Hotel Bor Ankaran

... 6 January, lively colourful street markets will fill the sea promenade and the squares in the old town with light, colour and perfumes.
From Saturday 19 December to 17 January see the Nativity Scene Exhibition. An expression of street-decoration creativity and religious sentiment: over 100 nativity scenes on show in the narrow streets and squares, in the harbour and lagoon. Traditional or nautical-themed nativity scenes ...

... After a couple of days seeing everyone, eating alot, and venturing a bit around the city of Trieste, we went to Venezia (on our way up to Germany), it was the same as I'd seen before (haha) although had been raining a fair bit...and when it does, it floods really bad! Luckily it wasn't flooded the day we were there, but the little raised walkways were still around. Actually, our weather the whole time while Mum, Dad and Sam were here was quite good, we were pretty lucky.

... the day leaps and bounds) into upgrading our room to a junior suite, and OMG!!!!! ITS FAB! We have this massive room bigger than half our flat in London with a balcony view overlooking the ocean. Life doesn't get much better than this. Had a really nice fish dinner last night and are about to embark on a bit of culture during our ...

... I will have that image transfixed in my mind for some time to come – probably the one I will remember most from Piran – a little spooky, as I think back on it, but very cool and mystifying as I watched.

When I awoke in the morning, the rain had not yet ceased, but fortunately, after breakfast, I was able to catch a lull, long enough to wander around the town for about an hour. As I am want to do, I immediately headed straight for the ...

... tram in the city will take you uphill to the Trieste plateau ("Altipiano triestino"). Be sure not to miss a walk through the Napoleonica, a panoramic pedestrian route loved by locals of all ages; the Grotta Gigante (Giant Cave), the world's largest tourist cave in the world, and, last but not least, an easy lunch in an osmiza, each one open only several days per year. Be sure to keep your eyes wide open and look for a branch of ivy and a wooden ...

finally time to catch up. But first a commercial. Im trying Travelpod to understand its flow, where people find the information, how it flows to other islands. So if you find this on Facebook or Twitter or just stumble across this on Travelpod, could you let me know? I´d love to hear

ok, back to our heroes' vacation. And wrestling with zs and ys and finding the punctuation marks. This is coming from an Aussie-owned backpacker cafe just off ...

... we stayed there for the evening talking to Patricia and her partner, and them feeding us speck, cheese, bread, etc.

Saturday...my (sort of cousin..) Alex came around and whisked me away on his motorbike for a tour of Trieste (and surrounding towns, including a quick trip into Slovenia) It was a beautiful sunny day and it was amazing to ride on the bike with the wind cooling my skin from the sun beating down on it. So mostly from this day came ...

Italian is not a common 2nd language in the countries we've visited, but Koper Slovenia had clearly been conquered by the Italians and left with evidence of their rule. The city was settled in Roman times, then influenced by the Byzantine Empire around 600-800 AD, and ruled by Venice from 1300-1800.

Street signs were in Italian and Slovenian, and the lion emblem of Venice was posted on several important buildings. The familiar locking window ...

... makes the train company seem more in control, despite still being quite late- First Great Western, take note! As the train neared Venice, it got busier and busier, until the aisles were full of people standing, and people were having to squeeze on the train... this does not bode well for the crowds in Venice! But I think many of them were Italians going on holiday, as the train near emptied at Venice Mestre, leaving only a couple of hundred people to pour off the train in Venice.

... sausage, chicken and pickled vegetables for only $7.5. After checking in, I browsed through my travel book and head off to Skocjan Cave. This cave is listed as UNESCO world heritage site since it has an underground river and a deep canyon all inside the cave. The only problem for this cave is there is NO public transportation to get there. I ended up taking the bus to the nearest town, Divača, and walked 3-4 km through some muddy trails to the entrance of the cave. The cave, as ...