We drove out of Slovenia today at about 9:30am. We needed Kuna as we have entered Croatia. So we stopped at Bule in Istria, a lovely old town on a hill. The streets here are narrow & the houses are stuccoed with concrete & generally not painted. It's funny every transaction in the shops is in Kuna (5 to every SAU), however, when you organise accommodation the prices are in Euro. Where possible we avoided the Autoput & stuck to the towns along the s...

Woke up very early & went to Piran this morning. We are not allowed to take cars into Piran; instead there is a multi-story parking lot at the top of the hill. The locals can park at the bottom of the hill. As it was early & the sun hadn't started to bake everything, we walked down the hill to take in the sights & pick a suitable swimming spot. The water's edge at Piran has massive limestone boulders along a large concrete edge with steps that lead i...

We set off towards Ljubljana today to visit Skocjanska cave. This cave is massive and we walked over 5km through it. The cave is made up of limestone & has a few stalagmites & stalactites but its real magnificence is the depth of the valleys & the height of the walls & roof spaces created by the Reka River. We walked along paths, steps & over bridges - all man made in order to take in the rugged beauty that nature created in this cave. The who...

We had to wash clothes (Laundromat in Izola), found it easily. Also had to do some food shopping - found fresh whole, gutted trout and paid 3.50 Euro for two trout - couldn't resist; absolutely yummy. Got some info on nearby caves - we read that they are a must. After completing the necessary chores & a late lunch, we headed off for a little sightseeing and then a long swim at Izola. The water was cooler here but still warm by our Melbourne standards. The ...

Trieste is massive - for some reason I pictured it as a sleepy seaside town, no it's a city with heaps of wharf action (many of the large cruise ships are built there). We came in from the hills and slowly dropped down into Trieste. The entry was steep and tessellated with stone walls. This side was the old part and when we got down to the water the buildings were old & well maintained. The main square was surrounded by government buildings that made a grand ...