What's Wrong With Their Home?

December 27, 2017

That's the question people might ask if they took a look at our travel schedule in 2017! Luckily, we love our home...but we also like to explore the world. We especially love to explore it with people we love and meet new friends all over the globe. Travel is all about connecting with people all over the world, and we feel very fortunate to have met and traveled with so many incredible people. We are grateful to all the people who followed our adventures and those who shared their corner of the world with us! We especially want to thank the folks who shared THEIR trips with us in our GoSeeIt People interviews. (You can find the interviews here) We love hearing about your travels too! THANK YOU! We hope you have many safe travels in 2018 and wish the very best in the coming year!

Over the last year here are some of the places we've been able to explore. Click on any link to see more photos in our posts and learn more about each destination! (Next week, we will share where we are headed next!)

What A Year!

Shanghai, China

Savannah

Florida

Spring Break Cruise to Honduras, Belize and Cozumel

Some of the most fun we had all year, was acting like kids with the college kids aboard Rhapsody of the Seas. After years of hearing how grownups should avoid "Spring Break", we went tubing, zip lining, and dancing with the Spring Breakers and had a great time!

The rest of our posts from Honduras and Belize, including our Pack for a Purpose school supplies delivery to Roatan click here!

Vermont

NY Finger Lakes Region

Statuary in the Orchid House at the Sonnenberg Gardens

NYC

A trip to visit our daughter in NYC took us to some of the less visited places in NYC...Flatbush, Harlem, DUMBO. See our trip report here! And about the more popular places in NYC here and here.

White Mountains in New Hampshire

Venice

Slovenia

This small country offers environment from coastal to alpine, as is seen here at Lake Bled, as well as one of the prettiest little European capitals, Ljubljana.

Croatia

Montenegro

Corfu

Malta

A Maltese balcony on Republic Street flies the EU and Matlese flags.

Sicily/Mt Etna

An incredible day hike up Mt Etna with 3 mountaineers, wine and homemamde parmigiana!

Amalfi

Rome

Montreal

Slovenia

November 7, 2017

If the prices of the alpine regions of Italy or Switzerland seem out of reach...can we suggest Slovenia? If the big capitals of the alpine European countries are budget busters, the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana is a beautiful, and affordable substitute!

We arrived in Slovenia on a cruise ship, in the Roman era port city of Kopor. The country is small which allowed us to travel from the small coastal area to the alpine region in little more than an hour. We hired a guide from Roundabout Travel, and customized our itinerary via email with the very helpful staff. But with just a day to visit, we needed to prioritize our choices of what to see. Below is a partial list of things to see and do in Slovenia

Some Major Sites to see in Slovenia

-Medieval port city of Kopor
-Capital city ofLjubljana
-Caves created from the unique "karst" limestone geology in Slovenia (Postojna and Skocjan) -Beaches in the Portoroz beach resort
-Lipinazzer Horses in Lipica
-Hike the mountains or visit a natural gorge, such as the Vintgar Gorge
-The Predjama Castle built into a natural cave
-The Alpine town of Bled with it's lake and castle -Triglav National Parks -Soca River Valley

Clearly, there is enough to do to fill a weeks vacation, but we only had a day! Our Roundabout guide, Sanjin, arrived promptly at 8AM and we started our tour with a trip up a very modern highway to the Lake Bled resort area, which was very quiet during our early October visit, being past the summer tourism season.

Lake Bled Resort Area and Bled Castle

Imagine a time when landowners had small villages of people working for them, they built huge walled palaces to protect their property and often hid inside the walls when marauders came through. This is the history of the Bled Castle. Over the years, many wealthy people including communist leader, Tito, built villas along the shores of Lake Bled. Today Slovenia is a democratic republic, and while the rich families still own the villas, you could also stay in one of many that have been converted to inns and most of Lake Bled is lined with public recreational parks. The castle is a now a an interesting museum with spectacular views. Click here for info on Bled Castle

The Bled Castle looms in the distance, while equally scenic private villas line the shores of Lake Bled

Plenta boats wait to take people to the Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church on the island in the middle of Lake Bled

Bled Castle- Click on any photo below to expand

Bled castle features a Gutenberg replica printing press, where visitors can make a customized souvenir to take home.

A charming Alpine cottage on the shores of Lake Bled

The Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church on Bled Island in Lake Bled from the Bled Castle...note the white villa on the left was once occupied by Tito as his summer home.

Vintgar Gorge Hike

Our Guide Sanjin, having seen us successfully navigate the stairs at the Bled Castle, suggested we might enjoy seeing the natural beauty of Slovenia and took us to the Vintgar Gorge (also known as the Bled Gorge for it's proximity to Bled) for a hike. Ordinarily, an out and back route, Sanjin dropped us at the entrance and met us at the other end, so we didn't have to retrace our steps. The hike is not for the faint of heart with narrow bridges and some damp, steep slopes along the way, but the views were well worth the effort!

The Radvona River runs through the unique "karst" geology in Slovenia and over millions of year creates dramatic gorges and caves.

This time lapse video captures the terrain during the hike.

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is one of Europe's most atmospheric capital cities. It's small size makes it almost entirely walk-able, and the original baroque architecture is visible everywhere. There are also churches that date to Roman times. Settled along both sides of the Ljubljanica River. Along the right bank is the Stari Grad (or old town) while the more modern part of Ljubljana and the Tivoli Park are along the left bank.

After exploring the city on foot, Sanjin took us to one his favorite quick cafes for a traditional "fast food" lunch in Slovenia. We enjoyed two local soups based on barley and sour kraut and some traditional sausages. We had also bought a piece of famous Bled sweet cake at Bled castle to enjoy for dessert. Because Slovenia is also know for it's honey, you can find honey and treats made from it at the local market nearby. (click on any photo below to expand)