Slovenia Road Trip 4 Idrija

 Idrija isn’t a one of the more popular spots in Slovenia, but I wanted to visit the mercury mine, which was given World Heritage designation in 2012. 

 Interestingly, this World Heritage Site is shared with Spain! The other half of the site is a mercury mine in the city of Almadén.

Adventurous Kate (to be continued) 

Slovenia Road Trip 3

 I did this road trip for four days, but it wasn’t nearly enough. To get the most out of your trip, I recommend doing this itinerary in addition to a few days in Ljubljana and a day or two visiting the coast or other destinations.

 Day One: Idrija

After picking up our rental car at Ljubljana’s central bus station, we took a winding road through the mountains to the tiny city of Idrija.

Adventurous Kate (to be continued) 

Slovenia for a Road Trip

 Slovenia is a fantastic country for a road trip. The country is tiny, the roads are good, and most of the popular attractions are clustered in the western half of the country, making many destinations within a 90-minute drive.

Aside from the intense tailgating, which I found to be some of the worst I have ever seen (I even got tailgated while driving 90 mph!), I’m a huge fan of exploring Slovenia by car.

Adventurous Kate (to be continued) 

A Road Trip Through Slovenia

 After spending a few days in Ljubljana for the fantastic Ana Desetnica festival, it was time to hit the road! I knew I wanted to see more of the country, so I planned to spend four days road-tripping through Slovenia with my friend Peter, the blogger behind Travel Unmasked.

Now, if you’ve been on a road trip before, you know they can can test friendships. Peter and I had never traveled together beyond a few days in Scotland a year and a half ago, but traveling as two people has a different dynamic than a large group.

Thankfully, we got along fabulously! We turned up the Kanye West and rapped “Through the Wire” together as we drove down the Slovenian highways.

Adventurous Kate (to be continued) 

Wine tasting room at Ducal, Slovenia

 
In the course of tasting a few of the low-intervention whites produced by Ducal, he confesses that he’s not a fan of pét-nat—too uncontrollable, too weird, too prone to over-emphatic cork-popping. (That said, Ducal’s pét-nat, which I sampled at Mitja’s latest tourism project in another part of the country, is delicious.)

This is why I smiled when I was seated at one of the minimally but impeccably set tables at the nearby Opok 27. Owner Katja Leber-Vračko explained that her project, along with her chef-husband, Gregor, near the farm on which she grew up, is out to change perceptions of family farms and wineries. Both were lawyers, but then “life happened” and they’re following this passion instead.

  (to be continued) 

Wine tasting room at Ducal, Slovenia

 He proudly points out that one of Ducal’s wines has been served at Noma.

Tim is refreshingly honest as he shows guests around the winery, parts of which are 200 years old and contain traditional amphorae imported from Georgia. He also leads Ducal’s casual tastings beside a wood-fueled fireplace (while gracefully explaining the advance-reservations-only policy for the hikers who would like to drop in). He speaks enthusiastically about his family’s estate.

 (to be continued) 

Wine tasting room at Ducal, Slovenia 2

 Even after the turmoil that led to an independent Slovenia, Lo Duca continually innovated in adventure travel, and in 2007 he was awarded a prize for the best tourism project in Slovenia.

The awards ceremony was in Maribor. Lo Duca and his wife, Joži, set out from there to see the Svečina hills and soon after made an offer on a homestead with an old wine cellar. Soon, Mitja’s son, Tim, was winding up his successful career as a professional soccer player and looking for his next challenge. After a brief course in winemaking, he’s a fledgling winemaker and a committed ambassador for Ducal.

  (to be continued)