Locanda al Pomo D'oro Udine

... is a feast of colour, light, perfumes, sweet specialities, and artistic displays that skilfully blend street decoration with expressions of faith. In the protected area of the lagoon - an atmospheric blend of land and sea - Grado wears her winter finery as she hosts a party for the whole family in a blend of tradition, spirituality, music and fun.
In the weekends in early December and each day from Saturday 19 December to ...

... views down into the valley that is (pretty much just) the lake, before coming back down on the cable car. It took us about 10mins to go up the mountain, on the way back down, I think the cable car dude was in a hurry to get home as it we made it to base in less than 5mins!! My heart was in my throat for most the trip, but it was the best 13 euros I've spent on this trip...

Chris mentioned a couple of days ago that he reserved a car for the remainder of our trip. We continue to move away from my philosophy of being as backpacker like as possible (local transport, hostels, local foods …). But, the conveniences feel so good :) It will definitely make the trip more efficient and give us more flexibility on exploring areas.

We get a ...

... the passengers still in them. It took us through a tunnel that went through
the mountains and brought us 30 minutes away from Bled. Yay! The
ride through the tunnel took 10-12 minutes.
That’s a long time to hold your breath.
But it saved us some driving time and allowed us to experience something
totally new and ultimately cool!

Last but not least, we returned to
Bled early enough to catch the Dali exhibit ...

... is where the Germans first starting developing that whole blitzkrieg thing.

It was also here that Ernest Hemingway volunteered as an ambulance driver and his experiences here ended up in A Farewell to Arms, another high school book I didn't read....but now that I know he met a nurse here, I just might!

A 1-2 hour fun drive zig zagging up and then down 50 switchbacks, each marked with a number and altitude, plus great views all the way and a pit stop at 1611m.....where dozens of cyclists (!!!) take a break before heading back down.

Triglav means "three heads" which were visible when I descended to the south into the Soca Valley, where an insane battle of WW1. It was during the war that Russian POW's built the original road over the pass.

This is a great small town, where they actually choose to not speak english. We went from the restaurant to bar to wedding to bar to restaurant to bar (the Black Stuff) etc. Eat, Drink, Sleep repeat for a few days. It was a beautiful wedding and a great town.

Sgarfefurlans now on the Internet! Cirint furlans ator pal mont: Prime part: Australasie e Asie: click here: http://www.friulicollinare.it/index.php ?id=282 Una trasmissione radiofonica di Loris Vescovo a RADIO ONDE FURLANE (www.friul.it) dove gli emigrati, di ieri e di oggi, parlano in prima persona. Si parte da Australasia e Asia Le trasmissioni si possono ascoltare in rete sul sito della Comunità Collinare del Friuli: http://www ...

... pictures), but all in all, Bled was very sleepy. Perhaps in order to offset that sleepiness, Bled offers something which was part of Slovenia´s draw for us: Adrenaline Sports! Wandering around the internet, I discovered a sport called canyoning, which is basically travelling down a canyon with waterfalls and without rafts. How do you get past the waterfalls, you ask? However you can, which includes climbing, sliding, rappelling and sometimes jumping. We checked around but decided ...

... first place, but the views from the top were sensational!!! Which is just as well, otherwise I may have received a sound beating. Most people just seem to laze in the sun and take it easy, including lots of Brits, many of them well into their 60s. Included in this group would be a group of Scottish men who appeared to be enjoying the views of the swimming pool "Did ya see that bird in the bikini? Aye ...