Noodle soup at the lounge

First time ever flying Business class and Turkish airline did not disappoint. Matt’s legs actually fit for once!

Enjoying the leg room

Ready for take off!

They even serve a “candlelight” dinner. The food was actually very good.

Once dinner was over they do a turn down service and the boys were all snug and cozy watching movies until bedtime.

Landing in Istanbul after 13 hours of flight, excited for our final leg to Ljubljana.

View from the castle

Our home for the night

Hallway full of antlers

Evening stroll to the castle gates

Full breakfast in the castle

After our private piano concert we went to Ljubljana for Sunday mass. At the church Svetega Josefa they offer an English mass and Matt even made a new French Canadian friend.

Svetega Josefa

After mass we walked around the city center and sampled some traditional Slovenian foods.

First stop was a well known sausage shop where we had some delicious Carnolian sausage.

Sausage and bread

Sausage shop

Lots of restaurants served palacinke

Next up was Strukli, we tried a chocolate and a mango dumpling. Both were very tasty.

The boys chose chocolate - shocker.

Mango strukli

We got caught in a brief thunderstorm while walking around Ljubljana, so once we were \240full we headed back to the car and departed for Piran.

Next to the triple bridges

Ljubljana castle sits above the town

Dragons are the town mascot

Slovenia is very eco friendly and recycling cans are all over

After about a 90 minute drive, we arrived in Piran at our Airbnb rental. The house is near the beach and the boys quickly jumped in the pool for some afternoon fun. The Mediterranean views are lovely and you can look across the sea to Italy and Croatia.

The backyard and pool

North view to Italy

Pool time!

Enjoying some Slovenian wine poolside

Slovenian white blend

Still getting used to showering in super tiny showers. Shaving your legs is pretty challenging!

2x2 ft shower

After pool time we took a walk into old town Piran for dinner. The town is very ancient and walking through the interior is very disorienting due to the tall buildings and narrow alleys. No cars are allowed in the city center. We got gelato (for the second time today!) and then had a nice dinner at Rostelin, an Italian place. The walk to/from town was beautiful and we are slowly acclimating to the very uneven cobblestone streets.

Skipping stones seaside

Fiesa footpath

Tartini square

Sunset in Piran

Dinner at Rostelin

The menu had a sense of humor

At the edge of the sea

Matt’s moody sunset pose

It was a great day full of food and activity. Ready for some rest for tomorrow!

Sunrise to the east over Trieste, Italy

Reid accompanied me to the grocery store and we had fun making sense of the food labels. Returned with breakfast foods and enjoyed our meal outside on the patio.

Next we went to explore the old town walls of Piran, which were used to defend the town hundreds of years ago. The views were gorgeous.

View over Piran

Afterwards we took a short drive to Strunjan Nature Park and took a hike to Moon Bay, which was a gorgeous natural stone beach with clear water. We cooled off in the Adriatic Sea before we had to hike back.

Moon Bay

The beach at Moon Bay

Holy Cross lookout point at Moon Bay

We were starving after the hike so we stopped by the pizza restaurant near our villa for some delicious pizza lunch.

Cheese pull

Dessert of course

The afternoon was spent playing in the pool and napping.

Sampling some orange wine

Matt and I had a date night at a fancy restaurant in town, Stara Gostilna Vecchia Osteria. The food was artful, fresh and delicious.

Bread course

Oyster dish

Scallop tartare

Strawberry dessert

After dinner

We took the scenic walking path back to the villa from town

Evening stroll back home

The evening ended with a night swim in the pool before we all were pooped.

Fruit and crossaints upon boarding

Leaving the Piran marina

Wine tasting

The coastline is so green and lush

View of our Villa from the sea (small yellow house with orange roof)

Boat sun deck

The highlight was definitely when we dropped anchor at a secluded bay and jumped into the sea for a swim. The water was so clear - you could see lots of jellyfish! Luckily they were pretty harmless and no one got stung.

Reid was brave and jumped first

Secluded bay

Once our boat trip ended we had a seafood dinner by the beach and the boys spent a lot of time skipping rocks. Overall a great day at the coast.

Brothers ❤️

Local mixed shellfish

Tomorrow is our last day at the coast, and then we head inland for some caves and wine country.

Epic brunch

The rest of the day was spent playing in the pool and lounging. The boys have insisted on playing water polo with us so it’s pretty intense and they beat us pretty easily today.

Last day in the pool

Later we showered up and headed into town along the Fiesa footpath. It’s a 15 minute seaside walk (1 mile) and we definitely have been getting our steps in this trip since we do this walk 1-2 times each day.

Pre-dinner gelato

Fiesa footpath

Selfie time

We stopped at the aquarium before dinner to see the local sea life displays, including more jellyfish! The moray eels were especially cool to watch.

Moon jellyfish

Mediterranean morays

It was time for dinner and we ate at Bottega de Sapori, on Tartini square. The food was delicious but the service was super slow, 3 hours later we finally were done. The boys were champs and tried all the food, including octopus, bouillabaisse, sea bass and truffle pasta. They also stole some sips of our wine - so European 😂

When we were finally done with dinner we walked back and got caught in a thunderstorm - our second time this trip! Once back we packed up, so sad to leave but excited for the upcoming adventures we have planned.

We made a brief visit to Predjama castle afterwards as well.

We then headed to our next lodging, Theodosius Forst Village in the Vipava Valley. This area is like the Sonoma or Napa of Slovenia and is absolutely beautiful. The hotel is set up as little modern cabin rooms in the forest, and it is so peaceful there. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the hotel grounds before dinner.

Lincoln on the swing

Hammock time

The boys had their own cabin

Forest walk

My hero with the wine bottle

More hammock time

Vipava view

Dinner was across the street at Gostilna Theodosius, which was a lovely spot for super local Vipava food. The boys continued their exploration of new foods, with Reid ordering the tasting menu and Lincoln ordering local prosciutto and trout. It was all delicious and of course came with wine pairings from local wineries. We had a great time and ended the night happy and full of good food and wine ❤️.

Beef cheeks with cherry

Local trout with carrot puree

Dessert sampler - battle of the spoons!

Slovenian apiary

We got to wear some very stylish protective hats.

We also sampled some dried fruits from his farm and about 10 varieties of honey. They all tasted different based on the different plants.

We learned a lot of fun bee facts:

The queen bee (they call her the mother bee) lives 7 years. She is fed by all the worker bees and is actually too heavy to fly.

Male bees only fertilize and move around the honey.

Female/worker bees collect the nectar and pollen and live only 60 days.

If there is a lot of food around sometimes a second queen will hatch and go start a new hive, taking half the worker bees with her. The beekeeper has to make sure this doesn’t happen by always checking for new queens.

If food is scarce, the worker bees eat the male bees.

In Slovenia there is a beekeeper for every 200 people, the most in the world.

We got to see a bee hatch right in front of us.

Api-therapy is a health therapy where people spend time next to the hive breathing the bee air and listening to the hum of the bees. It’s apparently good for respiratory illnesses and stress. The beekeeper had room surrounded by the hive where people could even stay the night for this therapy.

Bed for apitherapy with window to hive under your pillow!

After the apiary our guide took us to the smallest town in Slovenia, Vipavski Kriz, for a walk and a drink. The views were beautiful and the old town was very charming.

Vineyards in Vipava valley

Vipavski Kriz

Old village streets

View from Vipavski Kriz

After our tour we stopped for a pizza lunch and experienced another thunderstorm. We had some relaxation time in the afternoon and then went out to Dvorec Zemono for dinner. Matt was excited to learn that Luka Doncic celebrated his contract signing with the Mavericks at the same restaurant.

The restaurant is set in an old hunting manor with a beautiful view over the valley. Lincoln was excited to try a Michelin star restaurant and I was very proud of their manners and adventurous palates. Of course, they still liked dessert the best 😂.

Dinner al fresco

Box of starter bites

First dessert with juniper dry ice feature - the kids loved this

More desserts of course

Vipava sunset

Reid is now a Nutella lover

The rafting trip was an absolute blast! It was just us and a guide so we have a smaller raft which is a lot more fun and exciting. We also made some stops for rock jumping and raft sliding into the turquoise river. This river looks like it’s from a fairytale with its light aqua water due to the limestone on the river bed. The water was crystal clear (and cold!)

Starting our journey

Reid has no fear of the water

Surrounded by nature

Rafting high five

Me - \240about to be very cold

Reid takes a slide head first

Lincoln jumps into the Soca

Successful voyage!

After rafting we found out apartment in Kobarid, which is very charming.

3 story apartment in Kobarid

View from the apartment over the town center

For dinner we went to Hisa Polonka and had home cooked style Slovenian food. After dinner we got some soft serve ice cream and walked around the town square enjoying the fair that was going on after the cycling race.

Hisa Polonka

Dinner

More wine of course

Town square

Dessert time

Town fair

Linkyboo

Napoleon bridge

Footbridge from WWI

Soca river

Nature is so romantic 🥰

Kobarid street art

After our walk Matt and I had a lunch date at Hisa Franko. I’ve been excited to eat here since seeing the chef Ana Ros profiled on Netflix’s Chefs Table series. Sheand her husband run the restaurant out of their home. She is self taught and has become one of the worlds best chefs by highlighting the super local ingredients. Her husband is the sommelier and the wine was also a star for sure. This restaurant has apparently brought a lot of attention to Slovenia with regards to gastronomy.

We really enjoyed the tasting menu and all the interesting Slovenian wines. Many of the dishes were works of art.

Cocktail on the lawn to start

Tasting menu - celebrating chefs 50th birthday

Seed tacos

Mussel dish

Salad

Truffle pasta

Trout

Dosa

Pasta Ana

I love bees dessert

Pears with flowers

Kitchen sneak peak

After our fancy lunch we hung out for a bit at the apartment with the boys and then went out for dinner (yes we are eating our way through Slovenia and it’s delicious). We revisited the same restaurants from last night and celebrated the wonderful dad that Matt is with compliments and hugs.

Happy Daddy

Another great day in the books ✔️

Ready to go!

The canyon with lines crossing over

Waterfall

Brother bonding

Reid is off!

Tandem on the longer lines

Lincoln over the river

Matt

Ashley

Once we wrapped up the zipline, we took a break and ate a packed sandwich lunch at a park in Bovec. The boys enjoyed the playground.

Then we started our drive to Lake Bled where we will be for the next 3 nights. We decided to take the scenic Vrsic pass route, which includes 50 hairpin turns! It was a little nerve wracking but the views were worth it.

Vrsic pass lookout

Our marriage survived the drive

We finally made it to Lake Bled and checked into our rental. The Villa is amazing, it’s on the lake and you can even see the church on the island from the living room.

View from living room

Forest path to the lake

Gate to the lakeside

After checking out our new place we took an afternoon break to relax.

For dinner we took a walk alongside the lake to a restaurant and enjoyed the scenery. This is probably the most picturesque town I’ve ever visited.

Castle Bled sits atop a clif

Castle overlooking town

Water so clear you can see the fish

Plenta boats at dock

Walking path

Perfect Bled

Our activity this morning was \240a fun horseback ride through the forests and fields near Bled. Riding through the European countryside on horseback has been a dream of mine since childhood so this was pretty special for me. The horses were so nice, they are show jumping competition horses like I used to ride as a girl, but they were much calmer and more used to the trails than any of our horses were growing up.

The boys did great and got to trot their horses some as well. It was a beautiful day and a memory I will cherish forever.❤️

Matt takes horseback riding seriously

The whole fam

Stopping in a field

Lincoln loved his horse so much

After our ride we picked up some groceries. \240The big hot was the fresh OJ squeezing machine. Wish we had this in the U.S.!

Fresh OJ squeezed to order

We had lunch at the Vila before heading out for a swim in the lake. The water is so clear and actually pretty warm, it was a fun swim. Getting in and out is a bit challenging since the lake is deep right away and there is not much shore or beach to wade in. Reid of course was bravest and jumped right in.

Walking to the lake

Clear water

First to hop in

Splash 💦

Rock from the bottom

Lincoln had to get a rock too

On my way back I picked up some Slovenian treats at a cute little bakery in town, Bled Cream Cake and of course some Apple Strudel. Lincoln liked the strudel but still definitely prefers Grandma’s version.

Bled cream cake

Apple strudel

After our snack we headed out for some summer tobaggen fun at Straza park. There is a chair lift and a downhill tobaggen track that was fun for all.

On the lift

Matt and Lincoln with Lake Bled

View from the top

Family selfie

Tobaggen track

After that fun we went back to the house for lunch. The boys have been craving homestyle cheeseburgers so we made some for lunch and they were delicious. Beef is pretty scarce here so the market in Bled was the first we saw that actually had 100% ground beef. Usually the patties here are a beef/pork blend.

After lunch we did more kid fun stuff and went to the public lakefront in from of Castle Bled where they have a water park and boat rentals. The kids had a blast in the water park and we relaxed and drank wine on the shore.

Bled central park

View of the tobaggen park from the lakefront

Boat rentals - nothing in Bled is cheap. 30 euro per hour for a rowboat.

Reid at the water park

Giant slide

After a couple hours there we called it a day and went back to the house to cook dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Ljubljana again, and then our flight leaves Friday evening.

Ljubljana with castle on the hill

Lovely historic center

Once we arrived we made a visit to Ljubljana castle before checking in. It was interesting to see a castle that was actually in use as recently as WWI. Many prisoners of war were kept there and they had and interesting exhibit in the dungeon area. The views over the city were also nice, although today was pretty hazy with the heat.

Awaiting the castle funicular

Castle courtyard

View over Ljubljana

After the castle we stopped for lunch at a riverside cafe. The drinks were so refreshing and the food was great.

Fresh juices and cocktails

Watermelon salad on a hot day - yum

After lunch we got checked in at our apartment. It’s an old building in the city center but quite comfortable. There is a restaurant downstairs and lots to walk too. After a rest and a shower Matt and I went downstairs to a wine bar next door for a brief date before taking the boys out to dinner.

Wine tasting in Ljubljana

Then we all went to dinner at a Peruvian Japanese fusion restaurant nearby. The food was delicious but pricey - definitely city prices now. We stopped in a cute popsicle shop for dessert where you pick your own popsicle and dipping chocolate and toppings. The boys enjoyed the novelty.

Ljubljana is such a vibrant city, luckily we have some time tomorrow before the airport to enjoy it awhile longer.

Infiniti Room

Whose the big brother?

Bed of nails

Head on a plate

Last views of Ljubljana

Fountain

It’s a long journey home but the trip has been amazing. Looking forward to home, friends and family soon!