Piran looks charming. Love the irony of the statue which seems to portray “too much sun.”

so glad you found some sun along with appealing lodging AND great food.

yes, Piran is a charming, small port town, but no cruise ships! I had originally looked st staying there, but decided on Rovinj on the Istrian peninsula. They are only about an hour or so apart. Piran really did the trick when we were desperate for some sun and nice weather, it did work out with good food and nice lodging and ��. Plus always love anything Italian.

Throughout Croatia we have seen lots of people using walking sticks as they walk around the various towns. So many that it’s noticeable.
The istrian peninsula belonged to Italy and it is still strongly influenced by the country. Italian is the 2nd langauage and you hear it as much as Croat. Are you going there?

Yes, the sun and warmer weather was definitely welcomed.

Please do join me. I’m posting more or less live. It’s interesting that Fodor’s lists Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan under Asia. Here’s the link: https://www.fodors.com/community/asi...orgia-1666891/

YES! Remind me one of the those Tuscan village homes.

Tp- I will definitely check it out.

rialto & odie- such a bummer about the weather. It does alter one’s plans. We had planned to drive via the Alps from Bled to Rovinj, but it was very windy and raining so we didn’t. We finally started having decent weather last week on the Istrian peninsula. We left Split this am in brilliant sunshine and arrived in Korcula to blue skies and sun. Hope it makes it way to you.
fyi- we had a very good meal in Lake Bled at Oštarija Peglez'n. We couldn’t get in at first, it was a Saturday, but they had us come back in an hour. So I presume you might need a res. We had Italian influenced seafood.

Enjoying your travels!:)

Judy, couldn’t agree more re the Italian feel on the Istrian peninsula. Haven’t been very far south yet. I do really like Croatia.

thanks, Adelaidean

Odie- I got into all the cloud formations, not when it’s raining, of course. The sky darkening and lightening had some amazing formations up there. We stayed 2 nights in Lake Bled May 11 & 12, if you have a car and no parking in Ljubliana note the lot we used that was reasonable. Hopefully Ljubliana will be sunny.

LAKE BLED
Our drive to Lake Bled took us past Ljubljana for the third time in four days. As we left the coast behind, the mountains ahead seemed to be accumulating ominous cloud banks. After checking into the family-run Penzion Mayer, we stowed our luggage walked down to the lake - we were hoping to beat any possible rains. It’s easy to see why many call Lake Bled the jewel of Slovenia. The lake is a striking blue with a castle perched on an outcropping way above the lake and the island with an old church. Lake Bled has been a travel destination for over a century and is Iined in parts with late 19th century and early 20th century aristocratic houses, some now high-end lodgings. Most of the current travelers though are tour groups and backpackers.

We took off to find a restaurant recommended by the Penzion Mayer owner and began a walk around the lake. After a late lunch we decided to heed the threatening skies and return to our car to maximize what we could see before bad weather set in. After circumnavigating the lake we took to the hills. Without any destination we used google maps to roughly navigate through the mountains. It was a gorgeous drive through beautiful valleys under immense mountains. We went through a few villages and just roamed the Julian Alps. We passed two roast pig restaurants, and kicked ourselves for having already eaten. We didn't stop even as tempting as they were. We detoured to Lake Bohinj, also a beautiful lake located in much more rustic surroundings with mountains as a backdrop. It was less crowded than Lake Bled. There are two beautiful old churches on the lake shores with colorful painted exteriors. This ended up being one of the best drives we had taken in quite awhile. We didn’t return until early evening.

Cream cake is a speciality of Lake Bled. We figured we’d have it for dessert. After a meal. Based on reviews we’d selected the nearby Italian Oštarija Peglez’n. Everybody in town seemed to have also read the reviews. Every table was full. The kind owner took our name told us to come back in an hour. At this point it was starting to rain, so we took shelter in a nearby deserted dessert place. It turned out that this restaurant was the originator of the famous cream cake. Following the time-tested, if fattening, principle of “Life is Uncertain, Eat Dessert First,” we each had piece of the cake and shared a glassof muscat. The wine was delicious, the cake okay. By now our hour was up and we returned in the rain to the Ošterija for a delicious Italian seafood dinner. We loved this place, its friendly staff and crowded interior decorated with a kind of thrift-shop eclecticism.

The next day, my birthday, we awoke to rainy gray skies. The owner of the Penzion recommended a few small nearby towns worth visiting. We went to the furthest first, the walled medieval town of Škofja Loka. It was a Sunday. Businesses other than cafes were closed and the large long main square was nearly deserted. We did our usual wandering, marveling at intriguing centuries-old buildings, enjoying the solitude, stopping for coffee and then returning to the car. We decided to try to find our way to the castle overlooking the town. This became quite the adventure. After a series of wrong turns, duplications and dead ends, we eventually found the nondescript poorly-marked road to the castle. The museum in the castle was fascinating and offered a glimpse into the life of the aristocracy in the previous centuries. It also had some nice art on an upper floor. The upper also had an extensive collection of Yugoslav partisan World War Two artifacts.

After visiting the museum, we set out for other destinations. Our rental car’s GPS seemed to have been stuck in “most precipitous” mode. The route took us on some narrow tortuous roads providing some astounding views with the sharpest of drop-offs. It also gave us a particularly dramatic view was of the Church at Jemnick which was dramatically perched about half a kilometer out a ridge top trail.

We ended our day in Kropa. By sheer happenstance we stopped in front of an unusual museum devoted to iron forging, the Kovaski Muzej. It was a communist-era technical museum, the first in Slovenia. The area had been a major iron mining center and had specialized in nail production for five centuries. The museum specialized in ironworks by local artisans consisting of furniture, masks, candleholders and other iron artifacts. It had a collection of hand made nails, ranging from the smallest cobbler’s nails to immense spikes used in construction. Perhaps surprisingly, we found all of this fascinating.

That night, my son and daughter-in-law had coordinated with GotT to arrange a birthday dinner for me at the nearby Garni Berc. The meal was excellent. And was topped off with a fabulous berry shortcake so large, we shared it with our British neighbors and still had plenty left over for the next day’s breakfast.

Over the course of Sunday evening, a windstorm had entered the area. Monday morning the windstorm bade us goodbye by practically blowing us out of town. Once again we drove by Ljubljana in inclement weather and continued on to the Istrian Peninsula.