Slovenia - Stunning!

We are loving Slovenia - the most stunning place yet - also everywhere is so cheap and has free Wifi!

We crossed the border into Slovenia and straight away there were mountains and LOADS of trees and forests

Mogs is now navigating with our Bord Atlas German book that has free camper parks and cheap places to stay in restaurant/hotel car parks etc - in Europe and not just Germany - only problem is it is all in German so the navigating is getting worse by the minute....

After driving past 3 times we found the entrance to a small health centre place that lets you park in their grounds - we have gone from a site with LOADS of people and packed beaches to a field next door with 3 sheep and a goat!

this is what we had (or near enough!)

 this is what we have now

But it had a little bar and very friendly staff and wine was 1 euro for a large one and 1.5 euros for a rum :) Dave the Rum King came out.....

We stayed just the one night and found out there was a local festival going on the next day in the town up the road - it was a bit like Bude Farmers Market but with sheepskin stuff and Russian hats and some weird guy selling wooden sex games....so we bought some garlic spread and very expensive cheese!

festival procession

It was great to see the local fair and the procession in their traditional dress and it was also right by their main tourist attraction - the Postojna caves

Postojna Caves

http://www.slovenia.info/?naravne_znamenitosti_jame=450

Awesone caves and well worth a visit - like going to Jules Verne 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' - they went on for miles with HUGE stalactites and stalagmites - big words for this stage of the tour!!!We had a train ride into the caves which took half an hour to get just to the main caves - Dave says we must watch the 'Cave' film now - well scary!!  We have both never been in such a big cave - one part was all white and like being in Santa land!! 

Going in!!

A few miles up the road was Predjama Castle built into the cliffs with caves and underground tunnels beneath it - we stopped for a quick photo shot as had read on TripAdvisor that the outside view was better than paying to go in - it was an amazing building and we thought worth a mention. The caves inside were 3 miles deep.

Time to find another of Mog's stopovers from her German book - missed a turning, tried another one and by some miracle (or very good navigation skills says M) we were 100 metres from the place we were trying to find!  A Slovenian Fawlty Towers Hotel that allowed you to park in their car park and use the loos/showers - but no-one was staying in the hotel!! Quite a few campervans tho and again free wifi in Reception area.  We were the only ones logging on with some very odd evening staff in the hotel - thought Basil Fawlty may appear anytime!! But it was very cheap and not just a layby and fine for the night and D played guitar and we chilled.

Morning run with D biking and we went through various Slovenian villages - we noticed they all have at least 2 chapels with lovely spires and religious monuments everywhere. The houses are all very well kept and some are pretty big, with flowers and no rubbish anywhere. Also D noticed the farming here is going back about 30 years - hanging the hay out to dry and really old tractors. It's all very rural and peaceful, unlike the busy part of Italy we have just been staying in.

 Morning run through the Slovenian villages

Bled - Stunning Spot!

Arrived at Lake Bled and Mogs decided it was her favourite spot so far - stunning lake with an island in the centre and a cycle/running path round the lake which was about 4 miles long.

Our neighbours on the site we stayed at came rushing out admiring our van as they had a very similar V8 GMC American van too - we became friends very quickly and Dave and Reiner were forever chatting and exchanging van ideas. Reiner is also a firefighter and Jutta is a police officer with a 9mm - Dave was impressed!! They were very sporty and we couldn't really keep up with them but we did manage a run/bike round the lake and swam to the island in the centre.

The swim was a lot further than we thought - it was about 3/4 mile each way - half way there Dave said 'are we nearly there yet?!' But we made it and earned our beer that evening - only to go back to the site and find Jutta having a thai boxing lesson after their badminton session. Jutta didn't really understand why she needed to thai box as she has a 9mm pistol!

Reiner and Jutta + very nice van!

We swam to the island in the centre of the lake one day
 

Vintgar Gorge

When we left Lake Bled we decided to stop at a Gorge Reiner and Jutta had told us about where you can do a 2 mile walk up and down the Gorge - it lived up to expectations! Great walk with clear clear waters full of trout and a waterfall at the end - D was impressed with the ice cream shop at the end too!

We were thinking of heading to Bovec and the River Soca where Reiner and Jutta were going to do some white water rafting but after our Vintgar walk we decided Bovec would be too much of a detour as going back into Slovenia and on a VERY windy road that we weren't sure Vannie would cope with due to the new brake things put on the tyres. So we decided to head for the Austrian border - we were sorry to not see Reiner and Jutta again as it would have been great to raft with them - Reiner had said 'we will be in the same raft - firefighters stick together!' We hope we will catch up with them again in Germany or the UK.

It's been quite an active time in Slovenia - running, cycling, swimming, walks and lots of driving for Dave so we are looking forward to maybe finding somewhere to chill out for a bit at the next stop in Austria..........yeah right!

Pasta Pizza and People

Pasta, Pizza and People - that's all you get in Italy. Dave is missing English food - Indian, Chinese, KJ's, Thai and maybe a Roast!

Soave

On the way to Venice we came across a lovely medieval village where they make the white wine Soave. We wanted to stop for lunch and saw this castle on the hilltop by the motorway so pulled off and found a little jewel by the roadside not mentioned in any of the books we have. We climbed to the top of the Castle and then stopped at a little bar afterwards to sample the Soave – had to be done!

 

Vineyards in the hills

 

Venice in a Day

We had to get a bus and a boat to Venice from the campsite – lovely to arrive at the city by boat

 

 

Mogs had been to Venice before and spent days walking round the streets so as we were only there for the day we decided to use the Vaporetto water buses and see some of the city by boat. The gondolas were 60 euros for 20 mins so we had to give them a miss but good to watch them! Dave loved the city water bus and started falling asleep - Seany would like the buses - they are like the Underground and Metro outside on water! Well chilling!

 

 

 

Rialto Bridge

We walked round St Mark’s Square and through some of the smaller streets seeing the canals and bridges – it’s a lovely city with many photo moments – the best being when you are away from the main crowds.

 Bridge of Sighs

 

 

 

 

 

 Perhaps he's been on the gondolas too long - that's what happened to Dave!

 

 

 

We ended up staying at the campsite for about a week as the weather was great and after staying here and there for just a night it was good to be settled for a bit – plus great running and cycling area as very flat.

On a Bike/run ride we saw a HUGE black snake with a yellow head – D thinks it was a python anaconda – we have never cycled and run so fast to escape – it was massive! Afraid we don’t have a pic as had to get away but have found this one to show you the type of snake it was but D thinks it was a bit bigger!

 

Italian Beaches

 

How many people can you fit on one beach? And how loud can they speak?!

We have found the Italian beaches have military placing of brollies!! Rows and rows... Never seen so many people on a beach but it was a lovely beach.

We took some pics in the morning before they all arrived

Flamingo bike ride - or not

 

We met another lovely German couple in the tent next to us who were there for 7 weeks - they recommended a bike ride to Lake Picolo about 10 km away where there are loads of pink flamingos. We headed off on our last day and cycled round the lake as far as we could - came to a dead end or so we thought. Only saw 6 flamingos on the way and they weren't even pink. Headed home only to find out from our German friends that the flock of flamingos are just round the corner from where we reached!!!  Lovely cycle ride though and stunning views with loads of storky birdy things!!!  D says there were also lots of even bigger snakes hiding in the grass.....

 

 

 

 

This is the last site we will be able to use our cheap camping card as it is now the high season so we are off to Slovenia and looking for free parking or lurking in laybys!!

 

 

 

Hills, Vineyards and Olive Trees - We are in Tuscany

Left Rome and headed north - the roads are a nightmare - potholes and dodgy Italian drivers that are either REALLY slow or REALLY fast!!

 

Whilst driving through Tuscany we saw a lovely house with rows of pointy trees up the drive and thought we'd pull over and take a photo – we wonder who lives here?!

Some other cars stopped but then drove away - a minute later 2 guys in black suits, one with a gun, came down and told us to move on shouting, we think - "fuck off paparazzi" - we think D might have scared them when he got his binoculars out!! So jumped back in Vannie and went off super quick! We have had a Mafia Godfather moment on the tour!!!

The Tuscany countryside is lovely – rolling hills, vineyards, olive trees and lots of the pointy trees!

Vannie coped with the roads and mad drivers and we arrived at a site south of Siena with fab views over the Tuscan hills and an awesome pool and jacuzzi.

 

And what a bonus - it has free Wifi!!!! Never been found before so we are hammering it! 

 Gadget Van

How many gadgets can we have? We are forever charging things as soon as we have leccy and Wifi.

2 iphones – new Ipad – Ipad keyboard - laptop – Kindle – D’s tablet - Mogs running watch – Mogs running ipod shuffle - D’s new toy is the Sat dish to try and pick up some TV channels on Vannie’s computer – he hovers outside the van with bits of wire, spinning the dish and looking very geeky! He loves pottering BUT we have 100 channels….of shit

M: It’s Sat night – can you find BGT?!!  D: Nah got some German porn though?!!

We even found use for another plug in Vannie's boot at this site as we can log on the laptop, phone and Ipad at the same time so needed extra leads - the Dutch were very impressed!!

A one night stop at this site turned into 4 probably due to the free wifi as we have really struggled with wifi till now - plus it was a really chilled place and the little village was very 'Italian' and rural - but they had everything there even a barber shop - D headed there in need of a haircut with his new golden brown look and came back with a very chic Italian hair do - gel, smells and all sorts!!! By the time M went to take a pic he'd messed it all up!

Beer stop at a local bar in the village

 

The Barbers!

 

 

Siena

A beautiful medieval town with a wall round it and lots of windy streets.  Twice a year there’s a bare back riding horse race round the square which sounded really wild but it was in a week’s time and we weren’t staying in the area that long.

 

We've tried to upload a video of Siena square but not happening!!

 

The Square in Siena

 

 

The Cathedral

 

 

Vineyard Stopover

 

A vineyard stopover had to be done in the Chianti wine region so Mogs found one that let campervans stay in a ‘camping area’

www.casalewines.com

Only trouble was the Sat nav co-ordinations weren’t right for it and we found ourselves in some old run down farmhouse with a strange old Italian lady who glared at us as she fed her cat – made a quick exit and eventually found a very small sign for a vineyard – followed it down even smaller lanes

D: Where we going Mogs?!!

M: We’re nearly there – I think! (not having a clue!)

Found it in the middle of nowhere but a lovely spot and a real authentic Italian vineyard that exports wine all over the world. Giovanni the owner was a real character (reminded Dave of Ziggy in Halwill) - we tasted a few of the wines – well nice wine proper job – 2 bottles bought and a wine box packed that day straight from the cellar – essential provisions for the next part of the trip (says Mogs)

The ‘camping area’ here turned out to be down a tiny lane and under a big oak tree in the woods – dark as a badger and we were the only ones there apart from millions of bugs – scary stuff but the wine chilled us out!!

Mogs and Giovanni tasting the wine – as you do!

 

 Mountanes

 

Vineyard done, we made our way towards Lake Garda and Mogs found another stopover site that she thought looked cool – way up in the Tuscany mountains - it turned out to be very cool in fact bloody cold as it was so high up so we headed down after one night!  If it’s cold or wet, we move on but lovely view from the top.

 

 Lake Garda

We found Lake Garda beautiful but BUSY- we were by a lovely beach looking onto the lakes and mountains behind with snow tops – we had been looking forward to Lake Garda but were a bit disappointed as it was so busy and every site was full - with signs all round the area that campervans weren’t allowed to park – but it was a stunning lake.

 

 

 

 

 

The only campsite we could get in (and that was only available for one night) was very Hi di Hi – 1500 people on one site – and hundreds of sites round the lake. Least we didn’t get bitten here as there was enough ‘go lightly’ meat for the mozzies – D recognised a few people from his favourite Jeremy Kyle show!!  We would have stayed longer as the lake was lovely, and Mogs had a fab morning run round some of the lake, but we couldn’t stand the crowds and couldn’t park anywhere!

Time to move on to Venice…..