Jen and Rebecca Row, Row, Row a Boat

The centerpiece of our visit to Venice was our gondolier rowing lesson scheduled for this morning.  After we let the apartment owner and the gas man into our lodgings to install a new gas meter, we set off to find our meeting point.  It was on a quiet canal near the edge of Venice – a perfect spot to learn.  Jane, our Australian rowing teacher, took up rowing as a hobby shortly after moving to Italy 23 years ago after she married a Venetian.  After a brief lesson at the dock, we set off down the canal.  Rebecca took the first turn and was a natural at it.  Jen over-thought everything (surprise!) and didn’t do nearly as well, but she managed to keep the boat moving!  Anna did really well too, but she had the luck (?) of rowing us through the shipping channel so that we could practice steering in the lagoon. 

Jen guiding us down a canal.

The real fun came as we became “real” gondoliers our in the lagoon, getting up on the back of the boat and rowing just like the guys in the stripey shirts in the touristy sections of the city.  All of us managed to row us in a straight line without going in circles, which we consider an accomplishment.  Jen probably won’t be moving to Venice any time soon to become a competitive rower like our instructor, but we all had a good time learning a traditional Venetian craft.  It was also a nice way to get to ride through the side canals with someone else rowing you instead of paying the exorbitant fees to hire a gondola.

Rebecca as a gondolier out on the lagoon.

After our lessons and a quick lunch at a sidewalk café, we headed back to do the more traditional touristy things. But first, we found a shop that filled a 1.5 liter water bottle full of Pinot Grigio for us for 3.5 Euros. Delicious bargain!  And just what the locals do. Our last night in Venice evening entertainment was secured!

It looks like water, but really it's wine!

We made our way down the Grand Canal in a Vaporetto during daylight this time, and ended up at the Doge’s Palace where we wandered through the elaborate rooms as well as the jail, over the Bridge of Sighs, so named for the sighs made by prisoners as they caught a glimpse of the canal for the last time for the duration of their sentence.  We were pretty impressed by the awe-inspiring art in the rooms, and we were excited to find ourselves in the palace hall, which is the largest room in Europe.

Fancy Doge's Palace

Jen is obsessed with seeing churches, so after we finished our tour of the palace and a quick trip to the purse store, we set off for a church on the other side of the canal.  Sadly, it was already closed for the day.  But we roll with the punches, so we hopped back on the Vaporetto to find a spot to watch the sunset over the city.  We sat at the edge of the canal for about 30 minutes as we watched the sun slowly set.  It was well worth the wait.

Salute was closed, but still pretty on the outside.

Sun setting on Venice, and our vacation.

We headed back to our neighborhood in the Canareggio for dinner.  It may have been one of the best that we’ve had in Italy so far.  Pizza and pasta all around!  We had a round of limoncello and some cheesecake before going home to pack for the flights home tomorrow. We packed while starting in our 1.5 liters of Pinot, and finishing off our wheel of truffle cheese.  Thanks for the good times, Venice.

Keep your fingers crossed that we all see our luggage again!

Jen and Rebecca have Boatloads of Fun

Venice may be made for lovers, but Jen, Rebecca ,and Anna are figuring out how to have a swell non-romantic time here.  Luckily, Venice was also made for shoppers and the directionally challenged!  We set off in search of San Marco Square this morning, but got distracted by tiny shops and alley ways.  Since there are no direct routes in Venice, it’s exceptionally easy to get turned around.  Happily, each time you do, there’s usually a cute store selling clothes, paintings, glass, paper or souvenirs.  And then eventually you find another sign directing you to the major landmark you were looking for.

Narrow Venetian street.

We hit the fish market at Rialto Bridge (and Anna even plugged her nose to walk through it with us), then found a restaurant for lunch after a tough morning of wandering the Venetian streets.  We broke our general rule of not eating at a place where no one else is eating, but they seated us in the window and we began a trend.  Soon the place was swamped with American tourists like us, all ordering pizza instead of the fancy first and second courses they were offering.  I guess we’re not so cultured, but we can mostly accept that fact (though maybe Rebecca has a tougher time with acceptance). We are on board with the custom of ordering wine with every meal, though. That’s gotta count for semi-cultural emersion!

Octopus at the fish market.

We eventually meandered far enough to see the Piazza San Marco in the daylight and were overwhelmed by the warm and beautiful sunlight.  And all those people.  Our first official site-seeing stop of the day (beyond the nooks and crannies we passed through thus far) was a ride up in the elevator to the top of the campanile to see views over the city. Stunning.  Next we toured the San Marco Basilica.  All of the intricate gold mosaic patterns in the church were also completely stunning.  Check and check on two major tourist sites in Venice.

With a Venetian lion in Piazza San Marco

Our next stop was the “Most Beautiful Bookshop in the World,” according to the bookmark distributed by the shop.  Beautiful is subjective, but it was definitely interesting.  There were rooms upon rooms of books in various languages.  It was difficult to determine the organizational system the owners had in place--there did seem to be one.  We found books stacked in old row boats, bathtubs and even turned into a staircase.

Jen absorbing a lot of knowledge on the book staircase.

After the bookstore, we felt the need for a little more culture in our day so we headed across town to an exhibit about Da Vinci’s various scientific experiments and theories.  Did anyone else know that he was responsible for the bicycle?  Flying machines, sure, but bikes?  Jen and Rebecca took turns trying out the various hands on exhibits (with photos, of course).  Da Vinci certainly was a genius!  (And he shares his birthday with Jen!)

Testing Da Vinci's scientific genius.

Our full day of wandering left us tired and thirsty.  So, we decided to indulge in a local specialty called the Aperol Spritz.  No idea what it was made of, but it was orange, tasted great and came with an olive.  (Thanks to Rebecca’s cousin Marc and his wife Barbara for making that drink recommendation!)  We decided to continue the day of wandering by walking the rest of the way home.  We stopped at the glass bridge for a photo op since it is apparently the only new bridge in Venice since Rebecca was last here 10 years ago (without Jen, tragically.) 

On the glass bridge.

We decided we were too hungry to drop the day’s purchases off at home first, so we consulted Rick Steves again for a dinner recommendation.  We might be trusting Rick too much.  Or rather Rick just doesn’t know us and our preferences very well.  He recommended a nice restaurant in the Canareggio relatively near our apartment, just a short walk through the old Jewish ghetto to get to and with seating directly on a canal.  But seafood was their specialty and of the three of us, only Jen is really interested in seafood.  Anna and Rebecca had an okay pesto dish, and of course the wine was good, but we’ve learned to stop putting all of our faith in Rick (that may have been the fault of Anna and Rebecca more than Jen) and actually consult a menu before choosing a restaurant.  But it’s okay.  We have a wheel of truffle cheese and more wine back at our apartment to round out our day quite nicely.

Jen and Rebecca Stimulate the Local Venetian Economy

We got up extra early today to return the rental car, then drag our suitcases (all three of them!) to the Venizia Lines ferry stop.  Turns out that following the harbor thinking that will get you to the ferry stop isn’t always the most efficient route.  We wheeled those suitcases over far more cobblestone streets than was necessary.  Good thing Eddie Bauer has a lifetime guarantee on its luggage and both Jen and Rebecca may need replacement wheels soon.

Wheeling luggage, before the cobblestone detour.

We managed to keep calm as we checked our luggage for the ferry ride, avoiding any serious separation anxiety.  (Rebecca had only been reunited with her suitcase for barely more than 24 hours, after all!)  It helped that we actually witnessed the luggage being put on board and the ferry had only one stop to make before Venice, seriously reducing the luggage mishap possibilities.

Upon our arrival in Venice, we quickly made our way through Immigration and then set off for what was supposed to be a 20 minute walk to our apartment.  It turns out that Venice is an exceptionally easy to get lost in.  We walked for awhile before coming to the realization that we were going the wrong direction.  We had success with Google Maps in Croatia and Slovenia, so we attempted to use them again in Venice.  Unfortunately, it kept trying to send us up roads that didn’t exist (mostly next to canals that did exist).  So, we accepted defeat and took the Vaporetto (a water bus, the Venice version of public transportation) to our meeting point with the new landlord.  It turns out some of our confusion was an honest mistake.  The ferry docked at a different port than we expected.  But we found our way, so all was well.

Waiting for the Vaporetto.

The first half of our day was subsumed in travel, so once we got settled into our rooms (sadly we’re going to have to adjust to a reduction in bedrooms from three to two and in bathrooms from four to one…how will we cope?) we quickly set about with the important business of getting to know Venice, starting with some pasta and wine for lunch.  Since our apartment is in the Canareggio on the northwest side of the main islands of Venice, we decided to spend our first afternoon not doing the traditional city center activities but heading out to the island of Murano, only a few Vaporetto stops away.  Murano is the traditional glass-making center of Venice, and had shop after shop after shop of colorful glass items for gawking at (and of course for purchasing.)  And, of course, we purchased.  Those of you who know Jen and Rebecca well will not be surprised that it took us two hours and several stores to make a decision on our final purchases.  Sadly (?), once we started buying, it was really hard to stop.

Displaying our purchases, still neatly packed in bubblewrap for the flight home.

After our glass shopping spree, we dropped off our goods at the apartment and set off on a Vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal. The sun was setting, so we got to peek into a lot of old refurbished and/or renovated mansions on the canal that happened to have some lights on inside.  We wandered around San Marco Square and were somehow not surprised the San Marco Basilica has scaffolding on the front of it.  (At least you can still see the horses over the entrance.)  Europe seems to always be encased in scaffolding.

On San Marco Square at night.

Our hunger took over so we went to find some dinner slightly off the beaten trail.  When Rick Steves failed us (we found a restaurant he recommended, but it was shuttered) we found a perfectly nice trattoria where we all three tried different pastas, the result of which was deliciousness all around.  We braved the twisty Venetian streets to walk home and we managed to find our way.  Hooray!  We even found a grocery store to stock up on breakfast supplies (and wine) and of course we had to have our first Italian gelato of the trip.  More deliciousness. 

Rialto Bridge at night, with moon.

Jen and Rebecca Go to the Dogs

We woke up this morning to some gale-force winds, followed by another torrential rainstorm.  Anna had the forethought to go get the laundry we’d left on the drying rack the previous night, and managed to rescue one of Jen’s bras before it could escape into the neighbor’s lawn.  We waited out the rain with a leisurely breakfast (more Rovinj market fruit and miscellaneous bread, cheese and yogurt).  By the time we’d finally gotten ourselves showered (and Rebecca had spent way too much time deciding what to wear now that she actually has sartorial choices at her disposal) we could see blue sky heading our way.  So we headed out back across the Istrian Peninsula for our first stop of the day: Hum, the smallest town in the world (or so it claims)!

Hum (pronounced Hoom)

It turns out that Hum is in a pretty remote section of Istria.  After a series of hairpin turns up some single lane roads, we arrived safely in Hum.  It was the first town we’ve ever visited that charged admission.  It turns out that a village of 16 people really doesn’t have much for sights or attractions, but they do cater to the tourists.  We walked around the church (it was locked), took a series of senior portraits, visited all 5 of the souvenir shops, and had a delicious lunch in the town’s one restaurant with a pretty view of the hills and valley below.

One of Jen's senior photo poses.

Anna has perfected the art of the senior photo pose.

The sun came out and the hills are alive with beauty.

Once we’d had our fill of the quaint town, we headed down a new series of twisty-turny roads looking for something interesting to keep us occupied until our truffle hunting appointment at 4:30.  Turns out that any sign that says “wine” on it gets Jen and Rebecca’s attention, so when we saw the brown sign saying “Vinksa Cesta” (meaning “Wine Road”) we urged Anna to take a sharp left to follow the arrow.  This ended up being the first of two wild goose chases we made Anna take us on in a quest for wine.  The so-called “Wine Road” was another twisty mountain road with nary a sign of the otherwise constantly-visible-in-Istria grape vines.  At least we got some breathtaking hill town views. 

Jen was watching the blue dot on Google maps and announced that our road was about to end.  Anna was about to turn the car around on the failed quest, when we saw a dog trotting up.  Cute, we said. Then another dog ran out, followed by a third, and a fourth, and then more than we could easily count.  We were surrounded by a litter of adorable puppies.  We didn’t test the cuteness/sweetness of the dogs though and remained in the car with the windows rolled up.  This was a good thing as one of the dogs put his paws on the back door and peeked in at Jen.  Once we started to back up, they slowly started to move away.  Until the alpha decided it was a good idea to follow us and make sure we left their home.  It was actually surprising that we were able to safely back down the road because we were laughing so hard.

The pack of probably-not-rabid dogs.

Next we found the town of Vrh, the meeting place for our truffle hunt, but we were early and the town was tiny with nothing to see but one church, so we convinced Anna to follow more brown signs that seemed to point to two wineries where we figured we could get some samples.  It turns out that driving 4 km on winding roads takes longer than on a straight road, but we think we found the wineries.  However, they appeared to be people’s houses, not the Napa Valley-style tasting rooms to which we are accustomed.  Another wine fail.  So we waited for our truffle hunt with a Coke at the one café we found in Vrh.

Next up, truffle hunt!  The Istrian hill country is one of the few places in the world where you can find the elusive white truffle, the season for which is just beginning.  More plentiful here is the black truffle, but these are still rare in that truffles can’t be found in many countries.  We were at the home of a family that has been truffle hunting for about 40 years. They also grow grapes and olives and make their own olive oil and wine.  (Finally, Jen and I got some wine for the day, produced right in Istria!)  

The farm’s owner Radmila began our tour with some aperitifs – mistletoe, honey and cherry brandies.  She also showed us samples of black and white truffles.  The small basket of white truffles was worth approximately 250 Euros, so we handled those carefully!  Finally it was time to sample the goods!  We started with truffle pate (Rebecca’s favorite), cheese with truffles, and sausage with truffles.  Once Zdenka (our guide/translator) learned that truffles weren’t Anna’s favorite food, they brought her some parmesan and some goat cheese with Radmila-made olive oil.  We were already feeling full at this point, but it was time to learn how to cook!  Radmila taught us how to make a truffle omelet.  We were stuffed, but it tasted so good that kept eating.  Just when we thought the food would stop, Radmila brought out cookies, dumplings and cake! It was her birthday, so we serenaded her with a happy birthday song.

Finally, time to actually hunt for the truffles ourselves in the family’s own private forest.  Radmila’s son Ivan took one of their truffle-hunting dogs, Circo (meaning “black”) with us to sniff out the so-called “Istrian Gold.”  We were hunting for black truffles because there was a greater likelihood of success.  Sure enough, Circo tracked down four black truffles for us. You have to catch her as soon as she starts digging otherwise she’ll eat the truffle herself.  So we had to make several mad dashes up some muddy trails to get to her in time. Jen dug one truffle out herself and Rebecca later got to wash the two small ones we got to keep for ourselves.  All around, we learned a lot about truffles, truffle hunting, and had a fun afternoon.

Jen digs up a black truffle.

This schnozz was meant to sniff truffles.

We finished the day with a quick stop in Motovun, a hill town a few km down the road and enjoyed a beautiful sunset to end a beautiful day that had started out so worrisomely rainy.  We’ll have an early morning tomorrow to catch the ferry to Venice.

Sun setting at the Motovun Old Town wall.

Jen and Rebecca Wander the Ruins

After a good night’s sleep and a breakfast in our lovely villa of fruits from the Rovinj market and some other random supermarket purchases, we headed south to Pula for a day of exploring Roman ruins.  First stop: the amphitheater, one of the best preserved in all of the Roman empire, and the 6^th biggest built for such sport as gladiatoring. (Okay, we may have made up that word, but you get the point.)  We wandered the arena, marveled at the architecture, and luxuriated in the sunny, blue skies before following the Rick Steves-recommended walking tour through town.

Happy in the sun in the amphitheater.



Fighting to the death, gladiatorial style?

Pula has continued to grow and develop over the last two millennia, so as new buildings are constructed, past structures are discovered.  It was not uncommon to see Roman ruins between two apartment buildings or next to a parking lot.  We found Roman mosaics next to a parking lot and remains of several old houses between two souvenir shops.

Jen with mosaic tile

We attempted to tour the fish market, but we were about 30 minutes too late, much to Anna’s relief, since she hates fish.  The fishermen bring their catches directly there (or sell to a nearby restaurant), so the seafood doesn’t get much fresher than that!  After an oddly healthy lunch (salads all around!), we headed up the hill to see the town fort.  There wasn’t much to actually see in the museum, other than a few artifacts and placards that we couldn’t read, but the views were outstanding!  We attempted repeatedly to get a photo of the three of us with the amphitheater in the background, but were continually stymied by the sun and poor directional camera aim.

In the background is theoretically the amphitheater again.

Much to Rebecca’s delight, Adria Air emailed to say they had finally found her bag. Turns out once they stopped looking for Jen’s green bag, which had already been delivered to Jen, and started looking for Rebecca’s black bag, they had a lot more success. Since we’d seen what we wanted to see in

Pula and had a pre-celebratory ice cream cone, we headed back to our villa to await the much anticipated, much missed luggage, while snacking on some cheese from Bohinj and fruits from Rovinj. We even managed to see a sundog out over the sea while relaxing with our snacks and wine out on our patio.

And hooray! Rebecca’s luggage finally arrived, 8 days after our arrival. Clean clothes at last, plus all of those cosmetics and medical supplies she hadn’t anticipated being without for 8 days. Rebecca decided she could finally be happy for Anna’s arrived bag now that hers had appeared too.

We opted for a short walk to the local pizzeria for dinner, rather than venturing further afield, since Rebecca’s excitement at her luggage’s return could hardly be contained by a car ride. Yay! It was kind of an early night, but when you have a pretty villa to hang out in, that’s really not such a bad deal.

Jen and Rebecca Are Back in the HR

On Sunday, we got up early for our ridiculously early 6:30AM train to Rijeka, Croatia – Hrvatska to the locals. (Thanks Stari Tisler Hotel for giving us to-go breakfast!) Fortunately the train station was only a few blocks from our hotel, easy walking distance for lugging suitcases. (Not that Rebecca had a problem lugging her one carry-on sized backpack. She may be getting a bit bitter now…) Between the multiple requests to produce our train tickets and passports, there was much napping on the train in the compartment we had to ourselves. But by 9:30 the train stopped in Croatia. Jen and Rebecca had officially returned a year later to see the corner they missed in 2012! There was some additional baggage schlepping to the harbor-side car rental office where we had to wait about an hour for our automatic car to arrive. (Jen, would you learn how to drive a stick shift already?!) We had a lovely hour-long drive across the Istrian peninsula through a lot of woodsy hills to reach our villa in Rovinjska Selo, outside the harbor town of Rovinj. Unfortunately, all of the streets in Rovinjska Selo seem to have the same name, and we couldn’t find the Vila Ester without calling our host who graciously met us to let us follow him there.

Villa Ester is a lovely house! We each have our own bedroom, each with a private bath, plus a swimming pool in the backyard and a deck from which you can see the Adriatic Sea (if you squint a bit). We haven’t made use of the pool yet, but hope to before we leave on Wednesday morning. (Rebecca hopes she has a swimsuit by then.) The most exciting feature of the house may be the laundry facilities. Since we were all short on clothing (some more than others – ask Rebecca), using the washing machine was our first priority.

Pretty villa all to ourselves!

We spent the afternoon wandering about Rovinj based on Rick Steves’ guidebook.  Rick provided an excellent walking tour of the old town.  We picked up some fresh fruit at the town market, Rebecca bought a dress for the warmer weather, we saw the Communist Era Monument and Tito Square, saw pretty vistas of the harbor, and hiked up to the Church of St. Euphemia at the highest point in Old Town.  And because Rebecca likes to freak Jen out, we climbed to the top of the church bell tower up a wooden staircase that looked as if each stair had partially decomposed over the last several hundred years.  But we got even more great views of the pretty harbor and the pretty city.  It was a little reminiscent of Dubrovnik.  To round out the cultural tour, we even saw a local marching band parading through town, presumably playing Croatian/Istrian/Rovinjian traditional music.

City band.



Scary bell tower stairs.



Pretty harbor town.

As luck would have it, Rovinj was having an Istrian wine festival in the evening, so we each bought a commemorative St. Euphemia’s wine glass, complete with a wine glass holding necklace, and sampled some of Istria’s finest fermented grapes.  Once we’d had our fill of pounding grape, we settled in for some harbor-side dining, Jen sampled some theoretically local fish, Rebecca tried some truffles in her pasta, and Anna the creature of habit opted for more pizza.  We must have lingered a bit too long over our food, though.  The wait staff moved us inside from the patio as lightning became apparent over the sea and the wind picked up, then a torrential downpour trapped us inside the restaurant with other diners for about an hour, waiting out the worst of it.  At least we had wine and after-dinner brandy to keep us company.

Hands-free drinking.

 





Jen and Rebecca Toodle Around the Capital

Saturday we left Postojna (still without luggage for Anna and Rebecca) and drove less than an hour back to Ljubljana, where we had landed in Slovenia on Monday. We got what luggage we actually had (Jen’s and backpacks for all) dropped off at the hotel near the city center and walked a few blocks to the Dragon Bridge to meet up with our bike tour guides. We thought we should see the city like the locals do in this very bike-friendly city. There are bike lanes on most of the sidewalks and everyone has a bell to warn you they are coming up behind you.


At the Dragon Bridge, pre-bike ride.



Ljubljana is currently hosting the Eurobasket, the European basketball championships. Our guides Mascha and Janesch (spelling based on listening to them say their names, so could be way wrong…) were a super cute couple, both wearing green Slovenian jerseys in support of their team playing that night at 9:00. While toodling around the city center, we saw a lot of Croatian team fans wearing the distinctive red and white checked shirts for their team too.

Our guides showed us sights that we would most likely not have found on our own – like the former military barracks that was converted into an artist colony. The government attempted to kick the artists out at one point, but the city revolted and they were allowed to stay. On our way out of the area, they pointed out the former prison that had been converted into a youth hostel – the rooms are the former jail cells, with fixtures and all.

Biking through the city center on our one speed bikes was a bit of a challenge given all of the weekend pedestrian traffic, from locals to tourists. But we really got a feel of the city and its people. We toodled past the city market, two big churches (don’t remember the names. Too many churches in Europe.), the city hall, the statue of Ljubljana’s poet of note looking over to a sculpture of his (underage) love Juliet, and the many bridges, including one with padlocks of lovers who have commemorated their relationship on the bridge with a lock, including our tour guides. A short 5-10 minute ride down the river took us away from the bustle of the city to a more tranquil spot. We ended our tour relaxing with a beer on the lawn of Tivoli Park and chatting with our guides. Biking was a great way to be introduced to the city and it was nice to talk to some locals.

Next on the agenda was returning the rental car and hiking back from the rental car place to get into our room. And, lucky Anna, we finally had an ETA on her luggage arrival, so we hung around the hotel waiting for them to drop it off around 5:00. Rebecca is finding it hard to be happy for Anna being reunited with her luggage. Rebecca is apparently selfish and/or a bad friend.

We rounded out the touristy portion of our day by taking the funicular up to the castle on pretty much the only hill in Ljubljana. (Its otherwise flat landscape makes it an ideal biking city.) The views were nice, though a bit cloudy over the distant mountains. The wind picked up, making us chilly as Rebecca ate ice cream and Jen and Anna had some wine (we had differing priorities today, it seems) so we headed back to the flatland to peruse the souvenir shops. We ended the day with Mexican food at Romeo’s Café and margaritas next to the river, watching some crazy comedian/daredevil/performance artist do tricks on the other bank. As we walked back to our hotel, the Slovenian basketball game had begun and all of the sidewalk cafes were filled with people watching screens erected for the game. Slovenia loves its baseketball!

City at night, full of avid basketball fans.



Jen and Rebecca Head Underground for the Day, But Succeed for Only a Half Day

Anna and Rebecca were very excited to put on new, clean clothes today, despite the fact that the luggage fairies seem to be non-existent. At least Jen is making a good effort to not rub in the fact that she has a selection of clothes from which to choose. We may have slept later than expected due to the overindulgence of spirits the night before, but that may have made our pastries from the local bakery taste that much sweeter. Our first stop of the day was the Postojnska Jama, a cave right here in Postojna. It’s the Disney World of cave visits, complete with a train ride into the heart of the cave! It’s the biggest cave system in Slovenia and we saw a wide variety of stalagmites and stalactites, a few “spaghetti halls” with spindly stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and several curtains of rock. Plus we got to see the elusive “human fish,” which is a blind salamander-like creature that dwells in caves in pretty much only this part of the world. It’s kinda creepy looking.

We're in a cave!

After we finished at the cave, we headed up the road a bit to see Predjama Castle. It’s built into a cliff wall and has a series of caves underneath. It was once the home of Slovenia’s version of Robin Hood, only he stole from the rich and kept for himself. He met his untimely death thanks to a well timed cannon ball shot to the outhouse. We trusted Rick Steves that the inside of the castle wasn’t worth seeing, so we continued down the road. 
 
Our next stop was Idrija, home of the 2nd largest mercury mine in the world. At one point, it provided 13% of the world’s mercury supply. Unfortunately, we did not do our research very well and arrived at the museum an hour after the last mine tour left. We found the mine from the outside, but had missed our second underground opportunity for the day. But luckily, the city museum did an excellent job of providing an overview of the mine and its effect on the town, and the city museum was in a castle that served as the mine administration for about 500 years and currently has a music school. So we looked at displays about the Idrijan resistance movement during WWII while listening to accordion lessons happening down the hall. Plus, we were able to view some of the famous Idrijan lace (Jen and Anna even purchased some). The town museum also had an artistic display of quicksilver, so it’s practically like we went into the mine itself. We’re thinking our next vacation should be to Spain where the world’s largest mercury mine resides, also a UNESCO heritage site like the Idrijan mine…

Artsy floating mercury/quicksilver.

We drove back to our lodgings in Postojna to discover that Anna and Rebecca’s luggage had still not made an appearance. After tonight, we have only one more day in Slovenia for our luggage to catch up with us before we leave the country for Croatia. We drowned our lack-of-luggage sorrows in pizza, 2 liters of wine, and a dessert calzone filled with Nutella and topped with whipped cream. Small consolation, but it will have to do for now! 


We hoped the gold at the end of this rainbow over Idrija would be our luggage, but sadly, no.

  

Jen and Rebecca Get Cheesy (and Maybe a Little Drunk)

We began our day hopeful that Rebecca and Anna’s luggage was magically delivered overnight. Sadly, our dreams were dashed before 8am. Luckily, Jen is a habitual over-packer and had enough clothes to loan an entire outfit to Anna and a few clean items to Rebecca too. Sadly Jen’s bras and pants don’t fit Rebecca. But at least we all got to condition and dry our hair.
 
After another delicious farm breakfast, we spotted signs of sun, so we decided to head to the pristine wilderness of nearby Lake Bohinj. Our first stop was the Alpine Dairy Museum (few people would be more excited than Rebecca to visit such a place as it tells the story of cheese making in the Slovene Alps). Next we hiked up to the Slap Savica in the Triglav National Park (that’s a waterfall, in case you haven’t been following this blog closely enough.) There were lovely views of the mountains and Lake Bohinj, seen once we climbed the 553 stairs to the viewpoint in the mountain. Bohinj is less touristy than Bled, so we had a very quiet lunch on the mountain side plus we were able to buy some smoky Emmenthaler cheese from a local vendor, another exciting moment for Rebecca.

CHEESE!

Beautiful ladies in front of a beautiful waterfall.

Next we took the Vogel cable car to the top of the mountains above the lake, challenging Jen’s fear of heights, but affording us a great vista of the lake.  Lo and behold, there was a Bohinj Cheese Trail at the top of the mountain, so of course we embarked on that journey, only to take a wrong turn and end up on a very steep path that did not lead us by the promised 18 sheep pastures.  But we were the only ones on our wrong trail, and it was a peaceful, beautiful hike, so Rebecca soon got over her disappointment of not finding cheese at the end of the trail.

Beautiful Lake Bohinj from the viewpoint above.

Strenuous hike for cheese that didn't exist.

We made a brief stop at a small WWI cemetery before heading back down the mountain into Bled and onward to our final stop for the night in Postojna.  Our room is a bit smaller, but brand new, so it’s still quite nice.  Our landlord made suggestions for dinner and for shopping, so our first stop was to the Mercator (the Slovene version of a mall).  After multiple trying-on attempts, Rebecca and Anna were able to find new outfits to wear until their suitcases are hopefully(?) delivered tomorrow, mostly from the Slovene version of Sports Authority.  Yay!  Clean clothes!  And Jen can have all of her clothes to herself again!

On the drive to Postojna, Jen calls the airline yet again to try to find the missing luggage.

 

Jen and Rebecca Don't Let the Rain or Lack of Luggage Stop Them

No luggage fairy delivered our baggage overnight, so we started our day wearing the same clothes for the fourth day in a row. Awesome! And we again cursed the airlines for losing our bags because we had a pretty steady rain much of the day, and our rain coats are in our luggage. Even more awesome! So we began with an indoor activity, the Apicultural Museum in Radovljica, learning about the fine Slovenian tradition of beekeeping. We saw lots of old beehive styles and beekeeping tools and art used to decorate the hives. Since it was still raining when we finished walking through the mansion that houses the beekeeping museum, we were enticed to relax with a tasting of 5 Slovenian wines served with bread, cheese and ham for sustenance. Liquid lunch!



Overseeing the former moat.

 Before leaving town, we walked in the town’s former moat, went to the old WWII Nazi bunker behind the old town church, had our first ice cream of the trip, and tried some of the honey.
 

Since it had stopped raining, we decided to head to the Vintgar Gorge, a mile-long gorge with a walking path made of wooden bridges and boardwalks. Unfortunately, by the time we drove the 15 miles to get there, it had started raining again. But we’re hardy Midwesterners, so we persevered and did the non-strenuous walk/hike to the waterfall at the end. The rushing rapids were loud and made for a pleasant nature experience despite the rain. It finally stopped raining in the middle, so we were only a little damp in the end, though Anna did slip in some mud making her only accessible pair of pants a bit muddy. But she had the grace to laugh at her predicament instead of cry.

Jen with the slap (that's Slovene for waterfall.)

We had worked up an appetite for dinner, so we headed back to Bled for some Pizza Rustica. It was delicious, better than we remembered the pizza being in Croatia last year. Jen and I sampled some Slovene beer, while Anna continued her Slovenian wine education. When we got back to the farm, tired and sad to see that our luggage hadn’t arrived in our absence, we decided to crack open the bottle of wine we’d bought at the tasting. Since our corkscrew is still in Rebecca’s checked luggage in parts unknown, Rebecca went down to the main kitchen to borrow one…where they had Jen’s bag waiting. You’ve never seen such a happy girl. We are staying up toasting the first luggage success and waiting for a promised second delivery any time now!

Happy with Slovenian beer.

Jen and Rebecca Circumnavigate the Lake

So losing your luggage isn’t too terrible. Getting ready in the morning takes a lot less time without any hair and cosmetic products. And there’s no indecisiveness about what to wear. At least our hotel shower was nice and warm and Adria Air provided some shampoo (that is also functioning as body wash) as well as deodorant! Our farmhouse accommodations served us a lovely breakfast before we headed into the town of Bled for a day taking in the beautiful vistas of Lake Bled. Unfortunately, the cloudy, foggy weather prevented us from seeing the full majesty of the Julian Alps as the backdrop to the castle and such. We managed to take about 60 pictures of the Island and its church from various perspectives between the three of us anyway.

Pretty church on the Island.

We began our trek around the lake with a visit to a lovely church before beginning the hike up the hill to Bled Castle. (We got a little sweatier than we might have preferred having no clean clothes to change into...but at least we’d all worn hiking-appropriate shoes on the plane.) We climbed the ramparts, ooed and ahed at the views, visited the wine cellar and perused the museum.

Rebecca and Anna on the ramparts.

We got waylaid by some snails before continuing the 3.5 mile trek around the lake. We saw some intrepid swimmers in the lake, but it was a bit too cloudy and chilly for us on that score. Plus our swimsuits are in our missing luggage. Sadly, so are our rain jackets and umbrellas, which we needed a little later as well. We had a delicious light lunch at the Vila Bled, the former summer home of Yugoslav President Tito where he greeted guests such as Khrushchev. We snuck upstairs to see Tito’s Socialist murals before heading back out to the lake to be rowed to the island on a traditional pletna boat. On the Island, we rung the church bell three times each which is supposed to make all of your dreams come true. Right now, our only dream is to see our luggage before we leave Slovenia for Croatia in 5 days.

Jen, dreaming of finding her luggage.



Rebecca, queen of the pletna.

Once back on the mainland, we finished our lake walk in the rain then sought shelter with a traditional Bled cream cake. It was sinfully creamy and delicious. We wandered through the shopping area where Anna and Rebecca broke down and bought some new underwear. This may have been the most exciting part of our day. Rebecca also bought a t-shirt from a second hand store, but once we used the urban dictionary to determine what the Slovene saying on the shirt may connote, she will probably never ever wear it. We finished our day with some stick-to-your-ribs meaty Slovenian dinner with Slovenian wine and fortunately found our farm lodgings in the rainy dark way easier than we did the night before.