Lake Como

We spent a day hiking Greenway del Lago di Como.  We logged 8+ miles, even considering that we took a boat back part of the way (we very nearly missed this boat, and then this hike would have gone down in infamy!).

We started our hike in Colono.  This hike reminded me of Cinque Terra as it went from town to town along the water

It's sort of a misnomer to call this a Greenbelt trail, in my opinion.  It's mostly cobblestone, and we got quite footsore. 

First view of Villa del Balbiano

This is the place where I had the best and cheapest pasta in Italy.  It was a ravioli in cream sauce.

Villa del Balbiano

This was one of the coolest trees I have ever seen

the spot where Anakin and Padme's wedding was filmed

boat ride back - we got the last boat leaving

Nice

I’m writing this from the balcony of our AirBnB in Nice. The whole city and yes, the Mediterranean, is layed out before me.  This is our first “room with a view.”  This means it’s up on a hill and we can’t easily access a bakery or something for breakfast.  

We have decided NOT to go to Cannes - rather the kids decided - and it seems silly for me to be the one being the celebrity chaser.  Why do I always like the idea of seeing someone famous?

We all like this place we’re staying.  It’s sort of small, but we finally have a room where we can hang out together and watch TV.  We watched “Murder Mystery” when we arrived as it is based in Monte Carlo and Lake Como.  Then we drove downtown to BuBu Burger, which we heard about on a YouTube video describing its wonderful smash burgers!  They were really good - especially for somebody like me who likes their meat well-cooked.  We all agreed that if those burgers could be made to order with our favorite ingredients, they would be the best burgers in the world.  And we were served by the guy from the video!  So there’s our celebrity. 

After supper, we strolled around awhile - first separating for about 30 minutes.  Then we went down to the beach for a little while.  I think we will return to that spot today.  We found an easy-to-use parking garage there if we can’t find street parking.  I wouldn’t mind having another burger at some point, but perhaps we need to try some French food. 

This street performer was really good, and I admired that he lugged this piano around

This morning, Terry and I were going to go to brunch by ourselves, but then the kids woke up and wanted to come.  The place I had picked out happened to be on a street where there was construction and even jackhammering, so we looked for a quieter place.  Found a café where we could eat outside.  The waitress was so nice (we did NOT run into ANY rude French people on this trip).  Most of us had a Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame (with egg), but Terry had a fancy omelette.  

Then we split up again.  Terry and I mostly walked along the water.

                              
For supper, I chose a place near us that got good reviews - Le Bouchon.  It was a classic French restaurant.  I had a risotto - good but not as good as I’ve had in Greece.  We all enjoyed our food though, and we shared a bottle of wine (not sweet enough for me).  Our waitress was really sweet in trying to explain the menu to us in English.  There definitely seemed to be more and better English speakers in Italy than in France. 

We got back in time to enjoy sunset from our balcony.

Also, the road up to our place was so hilly that it has been part of the Tour de France.  See the sign below.

Lake Bled

After our hike to Voje Slap, we took a short hike above Lake Bled.  It was so picturesque!  The hike was named Mala Osjnica, and it was just 1.1 miles, though pretty much all uphill.  It gave an excellent view of the alpine lake with an iconic church on an island in the middle (did people have to row out to worship?)

We enjoyed the view and then returned to lake level for some famous Lake Bled cake.  We saw lots of rowers and runners that were part of a race.  In fact, we saw several races while we were in Slovenia.   

About 1/3rd of the way up

some serious stais

Bled castle is on the promontory behind the church

Stunning Slovenia

Years ago, when I first heard that my nephew was coming to Slovenia for his post-doc, I was so confused. I only knew it was a formerly Communist country. When I was in geography class in school, we saw filmstrips of beautiful Western Europe, but Eastern Europe was a mystery - I assumed full of factories and ugly apartment buildings. That is definitely NOT the case for Slovenia.

Slovenia is BEAUTIFUL, though I kept hoping to see more of the snow-capped mountains peeking through the cloud cover.

Interestingly, the owner of the AirBnB we are staying at is a retired diplomat. He invited us in for a drink and said “I must say this. I have been a Communist, and it was terrible. I am very concerned that America is leaning towards socialism. Please, America, do NOT do this!”

We stayed in a little town called Brezje. Got a little lost trying to find our place which was a bunkhouse in a converted barn. You had to go outside to the bathroom and shower area, and there was no heat. But we all slept well there!

Our first hike in Slovenia was to the Mostnica Gorge/Voje Waterfall in Triglavski National Park. It was 7.4 miles and has made it to my list of top ten hikes because of its combination of scenery AND great food!

Picnic stop in Slovenia

Our AirBnB spot in Brezje

Voje Slap (slap means "waterfall" in Slovenian)

Eating our strudel.  Dessert before lunch.

Lunch spot.  The snow-capped mountains were starting to peek out.

I thought my soup said "Vote" at first but of course it's the name of the waterfall on the hike. This was wild mushroom soup made with local ingredients.  It was one of the best things I tasted on the trip!