Today wins the record for most idle day. It has poured with rain all day, and we have barely left the van. Mabel with her bladder of steel refused the morning wee walk and lasted 15 hours before conceding she would have to get wet. Even Ernest darted in and out as fast as he could.
So instead we have been cosied up with plenty of hot tea, and we have done lots of learning. We are both loving Duolingo for Spanish, Mark has practiced his guitar every day, I’ve finished my podcast course and worked on both my nutrition and blog courses.
We had a hearty homemade vegetable soup for lunch, read our books, listened to podcasts, I tried to dutch braid my hair and then we drove back to Ljubljana to our spot at the park and ride.
We are both craving apple crumble and to our delight we get free electric here so Mark has popped to the shop for ingredients and I’m going to attempt apple crumble mug cake…it will be the first time we have cooked anything in the microwave 🤞🤣
Hopefully our snow chains will arrive tomorrow and we can head off to Italy…where it is warmer but still raining
I noticed a week or so ago that people on the camper forums were making their way to Spain…they are affectionately known as snow birds, arriving early November and staying in the warmth until Feb/March.
Having realised our original winter destination of Greece is rather cold/wet I’ve been resisting joining the masses in Spain choosing instead to linger in the east. However today we really felt like we had pushed our luck with the weather.
Driving through the hills to Lake Bled we caught the first glimpse of the snow capped mountains. I’d hoped to drive all 50 hairpins of the iconic Vrsic Pass…but already you need winter ready vehicles and it seems likely it will close before our snow chains arrive.
Talking of which, having left it to the last minute (as usual), none of the tyre shops have our size chains in stock so we have to wait two days for them to be delivered to Ljubljana (we even checked stock in Vienna but no luck).
And then the clouds descended and rain started…its not stopped…its not expected to for the next 3 days at least. Still we wanted to make the best of it so we continued as planned to Soteska Vintgar – a deep gorge made passable by bridges and galleries.
The website was selling tickets and this was the final week it was open…but on arrival it was actually closed. We managed to slip the turn style to the first bridge but it was locked beyond. The typically calm turquoise waters are churned and fast flowing after all the rain.
Onwards to Bled Castle! The castle itself isn’t much to see but usually you would have magnificent views of the lake and mountains beyond…erm not so much today. Still this saved my calves as it meant it wasn’t worth the steep hike up Mala Osojnica which arguably gives the best view. We also opted to be healthy and thus skipped the Bled Cake – a vanilla custard slice (no vegan option on Happy Cow 😞).
The less touristy option is Lake Bohinj, where the mountains are mirrored in a lovely spot for swimming and boating. We really need to come back in the spring/summer – you can easily picture it being stunning but the drizzle rather dampens everything.
Given 3 of the 5 family members dont like walking in the rain and Mark doesn’t overly enjoy it, we decided against the steep stepped hike to Waterfall Savica. Instead we drove back to Bohinjska Bistrica and got soaked walking around the small town. Fellow dog walkers were the only other people out and about. I confess I was tempted to stay in the warmth but get restless cabin fever so quickly lol.
Having experienced the rain and burnt off excess energy, we are all snug in our pjs, have bolognese for dinner, books, games and have downloaded the David Attenborough first episode – our first tv in 6 months! Winter in the van ain’t too bad.
Ljubljana is only a small city of 300,000 people and relatively new so there isn’t a huge amount to see, but it has a nice feel to it and it’s great being able to walk to everything.
We first took the pups for a long walk around Tivoli City Park. It’s free to park there on a Sunday and there were lots of people out jogging, dog walking or out with kids.
We then ventured into the centre to see the many bridges, castle, weird bubble hat sculpture, cool Cyanometre which records the colour of the sky and changes colour to match it and eat out at Organic Garden. We got a bit of a shock with the prices, everything is really expensive again so it’s back to penny pinching and eating at home especially with Italy next on the trip list.
One thing to note was that I found their sculpture rather unusual and quite dark, sometimes almost sinister. To be fair though in Kjlucavnicarska ulica in the lane of faces I did spot a few pulling tongues.
The highlight was visiting Metelkova Art Center, which is a creative hub of artists near the museums. It was sadly closed and quiet being Sunday but still great to walk around.
The dull stuff
Well every home has chores and ours is no different. After a trip to Lidl it was laundry time. While Mark waited at the laundrette for our crazy amount of washing, I cleaned the van, planned the meals and made up a few for the week ahead (bolognese, vegetable soup, mushroom and black bean bruschetta, spicy cauliflower florets and a healthy snack pot of nibbles for me). I’m always happy to share recipes and try new ones if you have any vegan ones you recommend.
Having slipped into winter blubber gain mode, I’ve roped my niece into keeping me disciplined. I need to rediscover my love of healthy eating and exercise to balance out some chocolate naughty treats 😋
Today we saw what feats of creation both man and nature can achieve.
Our morning walk was around the grounds of Marimare Castle, which has a spectacular cliff edge setting with views of Slovenia to the left and views of Italy to the right.
After a false start getting stuck in a tight, steep one way system we escaped onto the main roads and made our way back to the calmer Slovenian roads.
We had been torn whether to visit Skocjan Caves or the better known Postojna Cave. Ultimately we chose the latter as the tour time suited our schedule better, but both are meant to be spectacular. We bought a paired ticket to also visit Predjama Castle which was just 15 minutes up the road (€70 for two).
Postojna Cave
While I was initially a bit sceptical of the touristy nature: large queues even in off season and a little train into the cave… I hands up confess it is an amazing sight.
It’s a 5km trip underground, 4 of which is one the train and the other 1km a gentle walk through several chambers which highlight the different colours and types of drip stones. I loved the cave curtains and that two pillars side by side were different colours due to their composition (grey = magnesium / white = pure calcite). We even saw a human fish…one of the 110 species found to live in these caves.
Predjama Castle
After a quick lunch stop it was off to see Predjama Castle. Built into the rock face it’s hard to see where nature ends and manmade building starts, especially once inside!
With its warren of secret tunnels behind the castle and caves underneath, it’s the largest cave castle in Europe. 14 different types of bat hibernate there over winter so you can only do the cave tours in the warmer months.
While the view from the loo is very pretty, the audio tour repeatedly stated how hard and uncomfortable it would be to live here. It was cold and damp, with a few nice but basic rooms for the families that lived there. I certainly couldn’t have coped, and as torture chambers go it’s got to be one of the worst.
While certainly one of our more expensive days outings, I’d recommend both, as they were each fascinating in their own ways.
Before driving up to Ljubljana we walked the pups again, Mabel rolled in a cow pat 🙈 and after cleaning her up I brewed up more coffee.
In the evening we spent far too much time trying to work out the legal requirements for winter tyres/snow chains in Italy. Its compulsory to have one or the other…but the laws can be changed by each province and we can’t for the life of us find the province rules, so we will invest in snow chains and pray there is no snow or change of laws.
After that I felt the need to just veg out watching daft dog videos and rubbish on YouTube…my to do list can wait.
Being woken by roosters came as a bonus as our camp spot was near a school and we had been warned we could get trapped in if we didn’t leave early. So by 8am we had already arrived in the quaint town of Piran.
Parking proved a bit of a struggle but we eventually found a road space and walked the pups down the hill through the compact warren of houses. The view from the city walls and from the bell tower was beautiful.
Slipping through the quiet streets, it felt like the town was still asleep, but I could easily imagine it being a bustling haven in the summer. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes, and the waitress at Cafinho Piran was lovely bringing water out and laughing at Ernests desperate yelps to engage a snoozing old dog next door who duly ignored the tiresome puppy.
Izola
We next drove onto the smaller fishing village of Izola. The harbour was huge, with hundreds of boats and Slovenia is really geared up for campervans with free/cheap water/waste/electric stations. They request you use the aires provided otherwise risk a €40 fine. With 150 dotted around the country we were able to do our van chores for €1 and have downloaded the full list for future reference. Really welcoming attitude 😊
Kopar
Kopar is a larger industrial town and seemingly a key import point for new cars….there we thousands parked up by the docks! We visited the older part of the town to see Tito Square, Praetorian Palace and Stolnica Marijinega vnebovzetja. To be honest we didn’t like this as much as the smaller towns, but it was drizzling and deserted so perhaps better in summer.
We did however love the food at vegetarian restaurant Na stopničkah. They change their menu each day with a daily soup and 3 main tapas dishes. We had a taste of each and they were all delicious. The only odd thing was they don’t offer drinks…just bring tap water straight over. Happily full we then walked the pups around the nearby Škocjanski zatok Nature Reserve. It’s a twitches paradise with plenty of hides, but also has long horn cattle, horses and a cafe.
Trieste – Italy
We had read that Trieste is a mini Venice with a main square that may even be better, so we decided to take a quick detour into Italy for a look.
Mark is keen to explore lots of Italy but I have memories of it being a driving nightmare. 10 minutes in, and I’ve been cut up 4 times, had lanes disappear, narrow roads, scooters dart out and I’d missed my turning for parking. Yep Italy…home of the nightmare driving 🙈
That said we found a space almost opposite the main square (more expensive but it saved my sanity trying to get back through the one way system).
Within 10 minutes we had gawped at the stunning Piazza Unità d’Italia, found the canal (bricked in with breeze blocks 🙄), visited the beautifully decorated Serbia orthodox church and discovered there was a chocolate festival on. I was a very happy lady clutching my bag of tasty truffles. Its certainly a beautiful city and no surprise many authors visited – there are quite a few sculptures depicting the more famous ones such as James Joyce.
As the evening drew in, the light was magical. I love a city at night, quite often the buildings look better lit up, and the inky blue sky and sea blended together seamlessly.
As we walked back to the van, we saw the first flashes of lightning. Tucked up by Miramare Castle we can hear the rain, feel the wind and see the lightning. We have that wonderful balance of being close to nature, whilst still snug and warm. I’m looking forward to the sunrise.
We were all a little slow to rise this morning. I’d slept through my alarm and we were so cosy after a mega thunderstorm last night. Honestly the sound of the rain was so heavy it felt like golf balls hitting the roof, and the first claps of thunder made me think someone had crashed.
Still this morning I had something fun planned. We ventured down the coast to Montys Dog Park and Bar in Crikvenica. The bar was closed but there was an agility course, balls and a swimming bay just for the dogs. We had a great time doing doggy Olympics. Given it was their first time doing agility they did really well and got masses of treats.
After a quick coffee and cake at Tos cafe we decided to drive to Pula. Again we had to use the toll road as the turning off to the minor road looked very minor and rough lol. Still the scenery was great. We haven’t had time to visit any of the islands this trip but Krk is meant to be lovely.
Pula is best known for its impressive amphitheatre which is in really good condition and only £6 to go inside. Reading the reviews that compare it to Romes, it’s cheaper, cleaner and less busy. I’ve not been to Rome yet, but it will be interesting to compare. Either way it’s rather magnificent. The dogs look bored…they preferred the park 🙄
Other Roman ruins include the Arch of the Sergii and Temple of Augustus. We also walked up the hill to the fortress which had nice views but is visually disappointing. We couldn’t go inside with the dogs but they often have art exhibitions or concerts there.
With our deadline to be out of Slovakia by the 15th November (otherwise you have to fit snow tyres), I decided to drive on in the dark to a tiny village just beyond the border. That gives us 7 days to explore our 18th country, so I best get researching! Any recommendations gladly received.
We were up bright and early to drive to Krka National Park. During the winter only two of the trails are open so we plumped for the Skradinski Buk waterfall, which you can walk to from Lozovac. Tickets were 30 kuna instead of 200 in summer and parking is free.
It’s a pleasant boarded pathway with opportunities to swim. Jasper reported it was refreshing, though likely too cold for humans. He did however forget he was still on his lead and was confused when he got stuck around a tree and had to swim back the same way…after much coaxing. He is largely beauty over brains 🤣
There are also parts of the old water mill, a couple of shops and small museum. We finished our walk just as two tour groups arrived, so the 9am start definitely helped.
We then continued on the minor roads to Zadar on the coast. It has a mix of Roman and Venetian ruins, a solar array which lights up at night and a cool sea organ – architecturally designed steps to make music as the waves hit. A lovely place to just sit and listen.
To try and get to Sinj before dark we took the toll road through the mountains. It saved us 45 minutes but cost just over €12. They have heavily invested in their roads but each is expensively tolled, so if coming either best to budget extra driving time or extra pennies for tolls. I prefer driving the minor roads as more scenic and challenging but the toll roads are very efficient and quiet.
Arriving in Sinj we found a free spot to park near konzum supermarket. The campsite was closed so having to keep an eye out for free water taps or buy bottled. I’m going to write a ‘realities’ of vanlife blog as it’s so funny how basic we now live. The town itself is ghostly quiet with a nice fortress and harbour.
I’ve been in a terrible mood all day (headaches, lack of cake and negative thoughts), so going to get an early night and look forward to Montys dog beach and bar tomorrow 😊
Hoping to catch the sunrise I snuck out at 6am but it was already light. Still the valley view was wonderful and a great taste of what was to come.
Again we took the inland longer route, and it was a dream drive of rugged scenery, hairpins and rural villages. Originally I’d hoped to go to Biokovo Nature Park north of Makarska where there is an eagle reserve and supposedly the best view of Croatia. The downside was an additional hour long drive up a ‘scary, single direction gravel road with limited passing spots’. That’s just one of the numerous warnings from the reviews…Mark said no chance…and I had to concede it likely wasn’t the best option for a campervan.
So instead we drove to Omis, and as we neared the coastal town from the mountains I’ve never known Mark so trigger happy with his camera (sadly most photos were blurry from my driving 🙈). Each hairpin brought a new glimpse of the town as we winded closer to Cetina lower flow (home to various water sports and a zip wire). While us humans loved it, our older dogs weren’t impressed with all the wibbly wobbly driving (Ernest slept through).
We ventured into the older part of the town which is nicer and took the pups to Cafe Bagulin. Being the cake fiend I am I asked if they had any but sadly not, so we just ordered coffee. You can imagine my joy when the waitress brought us free cookies! We gave her a big tip and the bill was still only £2.60.
We then drove on to Split, but stopped at Dog Park Katalinic first. We really shouldn’t have bothered. It was a scrap of land covered in broken glass, with sheer cliff drop, no fence and no doggy friends to play with. Mabel looks like an Instadog here though 🤣
Split itself was a really pleasant surprise. We were both hesitant because of all the high rise flats and industry driving in, but the town itself is an amazing labyrinth of old passageways. Diocletian’s Palace, Saint Domnius Bell Tower and Saint Domnius Cathedral being the focal points.
Well that is until you find Froggyland! This is hands down the weirdest place I’ve taken Mark to and we both loved it. An eccentric Croatian taxidermied 500+ frogs into everday scenes to depict the life of humans 100 years ago. Erm yes, you did just read that.
You weren’t allowed to take photos but it’s a must visit (I snuck one of the circus scene to give you an idea). They were expertly executed, humourous and educational. I’m going to be hard pushed to find anything weirder though.
Another random stop was a little further along the coast in Kastel Stalfilic. Here stands the oldest olive tree in Europe some 1500 years old. The park was closed so I just to jump the fence to give the tree a hug. However karma got me for being naughty, as I tasted one of its olives and they were foul!
Our final stop for the evening is Trogir. Again we lucked out with overnight parking near the city bridge for £1.60 (typically you aren’t allowed to wild camp and sites are around €40 a night!).
We wandered around the town, getting lost in the street maze and enjoying the changing light. Yellow, purple, grey, to night blue within half an hour, I just know my photographer friends would love Croatia.
I’ve not fully adapted to these long nights in the van; though I have plenty I could do. My first thought is to raid the food cupboards, so I need a method of better discipline, or I might need to venture back out in pursuit of ice cream.
***additional mini rant below***
As he doesn’t drive, Mark still has no clue of the vans size and thus likes to test my driving skills. I’d managed to park in Split and was sticking out a little but not badly. Mark jumps out to pay…runs back and says there is a bigger space further up. I reverse onto a busy road and realise his space his smaller and much tighter, but he has run off again so I park as best I can until he returns and I point out I cant stay here.
He runs off for the third time and returns to say there is a parking lot around the corner. I reverse the van out and follow him…straight away I know I can’t turn right into it and it’s a very narrow entrance…but there are big parking spaces inside. So wing mirrors in, cursing Mark, I squeeze our van in and loop the wrong way round the carpark, ensuring I park so I can easily drive out. As we walk out, I spot the no campervan sign 🙈 We are improving but parking can still be a challenge lol.
It can be tempting to take the fastest route, especially when the alternative is an hour slower but why drive on a motorway when you can wind through stunning inland scenery, villages and fortress ruins.
November is rainy season and we have had a mix of downpours, drizzle and bright sunshine. While Mark described the clouds as foreboding, I chose to think of them as atmospheric. They added drama to the steep valleys, rugged rocks and mountains.
Driving from Plitvice towards Makarska was a long and scenic journey with a couple of small towns along the way.
Our lunch spot was at Knin. A town overlooked by a ruined fortress, the view from which was disappointing as it’s rather industrialised. On the plus it did had a lidl to stock up.
We past Peruka Lake which is long and sanded at the outer edges at the moment.
A further hour along the route was the small and pretty town of Sinj. Here we climbed to the ruin and clock tower Kamičak. We rewarded ourselves with a strange sherry jam filled filo pastry.
Slightly off route is the ruin of Nutjak near Trilj. It was dark before we could spot it, but as bedtime spots go this is one of the best! The first and last photos are where we are camped ❤
Today I’m largely going to let the photos do the talking.
We drove to Plitvice National Park which is on the Croatia bucket list for many visitors with good reason – it is stunning!
We opted for the green route C from the main carpark 1 which covers the great waterfall and both the upper and lower lakes.
At first Mabel was scared of the boardwalk so I carried her until she felt braver…she was soon trotting along happily. We couldn’t believe how turquoise blue and clear the water was. You easily could see pools of fish in the shallows.
We hopped on a boat across the lake to continue our walk around the lower lakes
The waterfalls were amazing, especially dripping off the foliage
The water is drinkable, though you are not allowed to swim in it much to Jaspers disappointment.
We had multiple attempts at family photos but forgot the selfie stick as usual. Plus the pups don’t get the whole posing thing.
We then got the little train (which is actually a bus), back but stopped earlier at St2 so we could walk along the lake shore (end of route K).
The trail itself is really gentle and you can pick your distance. In the summer months the route we took would take upwards of 6 hours but as we are out of season there weren’t the hourds of tourists and at points we had the path to ourselves, so it only took 4.
Being out of season in early November also meant it was £12 each rather than £30 each, with free parking which really helps.
Nearing the end we realised we had forgotten to see the great waterfall up close at the start of our trail, so we walked back down. The Japanese tourists loved our pups, said hello and took lots of photos of them. They kindly took a family photo of us all by the waterfall – well several…and this is the best lol
By 4pm it was beginning to go dark and we glimpsed the moon over the water.
We decided to drive only a short distance to Sapina Restaurant which let’s you stay in their carpark if you eat there. While this is cheaper than a campsite, they are obviously less busy this time of year so didn’t have any jacket potatoes. The only other vegetarian option was a mixed veg pizza.
The waiter turned up with two quattro 4 cheese pizzas and apologised that’s all they could make. We were too polite to decline so my tummy is likely going to hate me tomorrow #veganfail
We are now bunkered down for the night. Pups snoring, Mark doing his Duolingo Spanish app and I’ve got meditation and coursework to do. Tomorrow we drive to the coast!
SofaWolves 