Day 9 & 10
Many years ago, the following stunning picture of Lake Bled in Slovenia surfaced in my news feed.
I had three initial thoughts:
- Wow! That’s beyond gorgeous
- I must see this place in person one day
- That island would make a kick-ass hangout during the zombie apocalypse
Weronika and I arrived at the nearby bed & breakfast in the late afternoon, and promptly skipped down to the lake. Yes, I skipped like an enthusiastic child going to kindergarten. It was serene by the water’s edge, but already too dark to properly capture the views. Except for the illuminated castle, located on a hill next to the lake, everything else was quite dark already.
My schoolboy excitement continued throughout dinner, as I’ve never had Slovenian food before. In fact, I’ve never been to this country or even met a person from Slovenia before.
After dinner we headed to another famous restaurant by the water and sampled a local cream cake that was hundreds of years old. The recipe was old, not the cake itself. Of course, why have one cake when you can have three!
Early the next morning, I joined Weronika for a run. Until today, she had been waking up early and enjoying the surroundings while I grabbed another 45 minutes of sleep. Today however, I felt compelled to join her and we raced around the 6.5km circumference of the lake (Yes, I won!). I did my best to capture the moment with all five senses, as it was simply a perfect morning.
A few hours later, we jumped into a wooden boat and made our way to the island. Weronika enjoyed being a princess and sipped on a latte while I diligently rowed. A light sweat might have appeared.
Bled island is home to a pilgrimage church and several buildings that now cater to tourists. We savoured another hundred year old cake in the shop, before plunging into the cool, crystal clear waters for a swim.
It was obvious we needed to spend more than a single day here, and the extra day really allowed us to soak up more of this magical place. We even had time to visit a popular gorge and waterfalls.
Day 11
Slovenia didn’t stop to impress on the following day, and Lake Bohinj would have been another lovely place to stop for a few days. Sadly, we had a schedule to keep and had to leave after snapping a few priceless pictures.
The Slovenia mountains were crazy awesome, in terms of narrow roads; although bi-directional, at times they were barely wide enough for one way traffic. Countless blind turns, usually timed with a car coming from the other direction, made me glad to be on a slim motorcycle instead of a car. Lots of intense GoPro footage was captured.
Later that afternoon, as we slipped into Italy, Weronika became extremely content, and started yelling “Pasta! Cappuccino! Espresso!” and all things Italian through her motorcycle helmet.
Day 12
Coated with a light rain, the romantic city of Venice didn’t disappoint. We only spent a few hours wandering the streets, bridges and canals, but part of my heart remained there. I had heard the place is much more commercial today and is over-hyped, so my expectations were low. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed it so much.
By the way, why does the food and coffee taste SO much better in Italy? What have they figured out that the rest of us are still trying to resolve? Seriously, the tomatoes on the caprese salad were to die for, and the pasta was cooked perfectly “al dante”. All this from a regular looking restaurant in a cute city square surrounded by countless competitors. I don’t normally take pictures of food, but that divine lunch demanded it.
After marching through the narrow streets, we returned to the parking lot by water bus, providing a wonderful perspective of the Grand Canal.
Day 13
I had never heard of San Marino before, and didn’t know it was a country. It’s actually the 5th smallest country of the world, completely surrounded by Italy, and located mostly on a mountain range with extensive views of the area.
Since we were passing nearby that part of the world anyway, why not add another country to the list?! Lunch with coffee was all we afforded ourselves, mostly because I wanted to reach Tuscany by nightfall, and because my upset stomach was slowly us down (Weronika taught me a useful word that day, “kupa”).
Today was also the only day of heavy rain during the entire trip, which started in the early afternoon and lingered until we reached the villa in Chianti, well after dark. Between the pains in my stomach and the drenching rainfall, it clearly wasn’t our best day, but our spirits remained strong. I was pleasantly surprised we didn’t argue, since the conditions were ripe for a dispute. Thankfully, Weronika was patient and displayed great empathy.
