Slovenia

This past week was half term week (February vacation week) for the girls' school and our friends, Beanie and Guy, invited us back to their home in Slovenia for the week.  I was very excited to go to Slovenia again as we only stayed there briefly last summer.  I really liked Slovenia last summer and I would have listed it as one of the top places we have visited while in Europe.  This trip confirmed to me how much I love Slovenia and that it is absolutely beautiful.  While it is hard to say that there is one place in Europe that is my favorite since it is hard to compare cities to countrysides and every place offers something different, I would have to put Slovenia at the top.  Slovenia is so peaceful with huge mountains and big cliffs which run down to emerald green rivers.  In the winter you can ski and in the summer there are a lot of different activities on the rivers.  Drive forty five minutes and you can see a completely different side of Slovenia...the wine country that borders Italy with its rolling hills and row upon row of grapevines and views out to the sea.  When you want a little more Italian you can pop over the border into Italy for excellent food, cappucino, and nice shops to stock up on your olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We started our trip off at 8am so that we would have enough time to catch the car train through the mountains.  There was very little traffic until we were north of Munich and then it was stop and go traffic.  Fortunately our friends had their GPS (as did we) and we followed our friends off the highway and took back roads around the traffic.  We made it to the car train in Slovenia in eight and a half hours which gave us about twenty minutes to spare before the train.  We were the first ones to drive onto the train which was fun.  This time we also managed to get the train that went all the way to the village of Most na Soci so we were able to unbuckle and be silly in the car for forty-five minutes.  We danced and were silly going through the dark tunnels and enjoyed the views of the mountains when we were not in the tunnels.  The car train is an experience I am glad we did not miss.

After the long drive on Saturday we took it easy on Sunday and relaxed in the morning.  We decided to go to the Slovenian wine country bordering Italy for lunch.  It was a forty-five minute drive through windy mountain roads into the wine area.  Once we were in the wine area I was surprised at how different it was from in the mountains and how much it looked like Italy.  Unfortunately we were there off season so the two places we stopped to buy Slovenian wine were closed but we did go to a fantastic restaurant, Hiša Marica, in the village of Šmartno.  The food was delicious!  We started off with home made prosciutto, cheese, and salami with bread followed by gnocchi with bolognese for Jason, gnocchi with olive oil and Parmesan for the kids and mushroom risotto for me.  I only ate half my risotto since Ali really liked it so I traded half way through for her gnocchi.  Lunch wouldn't be complete without dessert so the kids had crepes with Nutella and the adults all had panna cotta with a coffee sauce.  We all left there very full and satisfied!  After lunch we climbed a tower to have a view over the countryside out to the sea.  The day was very overcast so it was difficult to see the sea near Venice but we were just able to make it out in the distance.  I can imagine it must be beautiful on a clear day.

After a day of relaxing we decided it was time to hit the slopes.  We headed to the ski mountain, Cerkno.  The mountain was about forty minutes from the house so we headed out at about 8:30 in the morning so that we could get the kids rentals and lessons taken care of so skiing could start by 10:00.  The interesting thing about skiing in Slovenia is that the rentals, lessons and bunny slopes are all at the top of the mountain.  Instead of parking at the bottom of the mountain and taking a lift up we drove to the top of the mountain every day.  It was a little stressful the first day driving up/down but once we did it and knew it was not really slippery we were fine with the drive.  Parking near the top and walking up one final steep road was preferable and easier with the kids.  The first day of skiing the kids (Sofia, Ali, Daisy and Bella) did great.  They had to get their ski legs under them and we hired an instructor, Kaya, who the girls really liked.  We met the kids at the end of their two hour lesson and Kaya said they did great but maybe Ali should be in a separate group b/c she is so young.  We just nodded and kept skiing with the kids for another run.  Ali was definitely tired and seemed slower than the other kids.  The second day of lessons we decided we would let Ali ski with the group for the first hour of lessons and then I would take her for the second hour.  We went back to the meeting point after an hour but the kids were there yet.  We gave Kaya a call and she said that Ali was doing great and was keeping up with everyone so we left Ali in the group.  We met up with the kids at the end of their lessons and decided to take them off the bunny slope.  Sofia, Daisy and Bella did great off the bunny slope.  Sofia was going very fast which made me a bit nervous so I made her slow down but she was having a blast.  Ali was very afraid of the bigger hill which was not surprising as it was quite steep.  I ended up staying with her and letting everyone continue on.  We eventually made it down the mountain and took the lift back up and then took another run down the bunny hill to boost her confidence.  After a good day of skiing we headed down the mountain and to the local town to Shock Bar for some hot chocolate.  Guy had told us the hot chocolate was very thick and he wasn't kidding.  It resembled Jello Chocolate pudding more than hot chocolate but it was still delicious!

On the way home from the mountain Guy pulled off the main road and we followed to an unknown destination.  This is the great thing with traveling with other people.  You get to share an experience you might not have stopped to see otherwise.  The turn led us to the Franja Partisan Hospital.  It is a hospital built into a gorge during World War II.  Most of the site was closed to reconstruction since it was damaged in the 2007 flooding but it was fascinating to see a small part of it.  To think that people risked their lives to help the injured and did it so brilliantly.  The gorge is so hidden in the woods and so deep that you would never think it possible to run a hospital there.  The people who worked there had to blindfold the injured and wade through the river up stream to bring the injured to the hospital.

After two days of skiing we took a day off to give the kids a break.  Our friend had a meeting in the morning as well so it was the perfect day to take a break.  After our friend got back from his meeting we headed to Italy for lunch and a bit of shopping.  We went to the small village of  Cividale del Friuli.  We walked down a typical Italian village road into an open square and went to a Pizzeria for lunch.  The Pizza was, of course, fantastic and the cappuccino was delicious.  After lunch we walked across the square for gelato.  It was too cold for me to eat gelato but the kids were very excited.  Ali looked at me in awe and said, "ice cream in the winter?!" since I always tell them we don't eat ice cream in the winter because it is too cold.  As usual we asked for very small cones but got very big scoops anyway.  The kids were happy!  We snapped a few pictures in the square and then walked through the village a bit waiting for the shops to open again at 3:30 (the Italian siesta).  We walked down to a Devil's Bridge and looked over the side down to the pretty river and the houses along the side of the river. 

We headed back towards the pizzeria to go to my friend, Beanie's, favorite shop for balsamic vinegar.  I can see why it is her favorite.  The man in the shop is incredibly friendly and clearly loves what he does.  We tasted different balsamics and olive oils as well as wine, whisky and chocolate.  Of course he is also a salesman so we bought a lot of stuff but while I think he has to sell it he also finds great joy in sharing his goods with people.  We are now fully stocked with five bottles of balsamic (3 different kinds) and two different kinds of olive oil.  Good balsamic is delicious and is usually expensive so any savings is great and this shop had good prices...savings from $10 -$15 a bottle.

After a day of relaxing and shopping it was time to ski again.  We decided to try out a different mountain for skiing.  The terrain on the mountain looked good and it had the added benefit that we could ski from Slovenia into Italy which would just be fun to do.  We got to the mountain and took the Gondola up to the skiing which was a very long gondola ride.  We got to the top and booked the lessons for the girls.  We only had three kids with us for skiing since Daisy came down with a cold.  She didn't miss out on anything.  The skiing at Kanin was not ideal.  The ride on the Gondola was long.  We booked the kids ski lesson and then took them out on the slopes since there lesson wasn't for another hour.  We started on the pommel.  It was the first time Sofia and Ali have been on a pommel and they did well.  We got to the top of the hill and got off the pommel but the wind was so strong that I was holding onto Ali and we got whipped around and I had to throw all my weight into my edges to stop us.  The lift over to the Italian side was closed because of the wind so that really left one trail that we could ski with the kids.  The trail would have been good except as we were coming to the end of the trail we realized it went back up hill!  Thankfully we only had three children so each adult could take one child and pull them up the hill on skis....a heck of a workout for the adults!  We took the kids down the little nursery slope with the pommel a couple times and called it a day.  The ski rental wasn't open until 3pm so we ended up going down into the town and having lunch until it was time to return the skis.  At least the ski rental place was in the town so we didn't have to go back up the mountain.  The only upside of Kanin was the views which were amazing!

After a not so great day of skiing at Kanin we brought the kids back to Cerkno for the final day of skiing.  We signed them up for an hour lesson with Tomas since Kaya wasn't available and then skied with them after their lesson.  They did great.  They were going down the intermediate slopes without a problem.  Everyone had a great final day of skiing since they skied well and the weather was fantastic.  A perfect end to a great week.  We headed back home yesterday but went via Linz, Austria instead of Munich to avoid the traffic.  We had no traffic and made it home in just over eight hours.  An excellent holiday with great friends in a beautiful country....we can't ask for more than that!

Click HERE for the rest of the pictures from our trip.