the entrance to the castle ruins of Klingenberg, which are not very exciting
Getting to the Balkans from where we are, in The Netherlands, takes a while, so we stopped for the night in a small town in Germany, Klingenberg. With a castle ruin overlooking the Main river, in between vineyards that produce the rather undrinkable red local plonk. Appropriately, our hotel was called Villa Croatia, with attached Adria restaurant. Where we had our first Balkan grill of the trip, accompanied by wine from Bosnia & Hercegovina – didn’t know they made wine there, but much better than the local variety – and appropriately finished off with slivovic, that ever-present Balkan distillate, mostly from plums, but it doesn’t really matter.
all of Klingenberg captured in one: the Altstad church, the wine and the castle ruins
which, indeed, produces red grapes
same building, same windows, same sun, other angle
in Austria we don’t cross mountains, we go through them
To Kranskja Gore
The second day in transit was even more beautiful, in terms of the weather, bright sunshine, 30o C, and a hilly South German landscape that abruptly tuned into steep mountains once we drove into Austria. Still, from there spectacular peaks as far we could see, which was occasionally limited by rather long tunnels. In Austria you don’t cross the mountains anymore, you go through them – except that when you exit one of those long tunnels, the weather may have changed. This is what gradually happened, and by the time we had arrived in Kranjska Gore, our first Slovenian destination, the clouds were a little more threatening. Nothing to be concerned about, of course. So we walked to our restaurant, ten minutes from our hotel. Where we arrived just before the first drops of rain fell. From which moment onwards it didn’t stop anymore.
a pleasant surprise on our first night in Slovenia, the Balkans, after all: roasted piglet
and this is how it was served, mind you, this is one portion only!
the view of our hotel in Kranskja Gore: those are the mountains we are supposed to cross
Change of Plans
The idea had been to enjoy some of the surrounding mountain scenery, and drive up the – allegedly spectacular – Vrsic pass. But with incessant rain the next morning, and low hanging clouds obscuring any concept of scenery, we needed an alternative. After all, Kranskja Gore is a fairly modern ski resort, and as such not the most attractive place to linger. So we opted for Piran, Slovenia’s prime seaside town, instead – at least the weather would be better down the coast, was the reckoning. And thus we left Slovenia again, less than 24 hours after arriving – because the quickest way to Piran is through Italy. Where, at least the first hour or so, it rained possibly even harder than in Kranjska Gore, but gradually the wisdom of our decision became visible, first in increasingly being able to distinguish the mountain peaks around us, and then in patches of blue sky above and beyond those peaks.
Izola harbour, the first Slovenian harbour across the Italian border
with houses quite well maintained, some of them
and others, lining the narrow streets, which may need some more attention
Three hours later, just past Trieste, we entered back into Slovenia, bathing in the sun along the Adriatic coast. A quick stop in Izola, for a stroll along the water and an ice cream, and then on to Piran, which indeed is a lovely small resort town with ample lunch opportunities along the water front, and the old, a little dated but perfectly located Hotel Piran.
but ultimately, palm trees, three hours from where we were chased away from cold mountain rains!
