stop, Skofja Loka. Instead, we returned the car to the airport, had just enough time for a bathroom break before hopping on a bus to Ljubljana. We didn’t know where to buy the tickets and when we asked the driver, he just told us to get on. So yay, we saved money there.

From the central bus station, we walked to our apartment, which is about as heart-of-old-town as you can get. That’s where the fun ended. When we came in, we froze. We knew we were at the right place because the owner had sent me step-by-step pictures of how to get there. And it looked like the pictures. But it also looked lived in.

The bins hadn’t been emptied, the dirty dishes were still in the sink, one bed looked slept in and the other hadn’t been made either. It was confusing. We called the owner, who didn’t pick up but did call me back about five minutes later. He told us he would come by right away so we waited. As we did, I was already looking on Booking for other accommodations. When Jaka, the owner, showed up, he was indeed surprised by how the apartment looked. We agreed to go have a coffee/dinner while he cleaned and there would be a refund.

So, Mariecke and I headed out, visited the hundreds of souvenir shops, took in Ljubljana at dusk, and finally settled on an Asian restaurant where the food was cheap, but the drinks were not.

When we came back to the apartment, it looked better, but it wasn’t as clean as the other places we had stayed in. I think we just accepted it and turned on the heat. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day and we can explore this small capital.

October 6 - Ljubljana, day 1
Today was quite a day. First, we woke up a little cold. The whole night had been cold. Personally, I didn’t sleep all that great, despite sleeping through the night. But my back hurt when I woke up. And again, it was cold. I’m not a fan of having to sleep in the only sweater I have because there weren’t extra blankets. But more about that later.

We had our breakfast and headed out, right next to the apartment where the funicular to the castle was located. You can buy a combination ticket to go up with entrance to the castle. Again, we both posed as students. At this point, we don’t even pretend to not be.

The castle visit was a little strange. There wasn’t a clear entrance with a clear starting point. You could just walk everywhere, and some places were free to visit. The ticket gives you entrance to the Puppet Museum, which was a little creepy but also original, entrance to the History of Slovenia museum, which we breezed through but some of it was still interesting, and the viewing tower, the highest tower to climb for the best views of the city.

We walked a little through the castle gardens before making our way down the hill back to the main shopping street. As it’s Sunday, a lot of the places were closed. Most shops will remain closed for today, but restaurants and bars will open later.

Eventually, it was coffee time! And as soon as we sat down and ordered our drinks, I asked Mariecke the important question: did we want to stay at the apartment? And she was like, “explain your reasoning”.

It wasn’t even that the apartment wasn’t clean yesterday when we arrived, it just didn’t have the same vibe as the other things we booked. It felt rundown with the floors all sinking into a central point at the bathroom entrance (we established last night there was a board we better not step on). But on top of that, the kitchen window and my bedroom window faced out onto the outside walkway, meaning we had to keep the curtains closed for privacy. Last night, as I lay in bed reading, I could hear someone out there. Probably just a neighbor having a smoke, but I felt uneasy knowing they were there and they knew I was in the room because the light was one. And yeah, it was cold, and I didn’t sleep well. Mariecke totally got it.

And as Mother had taught us, if you aren’t happy somewhere, just leave. So, we did. I went back to Booking and a lot of the fancier hotels had big last-minute discounts. So, we found the Eurostar uHotel. For two nights, we got a deal of 268€. The discount was 200€ off regular price, and when I paid for the apartment we didn’t want to stay at, it added 21€ to my Booking wallet so that subtracted from the price as well. This was a sweet deal!

Breakfast is included. The room is bigger than the entire apartment (that’s how tiny it was). The wifi works great. There is a bathtub when in the previous bathroom we barely dared sit on the toilet for fear of sinking through the floor. There is a big TV though we haven’t used that all vacation. Big windows where we can leave the curtains wide open. Bathrobes are provided and there is a pool and a sauna on the 9th floor! It’s fancy as hell! We booked it.

We walked around a little more just enjoying the sights before we decided to get lunch. I had a dumpling restaurant planned. Sadly, they were closed on Sunday. We’ll go back tomorrow. But we kept walking. Ljubljana is a small city and as a tourist, you stick to the old town so it’s even smaller. I feel like we’ve already gone through all the different streets five times!

Back at the apartment, we heated up last night’s leftover noodles, packed our bags, did our dishes and headed to the hotel. We had to wait a little longer for our room but that’s fine. We unpacked and made a mess of the room before we went back out.

The sun was finally shining for the first time since we’d been in Trieste. It was too nice not to enjoy. We didn’t visit the museum I wanted to visit but it was fine. I really like walking around here. We took a bunch of pictures, randomly walked back and forth on streets and crossing bridges before sitting down for another coffee. The place also happened to have tapas. So yeah, we ordered tapas.

Everything is already more expensive than originally planned so we might as well add another 26€ for a plate of various small-portioned foods.

We walked around some more, finally stopping at the famous Dragon Bridge. Honestly, Ljubljana has embraced the dragon mascot. It is everywhere! From souvenirs to graffiti, from statues to other art displays. I love it; I love dragons so, of course, I love it.

When the clouds started rolling in again, we decided we had done enough for the day. I had a swim on the 9th floor. Mariecke had to come with me because I wasn’t sure how it worked; do I bring my own towel, do I bring a bathrobe, are there lockers? It’s a good thing too because I sent her back to the room to get the actual bathrobe. I’ll know for tomorrow. I’ll also know the sauna is free to use as well!

We didn’t have dinner because of the tapas, but we did have dessert. Earlier today we bought two pieces of cake. A Ljubljanksa pie, which I can’t find anything about online even though it was the absolute best of all the pies we’ve tried, and a piece of Gibanica, which is 10-layer cake from the Balkan. It was also good but not as good.

Now, we need to figure out what we will do tomorrow. I think we’ll go to the zoo, go shopping at Primark and take the electric train. I think. Something like that. We’ll see.

October 7 - Ljubljana, day 2
We had a much better night. Rather than being cold, I got to sleep in my shorts because it was nice and toasty in our room. The breakfast buffet was quite extensive, and, although it wasn’t as good as the one in Izola, we filled our plates and ate way too much. As per usual at a breakfast buffet.

The day before we’d asked how the buses worked and with that knowledge, we hopped on the 18L to the Ljubljana Zoo. The zoo was not quite what you expect a zoo to be like. Once you go through the entrance, there are the different exhibits with animals but some of them are widely spaced out across the park, meaning you walk through the forest and up the hill and down the hill to visit some.

We saw the bears, and the wolves were still a little tired. So were the bobcats, though it was a miracle we spotted one in their densely forested enclosure. The eagle owl kept an eye on us and the snow owls hopped away. The red pandas love to nap but we were lucky one of them was awake and moving. You know, washing and taking five steps before the next nap. The leopard also wasn’t awake. But the elephant was walking around. The giraffes and the camels were all too busy eating. We heard the lion roar but by the time we made it there, only the girls were out.

We also found the Photolandia, which we knew was there and just had to get the picture. We now have a total of four!
And then… then we noticed the stamp at the zebra exhibit and naturally we had to go get the paper and collect all the stamps. The only one we didn’t find was the cheetah one, but we figured that was because cheetah had died in May.

We also saw the sea lion feeding. It wasn’t necessarily a show, but they did do tricks and went through the regular training. It was like a show without calling it a show.

All in all, we spent about two hours in the zoo. And yet, it wasn’t the best zoo experience I’ve ever had. It just felt strange. Not bad but unusual.

Once we were done, we got back on a bus to the center, where we had dumplings for lunch. Pelmeni are an Eastern European dumpling that I first tried in Riga. I really liked them. And while I did like them here too, I don’t think Mariecke was impressed. Maybe it was because they weren’t served in soup as when I first had them. But I was happy that I finally got to eat them again!

Once we (I) had stuffed ourselves (myself) with dumplings, we got on yet another bus. This time, we wanted to go to Primark. It took us out of the tourist area and to the outskirts of town. This Primark was huge and clean and quiet. Those last two adjectives don’t usually apply to Primarks. I think we both tried on a lot of clothes and ended up getting travel accessories; I got a new laptop case and hand luggage bag (the zipper on the bag I brought with me actually died a few days ago). I also got another pair of their soft fluffy slippers and some sneakers. Mariecke bought a big suitcase, with the idea of bringing it to Japan next year.

We walked around the mall, and I got some more things at New Yorker. And yeah, that was basically our day. On the way back I walked through Ljubljana to get something to drink while Mariecke took the bus closer to the hotel. It was quiet in the streets, but it was nice. The entire old town is pedestrian and aside from cyclists who don’t know how to use a bell, you can walk around as you want without needing to pay too much attention.

At the hotel, Mariecke packed her new suitcase while I went to enjoy the pool one more time. If you stay in a hotel with a pool on the 9th floor and you have a bathing suit, you use the pool. Especially because the other guests there only read their books on the loungers rather than swim.

We both finished packing as much as possible and that concluded our day and our Ljubljana trip.

October 8 - Done, not done.
I was kidding. Our flight to Paris wasn’t until 15:50 and we could check out at 12:00, so we decided to go on a final tour of Ljubljana. We walked around a little, got the final souvenirs and Mariecke got a new backpack at the market (her old one was in the trash at the hotel).

Then we got on the small electric train that goes around the city. It’s like a hop-on-hop-off but rather than a bus, it’s a train. Mariecke wanted to go on that train since she first saw it. So, finally, we got on and took it all around the tourist sights, making me realize there were things I still wanted to do but didn’t get to. A good reason to come back.

We got off near the hotel and finally checked out. We took a bus to the airport where we had to wait an hour before we could even check in our bags. On the one hand, an afternoon flight is relaxing because you aren’t getting up at ungodly hours and you can take your time. On the other hand, you spend a lot of time waiting.