JUNE 28, 2023

Well, its actually Austria and Slovenia. The main focus is Slovenia, but Lisa and I are flying into Vienna, spending few days there, before heading out on the road for a tour through Slovenia. Our first trip in four years!

A few years ago when Claire worked in Italy for the summer, she spent some time after her work to travel around Europe. One of the places she visited was Slovenia, which she found both beautiful, and uncrowded. So we thought we’d try it out. Here’s our rough itinerary: Vienna -> Maribor -> Ljubljana -> Piran -> Lake Bled -> Bohinj -> Salzburg -> Linz -> Vienna.

I’ll be posting pictures and thoughts during our trip so be sure to check in regularly! And leave us comments in the comments section to let us know what you think.

Day 1 – Vienna

JULY 19, 2023

I hate overnight flights. I guess when you are travelling from North America to Europe, overnight flights are pretty much the thing. But there are (at least) two reasons they suck: 1 – There’s nothing to look at out the window, since its mostly night during the flight; and 2 – In addition to losing a nights sleep (who can sleep on airplanes, put up your hand! And I’m not including those of you rich enough to afford the nice lay-flat pods in business class) you arrive at your destination early in the morning, without a hotel ready to check-in, and you want to start your sightseeing while you are dead tired and grumpy! First world problems, I know, I know.

Well we survived the overnight flight, and the sleep-deprived first day of sightseeing. Flight was rather uneventful and took off an arrived on time (somewhat of a rarity these days). That means we arrived at Flughafen Wein before 8:30am local time. We took a local OBB train direct from the airport to Praterstern station which took about 30 minutes, and then a 10 minute walk from the station to our hotel. The hotel is located in a part of the city between the Danube river and the Danube canal, and only a short 10-15 minute walk into the old centre of Vienna. Dropped off our bags and then headed out into the city for our zombie walk.

Its super hot in Vienna, indeed most of Europe these last few weeks. We did our best to marvel at the varied gothic, Rococo, Baroque and modern architecture. Lisa had pre-booked us a boat cruise on the Danube canal for 1pm, so we hoofed the old cobbled streets, visited a park or two and sat for a coffee and water before heading over the the docks at 12:30. A fair number of tourists – many from Viking cruises wandering the streets as headphoned geriatric gangs with their gang leaders holding up locator flags while walking and reciting the history of Vienna into their wireless mics. But not jam-packed busy.

The cruise was an hour and a half cruising up the Danube canal – the man made canal branching off the main river with a primary purpose of flood control – with a Schnitzel lunch included. The cruise wasn’t really much to write home about (despite me doing so right now!) but offered up some tired travellers a chance to get off their feet, put some post-airplane food and drink in their stomachs, while watching and hearing about objects along the canal and waiting for their hotel room to be ready. For instance, did you know Vienna was the home to the world’s longest residential building (as-in, a continuous apartment block)? Neither did we, but now both we and you do! Though we couldn’t actually see it from the boat.

After the boat ride, we headed back to the hotel, where the room was ready, and we had a brief nap to restore a bit of energy. We headed out again in search of some dinner and along the way took in the amusement park at Praterstern – Prater Park. Dinner at an Italian eatery, and back to the hotel to call it a day.

Tomorrow (and Friday and Saturday) are supposed to continue hot, but I expect with a good night’s sleep we’ll be ready to tackle the tourist trek with aplomb! Pics from today below.

Day 2 – Vienna

JULY 20, 2023

Well rested today. Managed to catch up on that missed sleep from yesterday. I think all the walking around helped too.

This morning we hopped the U-bahn and headed to the burbs. Destination: Schönbrunn Palace. This was the summer palace of the Hapsburg emperors of Austria. It’s touted as the Versailles of Austria I believe, but in reality, it’s not really up to Versailles calibre. The palace is indeed grand, and we had a nice audio-assisted tour of the rooms – lots of gilding on the walls and ceilings, bigger than life-sized family portraits, and original furnishings. But it lacks that ostentatiousness. And the grounds are expansive, with requisite ponds, formal gardens, and hedge mazes. At the far end of the grounds, up the top of the hill, there is a massive “Gloriette” structure, which is a miniature palace on its own. But again, compared to Versailles, these grounds have some pimping up to do!

After the palace, we were back amongst the plebs and spent the rest of the day visiting an outdoor market (Naschmarkt), a couple art museums (Secession museum housing a Klimt display, and Albertina hosting modern and classic art) and to top it off, a Time Travel history of Vienna (this was a schlocky underground “museum” that used animatronic figures and virtual reality to tell some of the history of Vienna. The hotel had recommended it as a non-schlocky visit, but I beg to differ.

That was it for today. Hot again today, and hot again tomorrow!

Day 3 – Vienna

JULY 21, 2023

Today is last day in Vienna. Still hot here, with a slight threat of rain. Woke up to overcast skies. But by the time we were at breakfast, back to full sun!

Today, we didn’t have too much planned for the day. We started with a short U-bahn ride out to Belvedere, which is another summer palace for the Hapsburgs (I believe there may be a lot of them – not Hapsburg’s, but Hapsburg summer palaces). At this location they have an art gallery, with Viennese art through the various historical periods middle ages to present day. More Klimt’s too. We spent a good hour and a half wandering the galleries (very busy here – even at 10am) and then another 45 minutes or so walking the grounds.

After that, we just wandered slowly back into the centre of Vienna, admiring and appreciating the architecture and scenery (and sweating some more). There were a few museums we considered (Museum of Austrian History, Hofburg Wein, and some other rando museum) but we decided instead just to saunter back to the hotel for a little rest before our evening entertainment.

For our last evening in Vienna (not counting when we come back for our flight home) Lisa had purchased us tickets for a Mozart concert at Musikverein Wein. They do a nightly show of Mozart pieces, with the orchestra in full period costume. The ticket also included a meal at a swanky hotel near the venue. Lisa and I both had our fingers crossed that there would be something on the menu other than Schnitzel, as we are both Schnitzeled-out already!! To our delight, the fixed menu had no hint of Schnitzel! The show itself was quite enjoyable, and in a beautiful venue (some pics below). And they threw in a few Strauss hits into the Mozart mix. A fun time was had by all.

Tomorrow, we pack up the bags, and hit the road to Slovenia.

Day 4 – Graz & Maribor

JULY 22, 2023

Today we hit the road for Slovenia. After a missed alarm, we got up a bit too late to have breakfast before we needed to pick up the car. So unfortunately we missed out on a third morning at the delightful small cafe just around the corner, with their delicious pastries and breakfast pancakes. Instead, we dragged our suitcases the short(ish) 14 minute walk to the car rental place, near to where we arrived on the train our first day.

The car rental already had a couple renters waiting to pick up their cars when we arrived, but it was only a short wait until we were shown to our gleaming chariot for the next two weeks – a blue Renault Clio. And as promised, its a standard. I’ll have more on the car in a future post so those details will have to suffice for now. We headed out of Vienna a little before 11am on the way to Slovenia.

The drive from Vienna to Slovenia is not a very long one – about 2 and a bit hours, on a four and six lane highway. So since we didn’t want to arrive in Maribor too early, we made a stop in the city of Graz, Austria, for a walk around its UNESCO heritage city centre. It was a pretty city centre, with grand and ornate buildings lining the streets, and lots of smaller Gasses branching off with plenty of shops and cafes. It was also fairly busy – being a Saturday there were probably plenty of locals and tourists alike. We took a funicular ride to the top of The Schlossberg, a great hill rising vertically just off the main street. The hill used to have a castle at the top, but now there are just some foundations, a plateau garden, and a cafe with sights over the city. There was some relief from the heat today, so it was an enjoyable couple hours seeing the sights of Graz.

Then we were back in the car on the way to Maribor. At the border with Slovenia, we stopped to pay for our e-vignette. It’s basically a pass for travelling the main toll-highways of Slovenia. (Austria has the same). From there, a short 20 minute drive (plus the little detour we took because I was too busy pronouncing Slovenian words on roadsigns and I missed the highway exit) and we arrived in Maribor. Just in time for a torrential downpour!! We waited it out in the car for a bit before making our way to the hotel to register and get directions for parking the car. Because our hotel is in the centre of Maribor, and the centre is a pedestrian zone, we had to get special access to drive in the area – with the bollards sinking to the ground when we approached – by providing our licence plate in advance. Felt kind of strange driving in a pedestrian area. Though because of the downpour, there weren’t many pedestrians in the zone.

It was still raining after we got to our room (which is actually about a block away from the main hotel) so we tried to wait it out a bit before heading out for dinner. The rain let up and I deemed it safe to head out, but no more than 3 minutes into our walk to the restaurant the heavens opened up again. It’s only about a 7 minute walk to the restaurant from our room, but by the time we got there we were both soaked! Oh well, we had a leisurely and enjoyable meal (not Schnitzel, but local beef fillet cooked perfectly) and by the time we left, there were only a few drops coming down, and our clothes had mostly dried.

Calling it a night now, and tomorrow we’ll explore Maribor and its surrounds.

Day 5 – Ptuj and Maribor

JULY 23, 2023

Ptuj, Ptuj, Ptuj. Too fun to say. That was our destination today.

The heavens had cleared overnight, and we were in for yet another sunny scorcher. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but its pretty hot. After breakfast at the hotel we hopped in the Clio and headed for a short half hour drive down the road to Ptuj.

Ptuj is Slovenia’s oldest city (at least that’s what they tell us in the guidebook) and is located on the same river as Maribor, the Drava. We parked the car at the top of the hill, close to the castle, and walked down into the fairly small town. We had a stroll through the few small streets of the old town and over to the river. It was Sunday morning, and not a lot of people on the streets. There were however a fair number of lycra cyclists (Lisa spotted a few lycra cyclists on ebikes. I would have thought that such fabrics were reserved for real cyclists). I guess Sunday mornings are a great time to go out for a ride then sit back with an espresso or two.

After strolling around the town, we made our way back up the hill to the castle. The castle is home to a museum, which has some furnishings and artworks from the ages. Nothing particularly noteworthy. There was also a small exhibit on the annual pagan festival held in Ptuj, called “Kurentovanje”. This festival, held in the spring, has participants dancing and walking in various costumes, many of them resembling Furries. The exhibit had some information on the festival, and a number of costumes on display. Picture or two of the costumes below.

After Ptuj we made a leisurely drive back to Maribor along the back roads, amongst many fields of corn. In Maribor, after a lunch (at an Irish Pub no less!! – it had seats available where others in the vicinity were fairly full), we walked the streets of the town, up through Mestni Park and the hill beyond, which looks out over the city and the plains around Maribor. Some very beautiful views. We then headed back into the city, and down to the river, before strolling back to our hotel.

Tourist levels have been relatively light I would say in our experience in Maribor and Ptuj. At the main squares with restaurants and cafes there is a good bit of activity, but not hordes of people. And once you get away from the main square, its fairly light. In Maribor, the start of the European Youth Olympic Festival today has I’m sure added a good number of tourists to the town, but its still not overun. But its still hot!

Day 6 – Žiče Charterhouse and Celje Castle

JULY 24, 2023

Packed up the bags this morning, loaded the car, dropped the hotel key in the return box, and headed out this morning on our way to Ljubljana, with a few stops planned along the way. Only one problem – I had booked the hotel in Maribor for one more night, and didn’t have the AirBnB in Lubljana until Tuesday night. I didn’t realise this until about a half hour out of Maribor, when Lisa looked at our agenda. Whoops. Senior moment. No big deal though. Dropped a message to the hotel telling them of my boo-boo and confirming we would be back late afternoon to get a new key for the room!

Our plan for the drive to Ljubljana was to stop at a couple of sites about half an hour and 45 minutes down the road. So coming back after wasn’t really a problem. Slovenia is not a large country. First stop on the tour-de-jour was a Carthusian monastery, up in the hills south west of Maribor. The Žiče Charterhouse.

The monastery was first built around 1165. What remains has had extensive renovations, and much of the original buildings are long gone. It was a very peaceful and quiet visit, up in the mountains, with only a couple of tourists other than us.

Then it was off to storm the next castle – Celje Castle. About a 20 minute drive through the winding mountain roads (and another 10 or so on the freeway), we arrived at Celje, Slovenia’s third largest city (a close tie with Kranj, and both of them only have about 36,000 inhabitants). Looming above the town, across the river Savinja, is the Celje Castle. Google maps helpfully indicated a parking lot just below the castle, with what it said was a 10 minute trail walk up to the castle. Google also helpfully indicated that the parking lot at the top of mount, in front of the castle, “is very small, and it is not recommended to drive to the castle”. So we thought, sure we can do a ten minute walk up a trail.

Turns out Googles description of the trail should have been “a super steep gradient hike on loose gravel, with numerous switchbacks, that will take much longer than ten minutes, even for very fit, young people”. But we didn’t stop, and made it to the top, even if we were sweating profusely (at least the trail was in the forest, shaded. But still hot and humid!). The picture here does not do the gradient justice.

At the top we were rewarded with a very well preserved 12th century castle. There’s not a whole lot in the castle (other than a few dioramas of castle life, and the chamber of terror – with replica medieval torture devices). But the walk around the castle and the grounds was nice, and the views of the mountains and plains surrounding the castle, as well as the city of Celje just below, was fantastic. Also enjoyed a light lunch at the cafe.

After the castle we had a short drive into Celje to walk the old centre. It was dead quiet, with the cafes in the squares only having one or two people at each, and a few families walking though the main promenade. Kinda strange, but kinda nice that we haven’t experienced the mass tourists yet in Slovenia. Which was the plan all along. We’ll see how that holds up over the coming days.

Drove back to Maribor late in the afternoon, and picked up a new room key (I sheepishly made Lisa go into reception to get the key, so they couldn’t identify the dummy who doesn’t know how many days he paid for), walked for a meal, and now back at the hotel. For sure, tomorrow we hit the road for Ljubljana. I’m sure. I think…..

Day 7 – Caves and Castle

JULY 25, 2023

I was right! Today is the day we check out of our hotel in Maribor. Whew!

We were actually up pretty early – 6:30am – as we needed to hit the road fairly early. With my mixup yesterday, Lisa had purchased tickets to an attraction about 45 minutes outside Ljubljana for a 10:30 entrance. But since we were driving from Maribor, and not Ljubljana, it was a two and a bit hour drive. So no sleeping in today.

Today we were visiting Postojna caves and Predjama castle. The drive was mostly along a freeway, so we made good time. Freeway’s here in Slovenia (and Austria) have posted speed limits in some sections, but in other sections, its anything goes. We made a steady 120kmh, but I was passed by many cars doing much faster. We did have a fun 15 minutes of the drive where the heavens opened up and even with the wipers going a full speed, visibility was somewhat limited. I made sure to slow down to 100kmh for that part. 🙂

We arrived at the Postojna caves first. Claire had told us about these caves (she visited both cave and castle when she was in Slovenia) and told us we had to go. And she told us about the train ride in the cave. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect (I had pictured one of those tourist trains of the type that drive around cities) but it turns out that the train – which is electric and travels on small gauge rails – is how you get into the main part of the cave. Its about an 8 minute ride, at a good clip, and goes through many different cave rooms impressive on their own (and according to the audio-guide used to be a one hour or so walk before the train was installed). But its only to get you to the start of your walking journey, which covers the most spectacular parts of the cave. It was by far the largest, longest, and most striking cave I had been in. And I’ve been in some caves! Thousands of stalagmites, stalactites, curtains and other forms, along a one hour audio-guided walk. And the 10 degree temperature inside the cave was a nice respite from the heat.

After the caves, we drove the 9.5km up the winding road to the Predjama castle (arriving just in time for another downpour). This is a castle that has been built into the cliff face on the side of a mountain. Impressive and beautiful from the outside, the inside isn’t really much to shake a stick at. And the throng of tourists at this site (both here and the caves were very busy with tourists, unlike our time in Slovenia so far) didn’t really help much in enjoying the ambience. After these sites, we had a short stop in the town of Postojna for a refreshment (all quiet there), and then headed to Ljubljana to find our AirBnB, which will be our home base for the next five days. We’ve got the city to explore and some day trips out of the city planned. And there will probably be another castle or two.

Day 8 – Ljubljana

JULY 26, 2023

Today we stayed local and spent the day touring Ljubljana. The capital of Slovenia, it has a population of under 300k (the entirety of Slovenia has only about 2M) but the city center is very walkable. We walked the streets along the Ljubljanica, the aptly named river running through the central area. Plenty of tourists out today though not a crush.

Our first stop was the city museum of Ljubljana. The museum houses rooms showing the history of Ljubljana and it’s surrounds, from the first evidence of settlement around 400BC, right up to today. It was a well put together display despite being fairly small (all that history was displayed over 5 rooms). There was also a temporary exhibit of Jože Plečnik, the architect who in the early 20th century designed much of what can be seen today in Ljubljana. We usually enjoy the museums showing local history, and this one was no exception.

After the museum, we walked back along the Ljubljanica on the other side, and headed to the funicular that would take us up the hill to the Ljubljana Castle, which towers above the city.

The very short ride (about one tenth of the time we stood in line waiting our turn to ride – this was a popular attraction) and we were at the top and in the castle. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a whole lot to see in the castle itself, so we satisfied ourselves walking about, poking our heads in various passageways, and steering clear of the biggest crowds. We also had a nice leisurely lunch at the quiet restaurant in the grounds of the castle (which was probably quiet due to the prices – but the food was worth it).

Then it was back down the hill, and little more walking through the town, a fine pastry and beverage stop, then back to the apt.

Day 9 – Novo Mesto

JULY 27, 2023

Road trip! Back in the car again today for a drive to the southwest town of Novo Mesto. The town is in the Dolenjska region of Slovenia, only a short distance from the border with Croatia and about one hour by freeway from Ljubljana.

Its a very small and pretty town, in the elbow of the river Krka, so it didn’t take us a ton of time to tour around. We visited a castle – Grm Castle – which is really no more than a large country house just outside the city centre. The castle is used as some kind of govt offices now, so nothing to see inside, and outside not a whole lot to be impressed by. But it was a nice walk to and back from the castle, through the “suburbs” of Novo Mesto.

After the castle we walked up the hill for a visit to St. Nicholas church, overlooking the town. There, I was able climb the 126 steps of the bell tower for a 360 view of the town and surrounding countryside (Lisa declined this adventure). And while I was up there, I had an earful as the bells rang out to announce 11:45am. After the church, we headed back to the main square for lunch, and then got back in the car and drove the backroads through the hills and valleys back to Ljubljana.

Dinner in Ljubljana on the river, and that was the day today (couple of pics at the end of the gallery below from the Dragon bridge in Ljubljana). Oh, and crowds in Novo Mesto? Zero. I think we might have been the only tourists.

Ljubljana digs, and the car

JULY 27, 2023

Thought I’d include a few pics from our AirBnB in Ljubljana. It’s located about 5-10 minutes walk north of the old city core, in a more modern area of offices and hotel buildings. Our building is obviously a socialist era building. Not much to look at from outside, but the apartment is decent and modern.

And the chariot we have to travel around Austria and Slovenia? It’s a Renault Clio. Four door, standard. Not many bells and whistles, though it does have cruise control. Thought I might have a bit of trouble re-learning a stick, since it has been quite a few years since we last owned a manual transmission. But like riding a bike I guess, you don’t forget, and was easy as pie.

Day 10 – Two towns and a Mountain

JULY 28, 2023

Another road trip today. Plan was to visit two towns and a mountain.

First stop was a town north west of Ljubljana, Škofja Loka. A very small town, along the Sélška Sóra river. Was recommended in the guidebooks as a good stop on a day trip. It was a pretty little town, and there were a number of busses in the parking lot, so others had the same idea. However, there weren’t many tourists walking the town, or up at Loški Grad, the castle in this town. The castle had a small but well done museum with local history, local fauna, and local sports heros. We spent maybe an hour in total walking the streets and visiting the castle and museum. Then it was off to town number two.

Kamnik is a town located in the hills north of Ljubljana. Again, a pretty little town with not one, but two castles. We visited one, Zaprice Grad, which had a museum (which we didn’t visit this time), and then had a nice Italian lunch in the town. Not many tourists here.

Final destination was way up in the mountains. Velika Planina is an outdoor museum of shepherd huts and buildings on a plateau in the mountains north of Ljubljana. We drove the winding road, full of switchbacks and vertical drops off the side of the very narrow two-way road for about 40 minutes. When we were about 6km from the destination (or at least, the destination Google maps had plotted for us) the road turned into a gravel road. Given the road we had just travelled, the fact that many cars were parked in a lot at that point, obviously with hikers taking the rest of the route (lots of hiking trails in these mountains) and that the Renault is only front wheel drive, we decided we would call it a day at that point. So we never made it completely to our last destination, but we had a fun drive in the mountains (Lisa might define fun differently).

Tomorrow is our last day in Ljubljana, and Lisa and I haven’t quite decided how we are going to spend it, so you’ll have to tune in to tomorrows blog to find out!

Day 11 – Mountain(s) Redux

JULY 29, 2023

Woke up this morning and discussed what we should do for our last day in Ljubljana. One option was to visit another small town (I’m sure it had a castle) about an hour away. Or we could retry our mountain visit. Some slight waffling (on my part), but we ended up deciding to retry the Velika Planina again. Good choice.

This time however, instead of trying to drive up, we chose to take the cable car. Had we known about the cable car yesterday, we might have done that rather than the drive, and been successful. But I think waiting the day was the right choice in any event (more on why later).

The cable car base station is a short drive up the road from Kamnik (which we had visited yesterday), about a forty minute drive (without narrow cliff face roads!) from our apartment in Ljubljana. We arrived at the base station around 10am, for the ride up. The lady in the ticket office helpfully informed us that from the cable car station at the top, since the chair lift they used to have was getting replaced, we would need to walk to the Velika Planina area instead – “about a 30 minute easy hike”. No problem. We piled into the cable car (about 30 of us, it was fairly busy here) and it was a short 10 minute or so ride to the top.

Steeper than it looks!
Steeper than it looks!!

From there, we followed the arrows to begin our “easy” hike. Well, I guess maybe easy is a relative term. Easy for seasoned German hikers. Easy for mountaineering people. Easy for mountain goats. It was far from “easy” for us tourists from Canada. While we did successfully make it, it took us about an hour, and the trail was rocky in parts, and grade extremely steep for much of the hike.

We switchbacked-it up the steeper slopes. And it was worth it. Aside from the extremely unique village at the top (which is occupied by real sheep and cow herders) the views of the surrounding mountains and into the valleys below were exceptional. At one of the domiciles there was a cafe (there were actually a couple set up as cafes) and we had a wonderful mountain lunch of soup with meat, a plate of fresh cheese and salami, some fresh bread, and an apple strudel to share for dessert (see pic below) while we sat at an open air log picnic table overlooking the settlement.

After a short walk around (mooing at the free-range cows ambling about) we headed back towards the cable car station. I mentioned earlier why today was probably a better day than yesterday to visit. In the online information about Velika Plenina it mentions that going in the morning is better than in the afternoon, as in the afternoon quite often the clouds roll in. Sure enough, as we were making the hike back a lot of the mountain vistas we saw as we were hiking up were now obscured by clouds. So we made the right choice (even if it wasn’t entirely our choosing!!).

For the hike back, rather than go down the extremely steep trails we climbed, we stuck to the gravel road, which is there mainly for the construction vehicles that are working on building the new chairlift. Not quite as scenic, and almost as steep in parts, but at least a different trail. Only had to dodge a few trucks too!

After our mountain visit, we returned to Ljubljana. Lisa wanted to take a little rest (and catch up on her reading) so I journeyed out on my own, for a walk and visit to the large park – Tivoli park – just west of the main city core. It is a huge park, and I only saw part of it. Much like the hike on Velika Planina, some of the trails through the forest were quite steep, and I found myself sweating again (and without the high-mountain breezes to keep me cooler – hot in Ljubljana again today). It was my second mountain climb of the day.

Slovenian War Memorial Plaque (thanks Google translate!)

One of the goals of the walk was to visit the memorial in the park for the defenders of Slovenia during the war for Slovenia in 1991 (when a few of the former Yugoslav states became independent). I made it to the memorial, but was quite disappointed in it. I had figured it would be place in a grand spot, with some large monument. But it turned out to be a couple sticks and plaque. Oh well, the walk through the park was (mostly) enjoyable anyway.

After the park, it was back to the apartment to pick up Lisa and head into the centre again for dinner. Our last dinner in Ljubljana.

Driving in Slovenia

JULY 29, 2023

Thought I’d add a quick note about driving in Slovenia. Driving here has been just fine. I mentioned in a previous post about speed limits (the fact there for much of the highways there aren’t any really) and its true on the smaller roads too. I’m regularly passed by others eager to get to where they are going. And I’m going 10kmh or more over the speed limit (where there is one) already! And lots of round-abouts. But I love round-abouts. They are so civilised and efficient. Much better than traffic lights.

But speaking of traffic lights (and there are plenty of those too, mainly in towns of course), that is my one road complaint. Here, they put their traffic lights on same side of the intersection where you stop (as opposed to across the intersection, like they are in much (all?) of North America). That means, when you are the first in line at a stop light, it is really hard to see the lights. You either look way up, or look far left or right. It’s just dumb. The fact that they turn red and yellow together briefly before green is good, but their placement, just dumb.

So that’s my driving mini-rant

Day 12 – Caves, Koper and Piran

JULY 30, 2023

The drive from Ljubljana to Piran is a little under two hours in total. We had a planned stop along the way – another cave! Škocjanske jame (jame is cave in Slovenian) is another UNESCO site, and would make for a good stop, since our hotel didn’t have check-in before 3pm.

Good thing Lisa had pre-purchased tickets a few days before as when we arrived, there was a sign saying all tours sold out for the day. We had tickets for the 11am tour, and were a bit early, so we cooled ourselves in the shade at the info centre (hot out again!!) prior to the start. Like Postojna caves, the tour starts by first getting to the caves. Unlike Postojna, no train here! We hoofed it for about 20 minutes along the road then through the forest until the cave entrance. At the entrance we got a short information session – in English only – about the caves and the do’s and dont’s of the tour (for example, no photos allowed, so I didn’t take any pictures inside the cave – though they did relax this requirement a bit and Lisa and others were taking some photos, but you’ll have to live with a few that I downloaded from the internet) before they split us into 4 groups of about 35 people each and we entered the cave (yup, about 140 in total on our tour, and they do this every hour 9-5pm).

The beginning of the tour was not much to write home about. The usual stalagmites and stalactites, but more poorly lit I thought than Postojna. I wasn’t much impressed until – we entered “the canyon”. Here, it wasn’t so much about the formations, but the sheer size of this part of the cave. Way down at the bottom of “the canyon” is the Reka river. The path started probably 100 meters above the river, winding its way down the sides of the rock on a paved pathway, then across a bridge 50 metres above, before gradually climbing again. The view when you first enter is phenomenal, and I wish I had taken a photo. It felt like the Indiana Jones cave where he rides the mining cart through it. So while the cave started out lower down in my list of impressive caves, it jumped more than a few notches for this part (still working on my ordered list of caves visited, Martin).

At the end of the 1.5 hour walk through the cave, we exited and had the option of an “easy” elevator ride back to the info centre, a half hour “more challenging” walk, or a 1.5 hour “easier” walk through the forest and along the river. Since this was a stop on our way to Piran, rather than a destination itself, Lisa and I chose the “easy” elevator option. However, just like the mountain trail of yesterday, it wasn’t as easy as the guide made it sound. There were many steps up to the elevator (which was more of a funicular than elevator) and more steps at the top again. Anyway, it was shorter.

After the cave, we got back in the car and headed to Piran, but we were still a bit early. So we made a stop in Koper, a town also on the Mediterranean coast. Had a walk through the old town, a refreshment, then back in the car to Piran.

Our hotel in Piran is inside the old town, so you can’t drive directly to it (old town of Piran is a no drive zone. Well, its actually a no drive for non-residents). However, it is very close to the end of a very steep and cobbly road that you can drive down to drop off the bags, but have to drive back up to park outside the old town. We notified our hotel keeper we were arriving about 20 minutes before getting there (its a six room hotel, and they don’t have someone at reception all the time) and arrived at the same time as the hotel keeper. I took our bags up the 3 floors of very steep semi-circular stairs (no elevator here) and then went back to park the car in a private spot provided by the hotel. Got a little lost trying to find it (on the very steep and narrow streets) but did eventually find it and park.

Lisa had a short rest while I sat in the main square for a refreshment, then we went out for dinner. After dinner we had a walk around the seawalk of the town, and watched the sun set over the Mediterranean before heading back to the hotel. Lots of pics of sun setting below. Tomorrow we’ll walk Piran so more photos of the town then.

Day 13 – Piran

JULY 31, 2023

Today we walked Piran. Piran is a very small town, right on the tip of a peninsula poking out into the Mediterranean. The town and towns around it are the seaside vacation areas of Slovenia (Slovenian has a very small part of the coast).

We started our day (after a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and a visit to the old city walls) with a circle walk of the city. It’s an 8.5km walk around Piran stretching out to the neighbouring towns of Fiesa and Portorož. Very hilly again, and hot once more. It was a nice walk, and we found a great spot to spend our day tomorrow (you’ll have to tune into the blog to find out about it!). Some nice paths through olive groves and through small residential streets, then back along the seawall (where we had lunch) and into Piran.

After an early afternoon siesta in the hotel (with air conditioning!!) we headed out again to explore the paths and alleys of Piran proper. Very easy to get lost, but not really easy to lose yourself as you ultimately end up on the water, or back at the main square. A refreshment, then a dinner, and we had a nice day visiting Piran.

Not much more to say, so here are some pictures.

Day 14 – Portorož and the beach

AUGUST 1, 2023

Today was relax day. Instead of finding a mountain to climb up to, or a cave to climb down into, or even a castle to clamber over the ramparts, we went to the beach.

I mentioned yesterday that during our circle walk of Piran and environs, we saw somewhere to visit today. About the halfway point of the walk, we returned to the seaside in Portorož. Right there in front of us was a beach club. Mostly for hotel guests, it was possible to rent a beach chair, cushion and umbrella for the tidy sum of 30 euros per person. But we’re on holiday, so spare no expense!

The beach here is what they call a “concrete” beach. It’s a concrete seawall with various entry points to the water. But the seats and umbrellas are set up on a lawn area, amongst the pines so it’s not so bad. The water was a nice warm (though cold on first entry) 26.6 degrees. So we had a swim or two, some drinks at the bar, and lunch at the beach restaurant.

That’s it for today! Sorry for the short post. Tomorrow, we leave the Mediterranean and head back into the hills and mountains of north-western Slovenia.

Actually, one more thing maybe I’ll mention. Other than than a couple nights ago where we sat for dinner at a table next to a bunch of US Edward Jones reps obviously on some earned bonus trip, we’ve heard very few North American’s during our travels, especially in Slovenia. Some Brits in Ljubljana, but that’s it. We’ll see if that holds out for the rest of the trip, but I suspect it will.

Day 15 – Lake Bled

AUGUST 2, 2023

Joseph Tito. Remember that guy? At least those of you old enough to have been around in the last century, or to have some knowledge of Yugoslav history?

Josip Broz Tito was the president/dictator of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1980 when he died. He’s in my blog because for much of his time he had a summer residence in Lake Bled, our stop today. And that is not the only link to this blog. The hotel we are staying in – Villa Bled – was his summer residence. We’re staying in a former dictator’s mansion!

The drive from Piran to Lake Bled took us away from the Mediterranean and back into the Julian Alps, northwest of Ljubljana. About 6 km from Bled, just after getting off the highway, we ran into traffic, moving at a snails place all headed to Bled. Clearly, this was a popular spot. Being early for hotel check-in, we had planned to park somewhere near the lake, have a look around, and then go to check in. But with all the traffic we thought best bet would be to go straight to the hotel – which has free parking for guests – and check-in early, even if the room wasn’t ready.

We checked in, and the room was in fact ready, so we headed up to drop off our bags before visiting the lake and town. Taking the tiny elevator up to the second floor, we had a long walk down a corridor to a corner room. And what a room it was. Entering the “room” there is a hallway with a large 5 piece bathroom at end of it. A door off the hallway leads to the “reception” room, which a couch, lounge chairs, a desk and the TV. Off the reception room is the bedroom, which is about the size of our living and dining rooms at home – or bigger! And large double windows in each of the rooms (including the bathroom) look out over Lake Bled and Bled island. Wow. What a place. And compared to our very tiny room in Piran, we don’t know what to do with the space!

After check-in, we did a lake stroll. The guide says an “easy” walk around the lake, 6.5 km. Guess what, it was easy! No lying this time. Other than avoiding the large number of other walkers, and the constant stream of cyclists using the same path (Lisa not impressed), it was a nice, mostly flat and on paved path, stroll the full circle of Lake Bled. Saw the island church from all angles! A brief refreshment, then rest, then a nice leisurely dinner at the hotel restaurant on Tito’s terrace looking out over the lake, and that was our day in Bled. We may spend a bit more time tomorrow – perhaps a boat to to the island or visit to a castle, as our next stop is only a short 30 minutes or less away, but we’ll see. Weather forecast is not looking promising. Pics, as usual, below.

Day 16 – Castle (again) and Lake (again) and Mountain (again)

AUGUST 3, 2023

I said yesterday we might just visit the castle before we left Bled in the morning. That’s what we did.

Had a nice breakfast (after a lousy nights sleep – Tito has no air conditioning and his curtains are threadbare) and checked out, then drove up to the Bled Castle. Having hiked up to many a castle on this trip (or taken a funicular), this time we drove to the parking lot right at the castle entrance. And we were early enough – before all the tours arrived in Bled – to get a parking spot and visit the castle before the hordes arrived. It’s a fairly small castle, with a small museum contained within, so it didn’t take us too long to visit – maybe an hour in total. Then off to our next location.

Lake Bohinj is supposed to be the poorer cousin to Lake Bled. It’s only about 30 minutes or so down the road and further into the alps from Bled, so other than the snaking traffic train for a portion of it, we got there relatively quickly. And it really is a bit of a poor cousin. The town at the edge of the lake is not very scenic, and the drive along the edge not much so either. It is a much bigger lake than Lake Bled so while you can make a hike around it, it can take 3 hours or longer. And it was raining. So rather then spend time at the lake, we went to the mountains (again).

At the far end of Lake Bohinj there is a cable car that goes to the top of Vogel mountain. It’s a ski area here in the start of the alps. We parked the car and rode the cable car up the mounting in driving rain and wind. At the top, we beelined it for the cafeteria before it could fill up with the others from the cable car up, and just got ourselves a table. It was almost lunch time so we ordered a mountain lunch (stew and soup) and had a leisurely eat hoping the rain would let up. And the mountain gods were mostly good to us, as when we were finished there only occasional light showers, mist, and some sunny breaks. Enough for us to have a bit of a walk around the base of the hill, and for Lisa to feed an Alpaca. Then we headed back down the way we came up.

It was still too early to check into our next hotel (which is about 10 minute drive from Lake Bohinj, so we had a stop, walked over the bridge at the end of the lake, and had a gelato. The rain came and went.

That was pretty much it for the day. Since we hadn’t slept well the night before we had a bit of a snooze once we checked in, did some internet updating, had dinner at the hotel restaurant, and called it a day. Tomorrow we say goodbye to Slovenia as we make our way back into Austria, with our destination Salzburg.

Final thoughts on Slovenia? It is a small, beautiful and geographically varied country. People are quite friendly, and embarrassingly versed in at least two other languages than their mother tongue, English being one of them. And as we wished for, relatively un-touristed. For now.

Day 17 – Salzburg

AUGUST 4, 2023

Long drive today. Made even longer by the numerous slowdowns on the highway. Some of them seemed to have no reason. At least two of them did have a reason – tolls! While part of the cost of the rental car included what they call a “vignette”, or a pass for the toll roads in Austria (but not in Slovenia – had to buy that separately when we entered Slovenia a couple weeks ago) apparently it did not cover all highway costs. Namely some of the tunnel tolls. Twice we had to fork out some euros to pay for a tunnel. Huh!

But we did eventually make it to Salzburg, our home for the next two nights. Check-in at the hotel was no problem, even if we were a bit early. The nice lady at reception gave us a quick orientation with the tourist map, and then we were on our way into the old part of Salzburg – about a 15 minute walk.

First stop was a late lunch. Then we meandered the streets of the old town a bit, and visited the Salzburg museum for a bit of history on Salzburg – from way back to contemporary. Some more wandering of the streets, visits to souvenir shops, and it was time for dinner. Weather has been a bit iffy so far here, with scattered showers and constant light rain. Not enough to really get wet, but enough to make sightseeing not quite as enjoyable. Well, there’s always tomorrow (forecast for tomorrow – torrential rain. We’ll have to see).

Anyway some pics below from today.

Day 18 – The hills are alive….

AUGUST 5, 2023

… with the sound of music, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah (c’mon, you know the tune). When in Salzburg, one must go on a Sound of Music tour of course.

Before leaving home, Lisa had booked a half day Sound of Music tour for us today. A 9am meetup, we had to make sure we were up and about at a reasonable time today, especially since the hotel we are at doesn’t have breakfast included in price (you can opt for the 22€/pp breakfast if you wish). So the 7am alarm, and we were out the door by 7:45. The weather here has turned cloudy and cool now, and today was forecast to be rainy all day, and sure enough it was. We were already good and wet by the time we got to the breakfast cafe, and then another walk through the rain to get to our meetup spot for the tour. Not the greatest conditions for the tour, but we made the best of it. Us and the approximately 80 other people (2 busses)!

It was a four hour tour that took us to (in order): the lake that Maria and the kids fell into from their boat; the mansion that was used as the terrace of the Von Trapp residence; THE gazebo; a view from the bus of the nunnery (still in operation); a view of the mansion that served as the front of their house (different from the one used for terrace); view from the bus of some of the locations in the mountains from the opening credits; and finally a visit to the church that was used for the wedding scenes. And during our time on the bus, we all sang along to the soundtrack from the movie (I kid you not).

Despite the rain, it was a fun morning. Lisa actually sang more than I did, since despite her not liking the movie, she knows all the words to all the songs. And I found myself surprised (though I really shouldn’t have been) to learn that all of the interior shots from the movie were filmed on a Los Angeles soundstage. For some reason, I assumed they were filmed on location. But that’s the magic of Hollywood I presume. And speaking of Hollywood, most of the people (on our bus at least) were American. Haven’t seen many Americans while on our trip, but they were all here.

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel to drop off a few goodies we had picked up, and then out again for lunch, and another visit into old Salzburg. We had a couple hours, so we did —– a castle tour! Yup, another castle, the huge Hohensalzburg Fortress, which towers over the city of Salzburg. It was fairly busy (despite the rain) but not overly so. We toured the exhibits in the castle museums, as well as the castle grounds. When we were done that, we took a short walk around the castle hill to visit the nunnery we had seen from the bus tour and take a few pictures (of the gates the kids come calling for Maria at, and the driveway where the nuns incapacitated the Nazi cars by removing the distributor caps). Fun!

After that, things were closing up again in Salzburg (shops and attractions seem to close at 5 here) so we had a refreshment, then dinner (Italian again, not quite ready for more schnitzel yet), then back to the hotel. That’s it for today.

Day 19 – Linz

AUGUST 6, 2023

Linz, Linz, what to say about Linz. Not much really.

The drive to Linz from Salzburg is a relatively short 1 hour. We arrived about 10:30 or so, parked the car, and had a bit of a walk. Still raining. We visited the Linz castle – Schlossmuseum Linz – which is now mainly a museum. Not very busy, and some interesting sections on history of life in northern Austria. We then had lunch at one of the few restaurants open – its Sunday, and most shops and restaurants are closed. To beat the rain, we thought we’d try another museum, the Nordico Stadtmuseum, which was supposed to have a history of Linz. Turns out that history was contained entirely in one room of about 20×20 feet. The second floor was closed for renovations. Good thing we got half price sunday admittance! Had a walk back to the hotel through the mainly deserted streets, checked in, and had a little nap.

Around 5 we were thinking what we could do, and I checked out movies. Turns out Oppenheimer was playing at an art theatre quite close to our hotel, and it was in english (with German subtitles). So we took in the movie, then a dinner, now back at the hotel.

So we didn’t get to see a lot of Linz, but Linz was mostly closed today anyway. That’s how it goes sometimes! The few pics I have below.

Day 20 – Mauthausen

AUGUST 7, 2023

Final day of our tour of Austria and Slovenia.

Today we left Linz, and headed back to Vienna. Along the way, we made a stop at the Mauthausen memorial. Mauthausen was the site of a Nazi concentration camp during WWII. Operating between 1938 and 1945, it saw approximately 190,000 prisoners during its operation, with more than half of that number being killed at the camp.

It was a very sombre tour through the site, self-guided using a downloaded audio guide. Despite the rainy and wet day, there were a fair number of people visiting (many of them having arrived on bikes!). Lisa didn’t feel photos were appropriate, but I didn’t think it disrespectful to take some pictures as yet another reminder of the atrocities of war. The site has most of the stone structures that were originally built, and a few of the wooden bunk houses. And throughout the site there are many memorials, for individuals, for citizens of countries, and for different racial and ethnic groups. It was a well done tour that didn’t hold back from explaining the awful events and life (and death) at the camp.

Then it was back to Vienna after a 2 hour drive and a bit more walking the streets of old Vienna.

It’s been a great trip, but looking forward to being home again soon!