So, on Wednesday morning we left our wonderful vineyard stopover at 10.40 to make our way to Lake Boshinj via a famous viewpoint for the Soča river and the Kozjak waterfalls nearby. We parked at a designated car park (P4N#120543) and walked up to the waterfalls. On the way we passed the viewpoint which is in the middle of a wooden suspension bridge. Amazing view but not sure I’d want to be on the bridge with a lot of other people.

We continued up to the falls passing only a few people so, when we got there, we had the place to ourselves.

After finishing Predjama Castle on Monday, April 8th and getting the shuttle bus back to the car park, we left our parking spot at 15.30 and continued down to Piran on the west coast of Slovenia. This whole area used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until the end of the First World War when it was given to Italy. It is also the only part of Slovenia that has a coastline. The park up was in a field (P4N#346834) with electricity, next to the beach with the rest of the facilities in the adjacent campsite, Camp Fiesa. It was a tad expensive at €38 per night (including tourist tax) but there were very few options available and we had been told that Piran had some fine Venetian architecture. It also had boats so that was a draw too!

We sorted ourselves out quickly as we wanted to walk into town along the coastal path about a mile or so away whilst it was still light. One of the main monuments in Piran is the Bell Tower of the Cathedral of St George but sadly it was covered in scaffolding (there seems to be a theme for our trip!). We wandered around the back alleyways and ended up at a bar overlooking the Adriatic. We hadn’t been back to this part of the Med for about 7 years so it was lovely to look across to Croatia and reminisce.

We just made it back to the van before it was dark and we were greeted by our Austrian neighbours with a glass of schnapps! It would have been rude not to accept. Dinner in the van and a relatively early night for us.

We left wonderful Ljubljana early on Sunday morning, April 7, to make our way south to the Karst region of Slovenia. This region is a limestone plateau that stretches from the Gulf of Trieste in the Adriatic into western Slovenia. There are many kilometres of underground caves created over millions of years. Our first stop were the Škocjan Caves in the SW of the country. The tour lasted two hours and covered about 2.5km of caves and 700 steps. The caves were amazing with the Reka river roaring through it. It was first discovered in 1890. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside but the vastness of it was breathtaking. The cave itself was over 100m high and full of stalactites and stalagmites as well as being the largest underground canyon in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We then continued south to Lipica where the Lipizzaner horses were originally bred. Sturdy work horses from the Karst region were bred with Spanish horses to create the Lipizzaner breed as long ago as 1580. Whilst the stud farm no longer provides the horses for the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, they have over 300 horses at any one time so clearly in great demand. On Sundays only they put on a show at 15.00 as well as providing a tour of the premises so we saw young stallions still learning their trade (only stallions perform). It was entertaining but not yet polished. All good value for €25pp.