By: Michael with funny edits by Elizabeth

We did not realize until our arrival in the little town of Kobarid in the Soca Valley, that it is one of Slovenia’s most popular destinations for everything outdoors including whitewater rafting, kayaking, canyoning, hiking, zip lining, camping and hang gliding. Because of this, the area is full of (mostly) young people enjoying the adventures. It was very exciting for us to be around all that fun and celebration and beauty of nature. We rented a modern, fully equipped apartment that allowed us to “eat in” which is such a luxury after too many restaurant meals. Loved those mod purple suede swivel chairs. We embarked on a beautiful hike through the Soca valley crossing the Soca River on our way to another spectacular (ho hum!) waterfall, the Slap Kozjak.

Side note: We spent one afternoon doing laundry and going through all of our ‘things’ to pare down and send a big suitcase back to the states. We’re back to a carry-on and a backpack for ease at the end of this journey. It’s so nice to be ‘light’ while traveling.

We took off early on Wednesday morning to drive to the unbelievable Skocjan Caves. Wowsers!!! Neither of us have ever been spelunking (love that word!) before so we were completely blown away by the experience. The Skocjan Caves is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is the largest underground canyon system in the world. The caves are more than two miles long and the largest cavern is more than 450’ high. At its lowest point it is more than 500’ below the surface. What an amazing experience walking through the cave which, of course, is dark and cold. The limestone formations and stalagmites formed by dripping water create a surreal environment that are awe inspiring. This has truly been one of the highlights of our trip to date. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside the cave so we don’t have any unworldly pics to share, only a few from outside the caves and one that I took of an impressive poster that I’m too embarrassed to share as my own.

From there we drove to Lipica, home of the largest Lippizanner stud farm in the world. The facility is home to more than 300 of these amazing white stallions. We enjoyed a self-guided tour of the farm where visitors are allowed access to the stables where you can actually make physical contact with them. Very cool. We also got to see a bunch of the recently born foals hanging out with their mamas. Incidentally, the foals are born chocolate brown and slowly loose their color as they age and begin to turn white (I know the feeling). So in a span of less than six hours we got to experience two of the world’s “largest” attractions. More blessings! Slovenia continues to impress and wow us on this trip!

From there we had a short drive to Piran, a bright, (but today, stormy) coastal city on the Adriatic Sea. We are staying in the center of town, right off a beautiful shiny white stoned square (not a plaza or piazza even though this part of Slovenia seems to have a lot of Italian influence) where no cars are allowed. Of course we drove through the square in our rental car to the horror of the locals, but one kind man patiently helped us exit our vehicle and we unloaded and schlepped up cobblestone streets to our B &B. (Google maps doesn’t understand ‘no car zones’). Our plans to hire e-bikes and ride to the salt pans of Croatia where cancelled due to an impending storm — just gives us more time to sort through pictures and write the blog. Piran is home for the next three nights before flying to where?? . . . . for the final leg of our travels.

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Collaboration by:  Elizabeth & Michael

Well the pictures don’t lie— Slovenia is beautiful. We drove from Italy to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and did a foodie walking tour with history and highlights. Somehow I booked us a room at a more hostel-like accommodation— we knew right away something was up when we were clearly the oldest people in the lobby and there seemed to be a cool-edgy-grunge-like vibe going on. Plus, we weren’t carrying backpacks that towered a foot over our heads and hopefully we didn’t smell like we just finished hiking the John Muir trail. Oh well, it was for one night and we just mixed in with the grunge crowd and chalked it up to experience.

It’s a bit of an adjustment to arrive in Slovenia and be eating all of our meals out after all that delicious food in Italy. We were spoiled. But Slovenia is trying hard to win some of the tourist dollars that mostly go to the neighboring countries of Croatia and Italy. They are hard selling their wines, which are pretty darn good, their pumpkin seed oil, and their dairy products. But what they really have to offer are their people (who make a huge effort to speak good English and make you feel welcome) and the incredibly beautiful scenery of their country.

After a day in Ljubljana we drove to Bled (pronounced Blade). (Check out the beautiful like with an island church in the middle in the photos.) You can swim, SUP, row or take a boat to the island and visit the beautifully maintained Baroque church with functioning clock tower. We met up with two dear friends from Laguna Beach and shared the experience of taking a boat to the island, hiking to the Slap Savica waterfall and through the Vintgar Gorge.

Early this morning we said goodbye to our friends and continued our journey in Slovenia by driving through the Julian Alps. We stopped at the tourist information office in Kranjska Gora where we found an extraordinarily helpful woman who guided us to two delightful little lakes, Lago di Fusine, where we enjoyed a hike around both. As stated earlier, Slovenia is a spectacularly beautiful country, and we are having a wonderful time exploring the country by car and by foot. After a hearty lunch in Bovec we drove to our destination for the next two nights, a modern apartment in Kobarid. Tomorrow we plan a long hike through the Soca Valley exploring many historical sites from World War I and one of Slovenia’s most picturesque waterfalls, the Veliki Kozjak.

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