roemin around

Slovenia is lovely and green cos it has a fair amount of rain. Seems to bubble up over the mountains in the afternoon and then tip it down in thunder storms until the evening. Decided to head south for some more sun instead of Austria, which was just as wet apparently, although we were only about 10 milles from the border at Bled. Guess what - more torrential rain on the way but it seems to have gone away now and at least it is always warm. Spent the first two nights on Istian peninsular in Croatia near Rovinj and caught some fish in the sea and bbq them for a (very small) starter. Me real hunter gatherer now! Moved a but further south to Pula to see the roman ruins and lie on the beach before we go round towards Krk island. The camp sites around here are huge, this one has 6000 in mid summer and more like hoilday camps with entertainment etc (if you want it) and Wifi. Hope to upload some photos later.

We left Bled to head south for Croatia but spent one last day on the Slovenian coast. It rained all night at Ankaran where we stopped the night but the following day was much better (at first) and we spent the morning in nearby Portoroz on the Piran peninsular. This is a very young smart resort and we had a coffee in a hawain style bar on the beach.

Spent most of one day walking round Lake Bled with stops for lots of photos and coffee. Its only 3 miles so should have taken a couple of hours. But thats not including the steep detour up to the castle on the cliff for the view over the lake. Stopped half way up for a break and panini in a lovely little pizza place. When we finally made it to the caste there was a wedding going on and believe it or not the bride and groom came from Blaby and Broughton Astley, villages near where we live in Leicesteshire. What a small world it is!

Its 25th May, our wedding anniiversary, and we arrived at Lake Bled in northern Slovenia last night. Sometimes(!) the guide books are a bit OTT but the lake really is emerald green and with the Alps as a backdrop, the tiny island and castle up on the cliffs make this a beautiful setting. We took a boat ride over to the island by rowing boat and rang the church bell, to make a wish, as have countless other tourists, but it is a delightful place. The camp site is right on the lakeside and really peaceful, the bar and restaurant close at 09.00 pm. This morning a 'cheeky' jay stole a bread roll from our breakfast table and tried to fly off with it. Thought the begging ducks were bad enough.

Now in Ljubljana in Slovenia, very green and picturesque. Its taken five years and hundreds of sites, but we have finally stayed on a site with another Nu Venture motorhome! Not a Surf, but a Rio, and a couple just like us! When Slovenia declared independance in the early 90's, Ljubjana became the capital city. It is small by UK standards of course but a really young, fresh and lively place with a high student population. We had a thunder storm just after we arrived so stayed on site most of the day and went into town on the bus for the evening and then again to the castle and market the next day (I think we saw one policeman in all that time). Rosemary declared the market to be excellent and we came away with strawberries, cherries and some local cheese and wine.

We decided to have one last night in Italy to break the journey from Venice to Slovenia and headed for a sosta (from the book) at another grotta, but could not find it. Think we may have located a road/track leading to it but it seemed to be 'guarded' by several permanent Italian motohomes so decided not to investigate further. Instead we spent the night on the harbour car park in Trieste with 3 very friendly Italians who gave us a map of Croatia and told us what 'we must go to see'. A change of itiniary seems very likely! The next day we had breakfast Italian style in a bar in the square before stopping on the motorway into Slovenia. We spent an hour chatting to a Slovenian family with Sam(o) the son who spoke excellent English and interpreted for his parents, who loved our motorhome. Sam is still studying at 27 and hoping to get a good job abroad eventually, we swapped phone numbers and emails - good luck Sam.

We left Italy on Tuesday after spending 4 nights in Venice, or at least just a 30min ferry ride away, and a night on the harbour wall in Trieste. Venice was really nice although teeming with tourist in all the hot spots and it was expensive. Rosemary refused to have a coffee in St Marks square cos it would have cost a 10 pounds per cup. The gondolas are a rip off as well, as you might expect, but the water busses for which you can get an all day 'rover ticket' are much more convenient way of seeing most of the sights. There is a real maze of narrow streets and canals, everyone has a map and everyone seems to be lost! The camp site on the seaward side of the lagoon which 'contains' Venice was very busy considering there are around 20 large sites on that stretch alone.