It was time to bid Ljubljana farewell and head south of the city towards my next stop, Trieste, Italy. But, before getting to Trieste, I had a full day planned of sightseeing and seeing a bit more of Slovenia.
When I toured Croatia two years before, I hired a local travel company to provide me with a private driver and guide for my transfers between cities. I loved how it worked out so I sought the same for my transfers between cities on this trip. I found a local Slovenian based company, Slovenia Private Tours and worked with them to come up with a customized day trip to include sights I wanted to see as I made my way from Ljubljana to Trieste.
My driver, Tine, met me at my hotel and we set off for our first stop, Postjana Caves. Tine was Slovenian, having grown up in a town not far from the caves and had lived in Slovenia his whole life. Like most of the locals I'd met, he was an easy conversationalist who enjoyed sharing with me what it was like to grow up in Slovenia and a bit about the small town where he grew up. He also provided a thorough description of what I'd see that day on our stops as we drove along.
We arrived at the Caves before my timed entry and Tine provided some context of the caves and the surrounding area, showing me places where the river rises and floods to the point that you can't always visit the caves. Once it was my time to enter, I boarded the underground train for a ride into the caves and subsequent walking tour to explore them. While I had been in caves before (i.e. Luray Caverns in Virginia many years ago), I'd never experienced something so immense. The ride into the cave was incredible, massive stalagmites in every direction. We then were greeted by a guide for a walking tour deeper into the caves. Again, the colors and textures were remarkable. At the end of the tour we were able to view a few of the baby dragon's that only live inside the caves and are never exposed to daylight. Read more about them here. There's a picture of one on the bottom right below.
Our next stop was the neighboring, but equally impressive Predjama Castle. Built into the side of a mountain for protection, it's considered the largest cave castle in the world. I retrieved my audio guide and set out to tour the inside of the castle, exploring the various rooms and climbing to the top floor to take in the views of the valley below. It was well worth the visit!
Having done the required touristy stops, I'd also requested that we visit a winery for lunch and a tasting. We were headed towards Istria, an area I'd come to know when I'd visited Rovinj, Croatia two years before. While we would not be entering Croatia, as the Istrian region is shared between Slovenia and Croatia, I was excited to see how Istrian wines on the Slovenian side compared. I'd already learned of the "brotherly" rivalry between the two countries, now it was time to see how the wines stacked up!
Tine had located a local winery, Vina Brzan, which was situated high in the Istrian countryside and near the town of Marezige and afforded amazing views of seaside city of Koper, the city of Trieste in the distance and Adriatic sea. Our host and winemaker, Nada greeted us and seated us at a picnic table outside. Unlike the U.S., but very customary most places in the world, tastings are seated, leisurely and meant to be enjoyed with food. What I did not expect was the wonderful spread of foods Nada provided all made with local ingredients. The meats and cheeses were incredible to start and the truffle pasta, which I'd grown to love in Croatia two years before was probably the best I've had in both of my visits to this part of the world. And a lovely dessert platter of local fruits and berries rounded out our meals. But, we were also there for the wine, of course.
Nada provided us with samples of her three wines, a Refosk (not be confused with Teran, a grape widely grown on the Croatian side of Istria), a Malvazija, a widely grown white grape grown throughout the Istrian region) and her dessert wine, Cipro Prestige. All were lovely and a bottle of the Refosk is currently aging alongside many other wines in my growing collection on my wine rack here at home. Nada was a lovely host, provided a wonderful experience including a tour of their small tasting room and shared that they also have spots available on their property for a few camper vans and accommodations in an apartment attached to their home for those that want to work on the vineyard. It was a memorable experience and I do hope to get back and visit again someday.
As Tine now knew about my love of winery, we took a bit of a detour after leaving the winery to the nearby town of Marezige to visit a new outdoor wine bar, Vinska Fontana. Similar to a few wine bars we have in my area where you can purchase a card and "dispense your own wine," here, you purchase tokens and do the same from outdoor wine spouts. While a bit touristy, the views while sipping the wine are enough to keep one happy for days as the place is perched high on the hill overlooking vines leading to the valley and sea in the distance. I envisioned myself sitting there for hours with a glass of wine and a good book. Marezige, while small, also looked like a charming stop for a night or two to get away from the hustle and bustle of the nearby cities.
By the time we left the wine fountain, it was late afternoon and time for me to get to Trieste and Tine to be on his way. Like many of my day long "transfers" during my Croatia trip, it ranked at the top as one of the most enjoyable days of sightseeing, eating, drinking, and learning a lot about the culture and way of life in this beautiful part of the world. While I can honestly say I was not ready to leave Slovenia; after all I wrote five blogs about my time there that only spanned 4 1/2 days, it was time to move on to my next stop. What I do know, that I've said many times as I've relived my experience there is that I will go back sooner, rather than later. Slovenia stole my heart in many ways and I plan to go back and let it take a few more pieces, on the next trip.
"The best trips, like the best love affairs never really end." - Pico Iyer