From Ljubljana, via Piran to Croatia

Day 37: Small change of plans. We decided not to visit Postojna Cave, which takes tourists into the underworld by a small train, but instead the slightly 'less' touristy caves, the Skocjan Caves, which are located a bit further south.

But first, we made a stop at Predjama Castle, a castle built into a rock, which always held up against attacks and sieges with its tunnel systems. A truly impressive building. We were very surprised how people back then could construct something like that.

After a short conversation with a very friendly Dutch person, who told us that he is changing his planned Balkan route due to the weather and is now going directly to Italy, we continued to the caves.

When we arrived at the Skocjan Caves, we were lucky and caught the next guided tour, which took us through the surreal underworld of Slovenia for two hours. From caves with various rock formations to huge halls where we felt like in the deepest canyons at Gringotts, everything was included. It was incredibly impressive how the Reka river wanders through the 160 m deep gorge. No wonder that the caves are part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed in the caves, so we cannot show you any impressions :(

When we left the caves, we hurried to the bus because it started raining heavily again. We didn't let it spoil our mood and followed our cravings for pizza. So off to Italy :P Good 1.5 hours later, we arrived in Trieste. Armed with umbrellas, we explored the city a bit before we finally got the long-awaited pizza at Pizzaria Bianco. In Trieste, even the ice cream shops are open on Sunday evening after 8pm - we had to take advantage of that :))

At the coast, we quickly noticed that the climate and landscape had changed significantly, from now on we were in more Mediterranean regions.

Day 38: In Trieste, we slept on a public parking lot at the harbor which became chargeable again on Monday from 8am, so we set off early in the morning. Our breakfast hunger brought us back to Slovenia, to Koper. Since it was still raining, we had breakfast in the bus. Even after that, the rain didn't stop, so we continued straight to Izola, where the sun welcomed us again and we could stroll along the promenade.

Our park4night app led us to Strunjan, where we found a great spot surrounded by olive groves. Since it was still early, we wanted to explore the area a bit more and set off towards the cliffs. That's where we found a nature trail that led around the small town, which was once known for its salt gardens. We decided to follow the trail and made all sorts of interesting discoveries. Among other things, we stole a very delicious mandarin and some super disgusting olives :D Probably you don't eat them directly from the tree, right?

Back at the bus, we cooked ourselves a delicious meal and sat comfortably in front of the bus when an Italian came by and drew our attention to the prickly pears a few meters away. Intrigued, we immediately rushed over to get some of the pink fruits. Ouch - they prick - unfortunately, these stupid things have prickles everywhere :D After we freed ourselves and the fruits from all the prickles and finally got to the inside, we were very disappointed by the amount of seeds and the not-so-great taste :(

That night, we were rocked to sleep by the passing storm.

Day 39: Off to the formerly Venetian peninsula Piran. During a walk through the historic old town, we quickly noticed that the storm had left its mark here. Almost all promenade cafés were busy cleaning and tidying up their outdoor terraces. Even a digger was removing the washed up stones. Phew, luckily we chose a spot on the hill.

In the morning, we had already unsuccessfully tried to find a shower. In the afternoon, we continued dealing with this topic and quickly realized that we would have better chances in Croatia. So we set off to Croatia and checked out various places until we finally found a shower facility.

All in all, we really liked Slovenia. It is a fairly small but very diverse country. From high mountains with waterfalls and springs to the Mediterranean coast and charming little towns, it had everything.