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.

Jen and Rebecca Take an Unexpected Detour to Germany

Unsurprisingly, there are no direct flights from the US to Ljubljana, Slovenia. But our flight plan was solid. There should have been plenty of time to change planes at Charles de Gaulle in Paris to get our third and final flight to Ljubljana. Until the flight gods spit on us and for some reason cancelled Rebecca’s Paris to Ljubljana flight leg at some point between checking her bag all the way through to Ljubljana at her flight origination in Minneapolis to the time she landed in Paris. Jen (and new-for-this-trip buddy Anna) were kind enough to wait with her at the Air France counter while they took 45 MINUTES to sort it out and get her a seat on the plane, Air France’s only flight that day to Ljubljana, it turns out. The nice Air France person encouraged us to run to our gate. Turns out there is a highly disorganized bussing system at Charles de Gaulle. Running wouldn’t have helped when there was a lot of pushing and shoving to get on a bus that would only drive us so fast. We just missed the flight.

In Detroit, excited for another European vacation!

So we hung out in the Parisian airport for several hours, though there weren’t any kitschy sleep shorts with the Eiffel Tower on them for us to buy as souvenirs. Our stopover in Frankfurt allowed Rebecca to have a schnitzel and potato salad dinner and for both Rebecca and Jen to have their first trip beers. And we had two flights for napping purposes instead of one. The drawback is that we didn’t arrive in Slovenia until 9:45pm instead of the planned 2:30. It was a fun drive in the dark and the rain in our rental Mercedes to get us to our lodging at a farm in the countryside around Bled. We may have accidentally driven at least a mile on a walking path until we figured out it wasn’t really a road. Hopefully the hedgerows didn’t permanently scratch the car as the rental people seemed pretty serious about their scratches. Finally in bed at midnight! So tired. Thanks farm owner who stayed up to let us in! Many fewer thanks to the Air France-Adria Air combo that managed to lose the luggage for all three of us. And only Jen was smart enough to pack an extra pair of undies in her carry-on…

Travel-weary, but we made it! Plus we got matching white sleep t-shirts from Adria Airlines since they lost our luggage.  Thanks?