Vital Dolenjske Toplice

... dark even after. The stallions are for the first 3 years kept in the stables near Postojna, after the selection is done, just the best ones are not castrated, poor horses... the mares are used just for cart pulling, approx. untill 25 years old, after they retire ad they live happily in the stables till they are 32-35 years old. All breeding is done by insemination, no natural sexual pleasures, again poor horses... there is also a beautiful little church ...

So we hope you checked the pics and just a few more details about this lake. As it is not on the map there were no foreigners, very calm and remote place. We could not believe but there was also a little bar with wi-fi, copier, open from morning to 11pm.<br><br>Unfortunately, all this tranquillity was disturbed later this day... we are woken by a very strange repetitive melody and yes, it is Hare ...

... just about Z's twin. Mannerisms, looks. It was fascinating!<br><br> <br><br>The view from the path as one descends into this paradise in the valley. Well, no-one lives there anymore but it's still a paradise for city-slickers. The first building is a mill, water-driven. There's a bit of a tiny village at the top of the hill but down the bottom there was just the mill.<br><br> <br><br ...

... Karl who was able to get me the number of Joe's daughter-in-law who's also traveling in Croatia. She was able text me Slavko's number.<br><br>Anyway, Slavko came in from near Slovenia to pick me up and go for a drive. It was of course rather weird actually seeing him in Croatia. Somehow it seems out of context. It's also funny being in the situation where it's him speaking to the locals without an accent and I'm the strange foreigner...<br ...

We spent April 16-18 in the small town of Lescovec with the wonderful Pevec family (Steph's cousins). This was Steph's second visit to Slovenia and Mike's first. It was a terrific stay and we hope the first of many trips to Slovenia. Steph's cousin Borut was our host. He's quite a guy--full of life and full of pride for his country and family (as well he should be). Mike and Steph

... have seen the previous two days. Yesterday we went on what was supposed to be an easy mellow bike ride around the lake area - just to see what was there. It ended up turning into a gnarly single track rock and giant tree root strewn path that was more like a riverbed than a road and in fact we actually came across a dry riverbed that required us to carry our bikes across. We thought that we were out of the woods (figuratively ...

... in Rome! I took a few snaps and then took a peek inside, it was smaller than I had expected, but nice inside with some attractive stained glass windows. I had a wander round some of the streets around the church and found myself at the 'Stone Gate' - apparently the virgin Mary appeared here in the soot from a fire in about 1740, so ever since they have candles burning and people praying. Around the church and the gate the streets are really quaint, with it being ...

... point in the city, where we found our panoramic shots. After our breathtaking walk on the wall we HAD to stop for some amazing gelato that we saw earlier. It blew away any Italian gelato stand that we stopped at a week ago and it was truly the BEST gelato we had eaten thus far! Yummy! We had a little time to spare so Laurie was insistent upon finding that little old woman knitting. Well, you know who jumped at that idea? Ryan was off and running UP THOSE STEEP STAIRS ...

... all the lights to allow us to appreciate how dark it was (which we did until some elderly chap turned his own torch on slightly ruining the effect!). Most spectacular was the final cavern which was, as the guide book suggests, just like the lair for a James Bond baddie. It was over 100m high and over 2kms long. We descended from the back of the cave and the most immense space opened up in front and below us with a river thundering beneath us. We had to ...

... pounds to get access to the sauna complex. Having exchanged our swimming kit for a sheet we steamed like Romans in all the various rooms. Back at the campsite our relaxed state was reversed when we found that the area was infested with midges - so much for the picturesque riverside setting.