I've been a bit behind in my updates for a few reasons this week- one being my new job doesn't allow for free mornings of daytime television and lounging on the couch and the other being guests! Good friend Emma and her friend Eileen stayed with us for a few days this past week while they enjoyed a trip through Italy. We tried to show them a good time here at Hotel Hart and I think they will recommend us to a friend. They checked out Venice, Verona and Vicenza and we had several nice dinners with them while they were here. Come back soon!
 |
| Picturesque Lake Bled |
Last weekend we hit the road again for one of our favorite hidden gems- Slovenia. Slovenia is the lovely country east of Italy, south of Austria and north of Croatia. It's kind of forgotten surrounded by all those impressive neighbors, but it is NOT to be missed. Here are a few reasons we LOVE Slovenia:
1. It's cheap! We stayed in the top tourist site in the country and got a great deal on a hotel. At dinner one night, we had 2 pizzas (one even GF) and ample drinks for 18 Euro!
2. No tolls on the roads! You do have to buy a vignette for 15 Euro, but you can drive for seven days all over the country.
3. The people of Slovenia speak English...and enjoy doing it! Instead of trying to accommodate several of the surrounding languages, most menus and signs are just in Slovene and English! I only know one Slovenian word- Dober Dan (hello/good day). Turns out, I am good at it because the few times I used it, locals tried to speak to me in Slovenian!
4. The people are friendly! The people of Slovenia seem to enjoy that you are visiting their country. They keep it very clean, want you to see the sites and help you do it. Last time we were there, the hotel front desk worker wanted to chat Celtics with us.
5. The country is very varied- we were in the beach side towns of Piran and Portoroz on our last visit and this time we headed to the Julian Alps. In parts, the country looks like Italy and in others, Germany.
 |
| Castle Bled |
We spent two nights at Lake Bled, the top tourist destination in Slovenia. The lake was pretty quiet in April, but I imagine it's impossible to get a room in the summer. I had heard nothing but good things about Lake Bled from those who had been, but it was a bit different from what I imagined. It's fairly commercialized and feels modern, not rustic and isolated like it looks in pictures.
We spent Saturday hiking up to Castle Bled where we toured the small museum, took lots of pictures of the views and went to the same wine cellar as Laura Bush did on one of her trips here. We were greeted by a Monk who helped us bottle and cork our own wine!
 |
| Wine Master |
Next we went out on the lake in what kinda seemed like a mix between a row boat and a gondola. I actually wanted to rent our own row boat and do my best Joey Potter impression, but I thought the boats rentals weren't out for the season yet. Turns out I was wrong and we got a ride on a bigger boat that looked like this instead:
 |
| Strange gondola-row boats |
After a visit to the island, we walked around the lake, checked out a local wine and chocolate store (where we purchased both) and had lunch at a restaurant named Chillis....which bore an uncanny resemblance to the American chain! For dinner, we hunted down and found the local pizzeria that served gluten free pies!
 |
| GLUTEN FREE PIZZA!!! |
On Sunday, we headed back to Italy but stopped briefly in the capital of Ljubljana. The city is fairly small and situated on the river Ljubljanica (clever with names, those Slovenians). We walked along the river and checked out the antique market that was going on. (By antiques, I mean junk that people pulled out of the attics and garages....) It was also Palm Sunday and while we made it back to Italy in time for mass, we noticed that in Slovenia, "palms" meant any kind of plant. It was a "bring your own palm" to mass type of place...people walked around the city with palm tree leaves, flower bouquets, tree branches...anything!
 |
| The capital city of Ljubljana |
In the interest of time, we rode the funicular up to the Ljubljana Castle and got a good look at the skyline. The city actually reminded me a little bit of Dublin in that it was small and along a river. We hoped in the car after a gelato stop and headed back to Italy.
 |
| The skyline of Ljubljana |
Since we've seen most of the top sites in Slovenia, we need to find a reason to go back....anyone interested?!
No comments:
Post a Comment