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  • Jen Ritchey

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    4 września 2025
    Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Heading off!

    4 września, Niemcy ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Today we headed off on our way to Slovenia! I got up and packed up the van and after lunch we headed south. We ended up driving about 6 hours to a spot on the Danube just before Passau Germany for the night. We got here and ate some dinner and had just enough time for a short wander along the water. It’s been fun watching the boats go by (we did see one River cruise boat!) and it should be a nice night.

    The van we got is a different one than the past two times and set up much differently! We usually end up with a Ford, but this time we got a Fiat and I have to say the engine is definitely not as powerful. You can’t keep cruise control on going up the hills on the freeway as it goes too slow eventually and turns it off. I’m curious how it will do on our mountain passes in Slovenia!

    But the inside feels much bigger! And the seats are probably the most comparable seats I’ve ever had in a car. We got here and I wasn’t sore like I normally am after that long in the car! Plus the bench seat in the back is usually useless and super uncomfortable and there is not much room between it and the table so I never used it…but this one the seat is really wide and comfy and so much space! It is the same size van as the one we normally get, but it is set up much different and so it feels so much bigger! Plus the bed is so much bigger than normal too! There are some weird things like not many outlets in the camping area (you can’t use the ones in the front when parked or it will drain the car battery) and the fridge is in a different spot so not much counter space, but I think it will be nice for our trip!

    Tomorrow we have a 3.5 hour drive to our first stop! Should be fun!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Maribor Part 1

    5 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today we got up and headed to Slovenia! It was about 3.5 hour drive to our first stop - Maribor. We arrived just about lunchtime so we headed off to find some food and it was so good! We had a squash lasagna which was super filling and good, and a large salad with “vegan meat” which was grain patty and that was super super tasty! It was so hot out, but the salad was so refreshing! And both things are way bigger than we expected so it was a giant lunch!

    Were then started to explore the town and stopped in a bakery and found some delicious looking treats! A strawberry bun, an apple cinnamon pastry, and a cinnamon roll. We took a little piece of each to try…and they were very disappointing! Not sweet at all! Oh well.

    We wandered over to the Basilica of Our Mother of Mercy and spied inside and it was so pretty! So colorful! The pictures do not look as nice as it was! Like a rainbow everywhere and the lights had glass flower covers that were gorgeous and it was one of the prettiest churches I think were have ever been to. Or one of my favorites anyways. Then we had a walk along water which was really nice, but oh my goodness it was hot out in the sun and I was dying. It said it was only 27, but in the sun with the ground reflecting even more heat back at you it was almost too much! But really beautiful.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Maribor part 2

    5 września, Słowenia ⋅ 🌩️ 26 °C

    We left the waterfront when we got to the world’s oldest noble grapevine! It said it has been growing grapes for over 400 years! So that was fun and then the area right by that inland some had some fun art! And there are so many event spaces so in the evening I bet it is way busier (there was like no one there when we were there - we were wandering by ourselves). We wandered the rest of the town (it not really that big, but was nice to walk around in) and got some ice cream to cool off before we headed back to the car - chocolate for Raymond and green apple and lemon for me. These were “1 scoop” which was so much!! Really the lady did like 4 scoops with the ice cream scoop for each one! We should have shared one, but it was nice I was able to get 2 flavors in “one” scoop.

    We headed on to camp for the night in Prodnik which is really just the camp, a sports center and restaurant, and a handful of houses. It is right on the river so of course we walked along there a bit and found a snake friend! After we finished dinner and did all of our chores a crazy thunderstorm came on us. We saw all the flashes and heard the thunder coming and then suddenly it was pouring so much! And at one point it somehow started raining more, but the thunder and lightning didn’t go right over us just nearby. I can still hear the thunder and see flashes even though the rain has stopped for a just now, but it was crazy rain! Luckily that also cooled it off so much which was so nice! It is cold now which I much prefer to the hot and humid it was earlier! All in all this was a pretty great first day in Slovenia! Tomorrow we head off for our first hike which should be fun!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Velika Planina Hike Part 1

    6 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Today we got up and headed to a hike to Velika Planina - a large plateau with lots of Shepard’s huts. We got there with perfect timing for parking as we wanted to start from the higher, smaller parking lot and there was just enough space for us there! It was interesting because they are not that old because the Nazis burned them all of them to the ground in WWII so everything there was built since then. But it was a gorgeous hike and pretty easy wandering around. Lots of cows up there as well and you are not supposed to pet them, but the sign made it look like giants shouldn’t pick them up!

    I was also not prepared for it to be so cold today! Yesterday I was dying cause it was so hot and today I had to wear my layers ands warm headband so my ears didn’t freeze! It was overcast this morning so that didn’t help and the wind was very cold! I much prefer cold to hot, but I thought it would have been warmer!

    There were also some info signs and one of them talked about the giant holes in the ground and how someone once went in one and couldn’t find his way out and wandered in circles until he laid down to die…which seemed a bit ridiculous as the sides were not that steep and they were not that big that you couldn’t see the top or easily get out…     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Velika Planina Hike Part 2

    6 września, Słowenia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    All the photos of the mountains and the huts! After lunch it was nice as the sun started to come out and it cleared up some and by the time we were back to the car it was warm again! Not super hot like yesterday, but tshirt weather. On our way to camp we stopped by the side of the road to spy on Igla - The Needle - a national monument rock separated from the main wall by a narrow gap which they thought looked like a needle hence the name.

    The last 4 photos are from camp - the first two on a small wander and the last two the views from our camping spot! It is pretty nice, but once the sun started going behind the mountains it started getting cold even though it was only like 4pm! It is so damp that it made it colder and we had to go inside and snuggle up in the blankets! I did come back outside with my warm jacket on for dinner and it doesn’t feel too bad, doesn’t feel as damp as it was, so I am sitting outside enjoying the view until it gets too dark or too cold again.

    There was also an ultramarathon on there road we came in to camp on today and we had passed the last runner on the way here (we passed the car following him at the end) and in the third to last photo he is actually there on the road still running along! When we passed him he didn’t look like he was doing that well, but he looked to be doing alright by the time he got here so that was fun. I just looked it up and there were 5 starting points depending on how far you wanted to go - from 9km to 72km so he might have been running for quite a long time!

    We got to camp early so had lots of relaxing time which was nice. It is really nice sitting and enjoying the mountains! Tomorrow we have a steep hike up the side of a mountain so we shall see how that goes! It should be gorgeous!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Logar Valley - Kamnik Saddle Hike Part 1

    7 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    I am so exhausted from our hike today, but it was gorgeous! We got up and headed to the Logar Valley (just a few minutes down the road) to do the Kamnik Saddle Hike which I knew was going to be difficult - 959m in 4.1km (one way) which is a lot, but thought it should be doable. We can take our time and it was the only thing on the schedule for today so why not? I showed Raymond the map yesterday (the second photo) and pointed out where we were going to hike and he laughed like he didn’t believe me…but we did it!

    The first stop was Rinka waterfall which is a popular spot and was a quick, easy hike. Then it was on to the top of the waterfalls and oh my goodness it was so humid and I was a sweaty monster and it was awful! I was sooo hot! It was steep, but the heat/humidity/whatever was just so much! And the trail there was kind of a mess, but we got to the top and top a quick break and noticed you could see where we were going (purple arrow in the one photo) which looked forever high! I really thought well we will see how far we make it as I didn’t think I was moving very fast cause it was hard walking with being so incredibly hot. It was crazy - the temp said it was only 14 when we started which is not warm, and it didn’t get that much warmer all day, but it felt way hotter.

    After our first break the next bit was much nicer, not so steep and some of it was in a nice, cool forest! It was wonderful! So we got way farther than I expected. And then we got into the open with all the views of the surrounding mountains which I loved! You can see Raymond sitting on the rocks in the one photo on our second break. Oh I love being up in the mountains!

    After our second break it once again got so freaking hot! The trail turned into small switchbacks going straight up the mountain until it got to the rocky part and then it was like rock climbing a bit. Had to put the hiking poles away and there were lots of wires to help you and poles to hang onto. When we got to that part I was like do we want to do this as getting up into the rocks was a bit much looking, but Raymond was up for it so I said why not try. If it gets sketchy we can turn around, but it was much easier than I expected. There were lots of steps cut into the rocks and it wasn’t bad. Then more switchbacks up the rocks and there I was dying. It was so humid and I was so hot and sweating so much I had to stop every corner of the switchback and try and cool off and catch my breath. It was crazy. We have done a lot of hiking and a lot of harder hikes, but this weather so completely overheating me I don’t remember that happening before. Or not like this when it is not very hot out actually. I took it slow and eventually made it to the top! We ate lunch at a hut up there that was on the opposite side of the ridge…and was soooo cold! There was such cold wind blowing on that side we had to put all our layers on!! It was crazy to go from so hot to so cold!! But it was nice cooling off! And we saw an alpine Chough (black bird with yellow beak and orange feet) who hung out there and made some crazy noises at times! So that was fun.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Logar Valley - Kamnik Saddle Hike Part 2

    7 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    After lunch we headed up to this ridge right there to spy and then back down. This morning while we were hiking up spooky clouds kept suddenly appearing and disappearing and we then saw that they were coming from the other side! We got up to leave and I had just taken a photo of the view and then looked away for a minute to put on my backpack and when I looked back it was all clouds!! I don’t know where they came from so quickly but it was crazy! And they kept going over to the hot side and dissipating which was fun. They really moved quickly and then cleared up.

    The hike down was not so bad, but still incredibly hot!! I don’t know why I was still a sweaty monster going down, but I was. I thought the rock climbing section was going to be tough going down, there were a few parts going up I thought would be tricky, but we got to the bottom and I was like where were the tricky parts?!?

    At one point on the way down I looked back and noticed you couldn’t see the section we walked after our second break and I marked it roughly in purple in the one photo. It looked so crazy from below!

    I was doing okay all day until about the last 10 min of the hike and then I just hit my limit and was sooooo tired! I made it back to the car and we made it back to camp and were super lazy as we are both so tired. It wasn’t a long hike in kms, it was steep but not crazy, but man it tired us out. I think being so hot is what did it. Oh well, we had fun and I loved being in the mountains! I just need a good nights sleep now. E we will be going to bed early for sure :)

    On the way back to back camp the check engine light came on which we will have to deal with tomorrow. I called the rental place and we have to get it looked at and hopefully it is an easy fix. The nearest place is about an hour and 15 min away and they had good reviews and some even were like we brought in our camper with no appointment and they fixed it right away for us so fingers crossed it is not anything serious and they can get us on our way again quickly. I will probably rework the schedule a bit since we are heading to Ljubljana to get it looked at, but that is a to do for tomorrow.

    Oh! When we got back to camp we saw they have alpacas! We only saw the goats and chickens yesterday so that was fun. And sitting here writing this up I had a lovely sunset to watch! So a pretty good day even though we are exhausted and hopefully the car issues are fixed tomorrow!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Ljubljana Part 1

    8 września, Słowenia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Today was an unexpectedly great day! We got up and got going super early. We had called a car place when they opened at 8 and the person said to come right in no appointment needed since it was an emergency so we headed down to Ljubljana to that place…and when we got there they were like well we have no time today, but if you leave it here overnight we can get to it by 3 tomorrow which then we would have to find a place to stay and get our things there without luggage or anything and yeah not ideal. So I asked if they knew of anywhere else that might have time today and they gave me another place about 20 min away so we called them and that guy was like okay come at noon and we all see what is going on. So we headed down there and did some grocery shopping while we waited for noon and when we got there the check engine light was still on. The guy got in the car to move it into the workshop and he was like hey which light was on? Cause nothing is now. Which what? It was on yesterday and the whole drive down to there so why is it not on??? We told him and he took it to check to see what the log said had been an issue and it was something that wasn’t a big deal and we could still drive with it if it comes on again as they don’t have the part that would need to be changed and it would probably take at least a week to get. But he was sure we would be fine driving with it if it did come on again so that was good. And it drove fine up and down the mountains to get there so that was a relief it wasn’t something major that would need to be fixed before we could do anything. It was also nice to have a more relaxed not actually doing anything morning as I was so tired!

    We were done at the car place by 12:30 and were talking about what we wanted to do today since it the car was okay and since we were by Ljubljana we thought why not camp here and explore town and I am glad we did! It was gorgeous out - hot but not overwhelmingly hot and sunny. I was not dying in the sun like Maribor or yesterday so that was good. And the downtown area is pretty nice! It is set up on either side of a river and the waterfronts were really nice to walk along and then the road just in from there on both sides also had lots of shops and stuff and we really enjoyed our time wandering. It is not a big downtown, but we managed to fill our afternoon there. We also got all the treats!! First (in the horrible photo) was gelato - lemon sage, strawberry basil, raspberry mint, and dark chocolate. They were all very good, but my favorite was the lemon sage. So refreshing!

    Then there was also a fancy patisserie that had a yuzu cake and a chocolate peanut cake and oh they were delicious! I loved the yuzu one and Raymond preferred the chocolate one :)

    I also got another photo of me in a giant chair! I always love that! And there was also a bit of the farmers market still going on and we got some fresh veggies for dinner tomorrow night. These photos are all from the East side of the river and we took a nice break by the metal dragon sculptors and ate our treats.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Ljubljana Part 2

    8 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    All the things! It really was so nice wandering along the water and spying. We found a Slovanian bakery that made potica (a traditional Slovenian treat) that had a vegan walnut one which we had to try and it was really good. Not very sweet, but super tasty. Then we found this weird fountain water thing…it was in the ground along this one block and it was all these odd faces and heads and when we got to the top there was a severed hand that you could turn a knob on to get the water to flow out. It was really odd all those faces in the ground…

    Then we explored the west side of the water which was not as busy as the east side, though just as fun. Lots of nice buildings and parks and a war memorial (the 2nd and 3rd to last photos). We even found more treats, though we did not even try them as it was too much for today! Just brought them back to have later (chocolate banana raspberry tart and a chocolate pistachio square).     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Ljubljana Part 3

    8 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    On the west side of the water there is a big square with a sign that said “The area with Ljubljana’s own weather” and a picture of rain clouds and an umbrella and I was so confused. I thought it would be a fountain or something and couldn’t figure out what it was talking about and then Raymond pointed out on the wires above was a sprinkler so it was raining in the square! From the other side from where we entered in the light you could see the “rain” so that was fun. Then a ton of interesting sculptures!

    When we were wandered we spied on all the places for dinner also and man there were too many good looking food options! Too many I really wanted to try and not enough time to try them all today so we decided we will still stick with the coming back on Friday plan (when I originally planned to come here) and cut something else out (I had a day where we were going to do this kayaking tour in a mine in the morning which looked fun, but then I saw video of it and it is really in pitch black except your headlamp and mostly tiny tunnels you paddle through and I said no thanks. But I didn’t really put anything else into that time spot and the rest of the day was an easy hike that didn’t look amazing, but since we were there why not as it was in the same area, but now we will just cut that too unless we happen to have time). So we settled on this fancy Vegan place for tonight which was so good! And I am so full right now!! But we got the Slovenian three course meal and a 4 course taster menu and everything was amazing. We had a tiny starter of fermented bell peppers with Vegan cheese filling, richet - a traditional Slovenian barley stew with smoked tofu, sunflower ravioli with saffron and spinach (these were so good and an interesting flavor!), cabbage rolls with nuts rice and herb filling with tomato sauce and mashed potatoes, and ”ribs” with roasted veggies (the ribs had “bones” made of compressed veggies which were very chewy, but good), and finally a chocolate tart and a traditional tarragon cake. Their cake was so good Raymond even preferred it to the chocolate tart!

    Phew! All the delicious foods today! Plus all the fun wandering! I am looking forward to coming back and spying on more things!

    I know we haven’t been here that long, but I am really enjoying Slovenia. The people have been so friendly and happy it has been great. I forgot to mention yesterday since I was so tired, but there were a lot of people out hiking and I don’t think I have ever seen so many other hikers laughing so much and just having the best time! We kept passing groups of people just laughing and joking around and they kept trying to include us and I was just like I have no idea what it are saying, but it makes me happy you all are having such a good time! Not that people are usually miserable, but they are not usual so joyful when we are hiking. So much laughing and fun! But that has been really everywhere everyone has been so nice and happy. I wasn’t expecting that so it is a nice surprise. We shall see if they are like that everywhere :)

    Today was a great day even though this morning was just chores. Tomorrow we head back to where we were and continue on our adventures!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Solcava Scenic Road

    9 września, Słowenia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Today we got up and drove to where we had been and drove the Solcava scenic road! It was through the mountains with lots of spots to stop and take photos of the mountains we climbed in on Sunday. A lot of the stops also had cute dragon sculptures which was fun! There were also story signs of a young shepherd trying to find his sheep which were odd and my favorite was the first one we saw which I posted :)

    There was also a stop at a spring where you can drink the water and it should heal all the things and the sign did say it tasted different, but is okay to drink…so I tried it and oh my goodness it was so disgusting I immediately spit it back out. Raymond laughed and did not try it, but I thought why not?

    The whole road took us maybe an hour and a half with stops to see, so not that long, and we ended up at one stop at the end where we did a short hike, but that will be in another post. Overall the road was really gorgeous and fun, but we were glad it was the middle of the week and not super busy as the road was narrow and windy!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Matkov Kot partial hike

    9 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    At the end the scenic road was a trail up the next valley over from where we hiked in Sunday (Matkov Kot). I thought I had read there was a giant hole in a rock you could hike up to pretty easily so we thought why not? The hike was really easy up through the valley, though it was still humid so it was warm once we started moving. Not as bad as the other days, but I was better prepared and wore my hiking dress which is light and airy so that was perfect. We stopped and ate lunch and enjoyed the views of the mountains and I looked up this hole…and it is really a mound of snow with a hole in it that forms every spring (I didn’t see it was only in spring until I looked it up when writing this), though you can see this hole in the rocks, Matkov okno, from where the snow would be…we looked at the map again and the trail rose 350m in .5km to get to where the snow would be which is crazy steep!! Way steeper than the steepest section of the trail we did on Sunday so definitely not something we wanted to do and we decided to just walk until the trail got too steep and then head back. We did end up being able to see the hole in the rock from a viewpoint before we turned back so that was fun (if you zoom in on the 6th photo you should see it in the taller rocks just to the left of center)! But I think to actually climb up to the snow spot or higher you need technical skills or more equipment than we have. The part we did was still a really nice walk in the river valley with great views!

    On the way back to the car we saw all the animals! Lots of black-ish spiders in the rocks, sheep grazing in the field on the side of the valley, a green shield bug, and a bunch of butterflies! So that was fun!

    The last photo is from the last/first official stop on the scenic road (though it is not labeled as stop one on the map), a photo of the Logar Valley (where the waterfall hike was) from the bottom of the valley (we had driven pretty far up the valley to start the waterfall hike).

    All in an it was a pretty great day! More relaxing which was nice, but lots of great views and a nice walk. After we were done we headed towards our next stop and are camped there for the evening. It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow so we shall see if it actually does! We only have a couple towns to explore so that should be more doable in the rain than hiking with no way to get out of it if we want to.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Ptuj

    10 września, Słowenia ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    Today we explored some small towns. First up was Ptuj. We camped right outside of town so once we got ready to go we headed off to explore. It is pretty small (though the 8th largest city and the oldest recorded city in Slovenia), but we had a nice morning wandering.

    We started by wandering up to the castle which had some nice views over the surrounding area, then wandered all through town seeing what we could see. We found a bakery that had another walnut roll treat that I could eat so we tried that and it was super tasty! Not very sweet, but delicious!

    We went in the one church and the windows were gorgeous! I loved them! The photo is ready dark, but it was so pretty!

    We also found another bakery and decided to try some of their breads - a sesame roll which was just okay and a whole grain roll which was delicious!

    We got lucky with the weather in Ptuj as it was supposed to rain all day, but it only rained twice for a few minutes while we were wandering. I had looked at the radar and we were just in the edge of the big rain storm so that was nice, though I think if we had stayed later we would have gotten more rain (at one point today the rain was literally covering the entire country!). It was a small town, but nice for a short wander.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Celje

    10 września, Słowenia ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    After Ptuj we headed off to explore Celje and there we had all the rain. Celje was right in the thick of the big rain storm so there were not very many people out and about. When we got there it was lunchtime and there was a pizza place a few min walk from where we parked that looked good and had options for me so we headed off there and got lucky that they had outdoor seating with a small cover so it started dry! Really most places had outdoor seating with covering (mostly umbrellas or awnings) so that was nice. We got a pizza with wild broccoli, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms (so many! They all went to Raymond), and Vegan cheese and that one was so so so good! The wild broccoli has a strong flavor we both loved! We also got one with roasted zucchini, eggplant, and artichoke which was also good, but not as good as the first one! And the dough was really tasty and it was a great lunch, though a lot so we ended up just having salads for dinner.

    While eating lunch I thought it is nice it is not raining super hard if it has to be raining…and then of course as soon as we left lunch it started raining harder. We hadn’t worn all of our rain clothes, just a jacket and umbrella and shorts & a dress to walk around in a it has been very muggy and warm, but with the heavier rain it cooled off so we had to go back and get more layers. I realized while walking in our rain gear that town is so much nicer in a rainy day as you can use an umbrella so you are not soaking wet when you get back to the car, the umbrella is! While hiking you can’t really use an umbrella and hiking poles so you are just a wet mess afterwards.

    Once we were all suited up for the rain we wandered the town. It is the third largest city in Slovenia (after Ljubljana and Maribor). It was a cute town and asking a river and if it had been sunny and nice we probably would have spent more time there hiking up to the castle and viewpoints and stuff, but we skipped that today especially since the silly low clouds kept covering the hills. But it was a nice wander and were found two places with Vegan cakes - one with a blueberry something and one with a cherry chocolate. We haven’t tried them yet as that is too much food for one day! But hopefully they are good!

    Oh, and I did finally find an unhappy person here! Or really a very rude person - the guy who worked where we got the blueberry cake. It was a restaurant in a fancy hotel and man he did not want to help me at all. I do not know what his problem was, but it made me laugh that the fancy expensive place was where the rudest person I have encountered so far was! After getting that one I got the cherry chocolate and the lady there was super happy and friendly like everyone else.

    After our wander we headed south to another small town and are camped here, but it has been raining so much we are going to go spy on turn in the morning (and hopefully the rain will be over by then!). All in all a pretty good day even if it was a wet one.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Kostanjevica na Krki

    10 września, Słowenia ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Man we got so lucky with the weather today!! Woke up to gorgeous sunny skies and all day there were thunderstorms rolling through and we either left before they got to where we were or arrived just after they passed through! It was perfect!

    We had camped by Kostanjevica na Krki last night and the original plan was to explore the small town then, but with all the rain we decided to wait until this morning. The first photo is the water by where we camped last night, the second from the same spot but this morning! So much nicer!

    The town is a really tiny island so I didn’t think it would take very long to explore and it didn’t, but there were so many sculptors all over the place! On the other side town there was even a small sculpture park! So that was fun and unexpected. The town itself was fine, 2 churches and just a lot of peoples homes so not a lot to see. I think the river is normally really pretty, but we had so much rain yesterday it looked really high and was full of silt (so brown). It was still a fun little wander.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Trška Gora

    11 września, Słowenia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Our next stop was Trška Gora for a hike amongst the vineyards on the hills. I had a ton of short stops planned for today, but we had wanted to get back to Ljubljana for dinner so I didn’t think we would have time for them all. I was a bit picky and only stopped the places I really wanted to see. This was a long stop, and if I would have cut it probably could have done everything else, but it was so nice! There was an 8km trail through farms and vineyards and we really enjoyed it. It was hot hiking up the hills and I got so sweaty and gross just like the other day (my glasses kept fogging up again cause I was so hot!), but the views were great. It was also lucky that most of the walk uphill was in the shady forest as the sun was so so hot! It was mostly uphill to the church with a linden tree that was said to have been planted in. 1622! And it was odd as the trunk was like all hollow, but still growing! Overall it was a really nice hike and I was glad I kept it in the plan! (The second to last photo is find the lizard! He thought he was hiding from us and no one could see him :) Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Novo Mesto

    11 września, Słowenia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    After we were done with our hike it was almost lunchtime, but the car was so hot from being in the sun we decided to head on to our next stop, Novo Mesto, and find a place to eat lunch there. It is a town on the water so we thought there might be a nice place to sit on the waterfront…only we got there and there were so many mosquitoes that immediately started attacking Raymond! So we headed into town proper and found a nice bench in the main square to have lunch.

    Novo Mesto’s downtown was super tiny. After lunch we walked up to the church on the hill (with the alter area at an odd angle to the rest of the church!), then down through town to the second church and back to the car. It was maybe a half hour to see everything! So small, but so much traffic and people in the surrounding areas that lived there. It was a quick stop, but while we were there we started hearing all the thunder! It wasn’t there, but nearby thunderstorms!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Dvor/Krka source & Cave/Ljubljana

    11 września, Słowenia ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    After Novo Mesto we headed to Dvor to see the waterfalls on the river and the old ironworks. This was a quick stop, but really pretty! And everything was so wet so we missed some heavy rain (though it did start sprinkling as we got back towards the car). The old ironworks was interesting too.

    Then we headed on to the source of the Krka River (photos 7 and 10). There were two spots where you could just see the water flowing like a river out of the ground. It was really interesting!

    I had also seen there was a cave there so we hiked up to the one…and it was so nice and cool in the rocks there!! As soon as we got back up to the trail it was like no! Back to the humidity! But the caves were not open today so we just spied in the gates and…well the first cave I think you need more technical gear as it was soft ground straight down so even if we could have gone in we definitely wouldn’t have as we don’t have the gear/skills for that.

    Then we realized there was a second cave so we walked over to that one to spy (and spy on the second source of the River) and that cave is like normally 200m and then it is flooded and you can only go in with dive gear. And there were photos on the sign for the cave showing water pouring out the entrance so the whole thing can be flooded! It wasn’t today, but again not really a cave for us!

    When we were heading back to the car we could hear all the thunder again, and we sat for a minute in the car and we could see lightning out the one side and all of a sudden it started pouring!! We waited until it calmed down and then headed out, but the roads we had just driven down to get to the car park had so much standing water on them! We did see a rainbow too, but it was so low to the ground. I don’t think I have ever seen one so low or was hidden in the houses. It was strange! Though we were heading into the storm again and we had to pull off the side of the road at one point and wait for the rain to slow down as you couldn’t really see it was raining so hard. And then all the water on the road too! It was crazy rain until suddenly the roads were dry and we were out of the storm.

    We are camped in Ljubljana again and we headed into town for dinner - pizza again. I had really wanted to try this place as their menu said they use homemade vegan meats and cheeses so I wanted to try it out (most vegan cheeses you can buy are not very good for pizza. They don’t have much of a flavor). Well they were out of the meats so we got one with cherry tomatoes, pesto and cheese, and one with cheese, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and zucchini. They were both super tasty and the cheeses were great! Raymond was like they remind me of your cheeses and I was like I was just going to say that! They remind me of what I make which I love so that is always good. They had a great flavor and the pesto was also super good so it was another great meal here!

    Walking back from dinner Raymond commented on how we have been surrounded by clouds all day, but not really where we were which was true. Today was a really great day and I was so glad we missed being out in all the storms in the area!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Ljubljana Final Day

    12 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Phew! Today was a day! This morning I woke up super early and my stomach was not great…I know it is because I have been forgetting to take my vitamins and probiotics in the morning so that plus eating all this junk and my stomach was like okay we are going to have a little revolt! Luckily we didn’t have much planned until lunch so we hung out and I slept a bit after breakfast and taking my vitamins and then was feeling much better.

    What I had planned was to walk up the hill with the castle on it and spy in the views, but it was also very foggy this morning. Really it has been very foggy every morning we were there! When we were driving to get the car checked out as soon as we got out of the mountains it was so foggy, but then it cleared up by lunchtime. The next morning after sleeping in Ljubljana it was again so foggy until we got to the mountains! So I kind of expected that today so that was another reason to head out later than normal - try and let some of the fog burn off.

    Once it started clearing up a bit we headed out. First stop was a botanical garden…which was just okay, thought it did have some fun odd sculptures. Then we hiked up the hill and spied in this old castle wall that was just refurbished in 2018, spied on the views and the castle, then headed back down to town. There was a food cart market today so we were excited for that! Plus the normal farmers market and all the great looking produce! Well the farmers market was great, but the food cart market didn’t have much for me :( and what they did have in couldn’t eat (like mango something). There has been a place at the farmers market that has pad Thai so we got some of that instead and…it was like they put nothing on the noodles? It was edible, but definitely not pad Thai so that was disappointing too!

    Then in way back through town to the car we spied on gelato and found a place with dark chocolate raspberry (for Raymond - it was amazing! One of the best chocolate gelatos we have had) and I got white peach rose which I loved! Very peachy with a bit of floral and it was great! So things started to turn around a bit. Oh and walking back to the car we saw so many of these southern green stink bugs!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Rakov Škocjan Hike

    12 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    After lunch in Ljubljana we headed off to Rakov Škocjan for an easy hike and to see what we can see. I knew it had been a big cave, but the ceiling collapsed so I was curious to see what we would find. We headed out and found a cave to climb down to…but the last step wasn’t really a step it was way too tall and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get back up…so Raymond went down and spied and it was a steep muddy mess so we just turned around.

    Then we came across the ruins of an old church and after that the trail meandered through the forest by the river and a meadow. Then when we got about halfway we found this natural rock bridge which we walked across but didn’t realize until we got to the viewpoint for it! And then saw the info board about how this came to be which was pretty interesting. And then went down to Zelške jame and spied on the caves and the natural bridge (really a hole!) from below! It was so cool! Luckily it was not flooded as you walk along the walls from one section to the next and they would have been under water if it was! We spent lots of time wandering there and then it was getting late and we still had to get back to the car and get to camp so we tried to be quick on the way back, but the trail is not very well signposted and I was getting tired and annoyed by the lack of directions! We did make it and spied in the large natural bridge which was right next to the car and then headed to camp. Luckily we got the last spot where I had planned on camping so we didn’t need to find someplace else (you can’t make reservations most places so you have to be lucky if it is busy!).

    It was a long day as we didn’t get to camp till after dinnertime, but after the little rough morning it was pretty great. Most of the hike I kept thinking this is nice and all, but not something I would say you should definitely check out if you are in the area, but then cave sections were so fun I would go and just wander around them!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Skocjanske Jame

    13 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Today we decided to do a cave tour. There are two in the area, but one had the tour and then you could walk around the area and explore more too so I didn’t really know how long that one would be…and I liked the idea of being able to explore myself some so we decided to go with that one - Skocjanske Jame. Now you cannot take photos on the tour so I don’t have any from that, only from the part where we were free to explore ourselves on the walk back to the car.

    Now at first I thought oh, we should have done the other cave. We walked through a small chamber with stalactites and stalagmites and while they are always fun to look at they weren’t the best we have seen. Plus the tour moved quickly so not a lot of time to stop and look at things. So I was a bit disappointed we chose this one…until we got to the main part of the tour which was amazing! You go into this huge cavern and you are up over 50m from the raging River flowing on the bottom (you go down and cross a bridge over the river that was 50m above it, but you started way higher). It is the biggest discovered underground chamber in Europe and one of the biggest in the world! The river was so loud! It was really cool. We have done a bunch of cave tours, but never saw anything like this. Once we got there I was like okay, I’m glad we decided on this one!! We saw something different and we loved it! Plus you get to walk all through the giant cavern so you really get to take the time and enjoy it (and there were a lot of via Ferrara areas in there you could see which we have never seen before. I have only seen them in mountains!). Also since it has been raining so much the river has so much water! At one point in the walk after it said the spot where we were only had water after heavy rains and well there was a lot of water flowing there! Plus inside there was a marking for when the cavern flooded in 1965 and imagining this giant chamber filled with water was crazy. That would be so much water!

    I think even if you could take photos in the cave it would be hard to capture how giant it was and how cool. They had photos at the info place, but they didn’t look that amazing. It was so much fun!! A very different cave tour which I loved!

    Then after you leave the cave tour you can choose which way to get back to the start - one way goes straight back and you take a funicular back to the top, one way goes a tiny bit and then you take stairs back to the top, and one way goes out and around and through some more caves and you can see all the things! Of course we did the last one to see all the things and it took a lot longer than I expected to get back! And I loved being able to take my time and see all the things! All the photos except the last two are from that which was so fun! The last two are from the viewpoint near the info center of where we walked after coming out of the cave which was fun to see from above! So I was really glad we chose this cave to explore! Oh and when we got out of the cave with the tour they were saying that area used to be a cave, but the ceiling had weathered away just like the place yesterday! So much fun!!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Coast near Piran

    13 września, Słowenia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    After our cave wanderings we headed towards the coast to camp for the night. We got here and it was so hot!! I took a quick rest and then we headed to the beach and swam for a bit and it was so nice!! The water was slightly chilly, but if I kept moving around I was okay, but it cooled me off right away! Plus the sun started going behind some clouds so it was nice not being so hot out of the water. At one point a cormorant was fishing and swimming right by us! Even though we didn’t see many fish it was finding them.

    We swan until it was getting close to dinnertime then changed and went to explore around the bend to see if we could see into the next bay, but it just kept going on and on so we didn’t see over there. But we did find lots of fun rocks and the cliffs were interesting! We spied on the rocks until it was time for food then back to the van to eat and relax. All in all a really great day!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Piran

    14 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Last night we stayed outside Piran and it wasn’t the nicest place, but we thought it is fine. We go to bed at 10 when camping cause we get up early-ish to get started early before it gets too hot (normally get out of bed at 7), but there was a restaurant nearby that was playing music so loud I thought this is going to be annoying…we also sleep with a white noise machine cause that helps not to be woken up by cars driving by or something, but if it is too loud obviously it won’t mask that. But luckily the restaurant switched speakers about 9:50 so they weren’t playing facing the campground and it was much quieter! And we couldn’t hear anything with the white noise! I still didn’t expect to sleep much cause it was so warm and humid, but at least noise wouldn’t be an issue…then at 2am a very loud thunderstorm rolled through! So much thunder and so loud and long rumbles! I thought why didn’t this happen earlier so I could watch?? But eventually that stopped so I thought okay! Maybe I can sleep in some (maybe after 7!) since I was up for the storm…but then at 6 a truck was like backing into the restaurant since or something? The beeping was going on for like 5 min and woke me up…and then just when I was about to fall asleep again they started emptying the garbage into the truck maybe? Like glass and stuff so loud and well that was that. I was awake. So not a great nights sleep and this morning I was dragging a little bit, but we had things to go see!

    After breakfast we walked over to Piran along the water which was pretty nice. There is a section below the unstable cliffs where they built a bench and then put up all these signs “sitting on a bench is dangerous!” Which made me laugh so much. I’ve sat on many a bench and have survived!

    Along the water by the lighthouse people had carved things into the rocks which as fun, we wandered and saw all the things, then headed back to camp to head on to the next stop. It was a pretty small town and alright to wander through. Not as nice as most small, narrow, windy road towns we have been in, but a nice morning wander.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Portorož & Koper

    14 września, Słowenia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Yesterday when we were headed for camp I asked Raymond if he wanted to stop first to see about some fancy cakes in the next then over, but we were both so hot and bleh we didn’t care about sweets so just headed for camp. This morning after coming back from Piran I was like let’s go see what they have at the fancy treat place so we headed over to Portorož to see what we could see. It was only a quick stop, but it felt much nicer and upscale with lots of resort type places or fancy hotels with private “beaches” (none of the beaches are actual beaches. They are all cement walkways and benches and grassy areas). The first 4 photos are from there and the treats were so good!! Some of the best we have had on this trip! They had an almond cake with raspberry filling, chocolate with sour Cherry, and a rice cream thing which were all so tasty! I just realized I keep posting all these treats so it looks like we are eating a ton of sweets, but really we have a tiny bit at a time so our fridge is full of treats! I think today was the last of the treat places until the end of the trip so we have some to hold us over ;)

    After getting our fancy cakes we headed on to Koper for Thai food lunch! We got pad Thai and a spicy glass noodle dish we have never had before. Both were okay, but the pad Thai was not what we were expecting flavor wise. Alright, but not really pad Thai. Oh well, still a good lunch.

    After lunch we wandered the town and their small waterfront was super nice! Lots of fun benches, the water was gorgeous! It was really nice…until it turned into an industrial shipyard and cruise port. We wandered through town and there wasn’t much to see in the inner streets, then picked up a brownie (which was awful. It had a strange flavor), and some Black Forest gelato was amazing! It was like cherry chocolate chip, one of my favorites, but with “forest fruits.” So so good! Then it was back to the car to go to our final stop!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaPodróżnik

    Izola

    14 września, Słowenia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Our last stop today was Izola, the last of the towns in the Slovenian coast! It was probably my favorite overall as it had a really nice waterfront and also some fun things to see in the inner streets. Super tiny, but really nice. There are 4 photos from the one church which had so many fancy paintings! And then the next 4 are from the Bell tower which we climbed up and had nice views (and a nice cool breeze!).

    We wandered until we had seen all the things and then sat and had a beverage on the waterfront. The one place had a sign for flavored lemonades which looked/sounded so good so I wanted to try one. I got an elderflower rosemary one (elderflower is one of my favorite flavors and very popular in Germany!) and Raymond had ginger mint…and they were both just lemon water. And not even good lemonade…Raymond’s did have a hint of ginger, but it was so disappointing. This is the second time I have gotten one of these and both times it has been the same and super disappointing! I need to stop trying them as they are not for me!

    Then it was on to camp which was an adventure. Most places you cannot make reservation so you have to just show up and see if there is a spot. We tried to stay where we stayed 2 nights ago, but it was full. So we headed on to the next camp…and it closed today for some reason. So next camp…was on a farm and smelled like a farm and no one else was there including the people who run the place? It was weird so we left and finally the next place had a spot! And is one of the nicer places we have stayed. There is a small view (the last 2 photos - the mountains on the one side were in clouds a bit). I was just so happy to finally have a place to stop and make dinner and sleep!!

    All in all today was a pretty good day. The coast was pretty nice and we got some delicious treats. The coast also reminded us of Italy and all the signs were in Italian and Slovenian (and most of the cities are bilingual cities) so that was interesting. I think that was the last of the city visits - the rest of the time is hikes!     Czytaj więcej

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