Vintgar Gorge - Slovenia

             On Saturday morning of the 5^th, we decided to part from the lake to visit Vintgar Gorge.  Vintgar Gorge was a scenic walk along the Radovna River.

It was about a 5-10 minute drive (roughly 3.5 km) from Lake Bled and the well-posted signage made it an easy find. Tip: Drive past the restaurant for parking. Some people see the rows of parking and cars lined on the side of the road as a sign that it’s a really packed day and decide to park at the first spot they see and walk from there, however if you drive past the restaurant to the gorge entrance, there is plenty of parking spaces and you don’t have to walk the whole distance.

They did charge an entry fee of 4€ per adult, 3€ for students and 1€ for children, but I suppose it is needed for the upkeep of the boardwalks.

It was a beautiful place to be sure, however a bit more crowded than my liking, and my spoiled self grew up in a beautiful place with many river walks that seemed just as picturesque as Vintgar Gorge, so why this one was a tourist attraction with an entrance fee mystifies me. 

The Wooden Bridges were fun to walk over and cross. I saw some people with strollers, however we opted to use the back pack to carry our little one, and he slept for half of our walk. 

This is a dam, but the path was so close we all got well misted as we walked by. It felt great!

Photo of me, courtesy of my sister!

The walk was pleasant and the water beautiful. I recommend going early to beat the crowds and the heat.

  

Above right is a picture of myself in front of the Šum waterfall, the highest river fall in Slovenia measuring at 26 meters. You will find it at the end of your gorge walk, just before you turn around and return the way you came.

 

We definitely recommend grabbing lunch at the restaurant located just before the Gorge entrance after your long walk. We thought the food to be delicious and well priced. Bonus, they have a playground for kids. Hurray!

The Sunshine Bread was devoured. I suggest getting this warm loaf as an appetizer!

My Husband and I each got different kinds of trout in garlic butter sauce. yum!

I apologize, I don't know what this is. When I asked my sister what it was, she said "Heaven". LOL. It was some sort of cheesy ham dish in sauce... that is as much as I know. That, and it was apparently scrumptious.

If you would like to know more and see beautiful pictures from others, try here: www.bled.si/the-vintgar-gorge

Murano - Island of Glass

Our next stop, after the colorful island of Burano, was Murano, an island known for its glass making.

This is a snapshot from Google maps. Here you can see the bridge from the mainland to Venice which we crossed by train. We then boarded a water bus in Venice which took us to Burano (top right of screen). After Burano we took the water bus to Murano (see center of screen) and eventually back to Venice and the train station. 

       We didn’t stay long in Murano. Although viewing the glass works was beautiful, it was very touristy and expensive and we were exhausted from walking ad shopping around the island of Burano. 

I'm not sure if you can read the tags on the necklaces here, but they are in the high 70's and 80's in Euro. eep! The jewelry was beautiful, however, far out of our price range.  

A large Noah's Ark with many pairs of glass animals

      They were also very particular about pictures, which is why the only ones you see here are ones taken while window shopping and not inside the store.

The centers/squares had glass art. This and the blue picture above are examples of what we saw. 

They seemed to have just about everything you can think of made in glass. 

There were museums and demonstrations of glass making, but we didn't visit those as we were dragging and eager to start the journey home. Murano was a cool place to stop and visit, particularly if glass and art interest you. However beware, it's crazy expensive and touristy, and as with Burano lace, a large amount of the glass likely isn't hand made by local Italians, so be sure to ask before buying it if you're hoping for genuine local craft. 

A Day in Venice - not what you think...

Last Sunday my hubby and I had the day off! We still have loads to take care of, but little to no progress can be made on the weekend when organizations on base are closed down. So instead of sticking around, my hubby suggested we take the train to Venice. So we drove to the station in Pordenone, purchased a ticket, rode the train for about an hour and a half, and exited to find ourselves in Venice. We were rather excited for our first long distance adventure in Italy, and naturally everyone has heard of Venice and all that it has to offer, so we were eager to experience it for ourselves.

Exiting the train station, this was the view that met our eyes, a highway of boats and old Italian buildings. 

As you can see from his attire, it was very cold and we probably should have worn warmer jackets.

There seemed to be a competition in progress as there were many boats with color matching teams rowing in sync down the water hwy.

The day previous to our journey, we did a fair amount of research on the city and the top places to see and things to do. With us we brought a book called “Eyewitness Travel Italy” (borrowed from our lovely sponsors!) as well as a handheld GPS (also borrowed from our sponsor family!). We didn’t actually end up using the GPS, it was more of a backup plan if we got truly lost. However, both our sponsors and online sites recommended getting “lost” in Venice, which is easy to do, as there are many small windy streets (like the one pictured below) and alleyways that lead off from the more common roads. You feel rather like you’re in a maze, and that by picking and following one of the random secluded streets you are choosing your own adventure, discovering unique shops off the beaten path, and having an experience different from anyone else.

A path all our own

A main street

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        One of the first things we did, was stop at a restaurant to warm up and have some brunch.

Here I am, sipping my hot cocoa at a cafe in Venice

             Now this sounds all nice and fitting for romantic Venice, but it’s not all it seems. Remember how I mentioned in a previous post how amazing the hot chocolate is here? How it’s thick like pudding and as rich as if they melted down the chocolate bar right in my mug? I have had several hot chocolates now in various Italian country towns and they were all like that. So in Venice when I went into an Italian restaurant and asked for a “cioccolata calda” is that what I got? Sadly no, I received an Americanized hot chocolate. =( I watched her heap spoons of Nesquik powder into the hot milk before placing it in front of me. I was sorely disappointed. Not only for myself, but for others. I wonder if they come here, (not to that place specifically, but Venice in general) and believe they are getting an authentic Italian experience. They would not know they are being cheated and that Venice has been Americanized and adapted for the tourists.

After our brunch we returned to meandering the streets and exploring, slowly making our way toward Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s square. Along our way we passed many shops and vendors and found that they all generally sold the same over priced touristy items. There were also some people sitting on the ground with their dogs, begging or playing small flutes in the hopes of getting money. We passed one woman intensely coughing on a staircase as she held out her hat. At first I felt some pity, but I’ve been told that most are gypsies and that they often work in pairs or teams, one will draw you in and the other will watch where you put your wallet and bump you off later. If there were any true homeless people, that is unfortunate, because the phonies take away from those who really need, and they make the streets look less appealing.

            There were many vendors that had random plastic toys, much like nick-knacks you’d find in a check out stand at the store. They reminded me of the vendors one finds at malls, running up to you and trying to get your attention or ask you a question to draw you into their product. I knew Venice would be a touristy, but this was something else… This tourist trap was rather… tawdry?

             One of the things I did like, was getting to see all the masks. I don’t know if Venice always has this many masks, but at this time of year I know they especially have many masks for sale as their festival, Carnevale di Venezia, is approaching.

One of numerous shop windows displaying various masks for the festival. I only just noticed the wee devil in the center. What is he doing there??

              You can read more about the details of the festival here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice. It was interesting to see such an abundance of masks hanging from vending carts and shop windows, and to get to observe the various styles and designs. Though, I felt little inclination to buy one, as they were very high priced, many ranging well over €100. 

An interesting clock tower we passed

Not entirely sure how to read this 24 hour clock

Troy mentioned that one of his favorite aspects of Venice was the distinctive way the city was organized. Because the streets are so narrow, all travel happens by foot. One would traverse the uneven cobblestone and come across many small bridges that cross the canals. Any travel besides walking would be by the canals (gondolas, water buses, etc). This unique geographical layout contributed to the historic and “old” feeling of the place, as there were no cars/vehicles to be seen, only pedestrians and small boats rowing by (which also made it quieter and calmer feeling).

The famous gondolas. We did not opt for a gondola ride as the prices were quite expensive and walking kept us warm.

 

This is one of my favorites, not just because it looks quaint and old, but it also has little window boxes and shutters, and reminds me of a dolls house my grandma gave me when I was little. Very picturesque.

By midday we reached Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s square). 

 
The square was mostly empty, perhaps because it’s winter and there aren’t as many tourists. Also they had a problem with flooding a few months prior and much of the square still had large pools of water with trash and bird feathers floating in it.

Despite the large historic building behind them, many people seemed more fascinated with feeding the vast amounts of pigeons and getting pooed on... can't see the appeal myself, but to each his own. 

The architecture in the square was impressive, however a massive advertisement significantly detracted from the historical beauty of it. Supposedly Napoleon once described the square as the “most elegant drawing room in Europe”. I wonder what he would think of the new art pieces they’ve hung in this “elegant drawing room”.

At the head of the square is the famous Basilica di San Marco, said to be one of “the greatest buildings in Europe”. As you can see in the picture below, much of it was flooded, and they had comprised a walkway of platforms through it so people would not step in the pools. We had to check our bag at a station and then pay €5 to enter. 

Note the people entering on a path of platforms.

The building is really quite beautiful. I was particularly fond of how the pillars are not uniform but comprised of different colors and materials. There's also the stone carvings and beautiful golden mosaics that add variety and beauty. (the gold mosaics shimmer, but you can't tell in the picture)

 

The interior was also most definitely beautiful and impressive, though we weren’t allowed to take any pictures so I have nothing to show for it. (Though judging by the amount of flash photography we encountered inside I believe there were many tourists who had yet to learn how to read…) The interior wasn’t very large, and much of it was blocked off from the public, but we were able to view many mosaics, tapestries, robes, and various other artifacts and read about their origin, purpose, and story. This is the final resting place of St. Mark and his symbol, the winged lion, can be found throughout. We also got to stand on the balcony and it was nice to see the view and be up close with the Romanesque carvings decorating the exterior arches and walls. 

The view from the front balcony

A few of the awesome and intricate stone carvings on the Basilica

More variety of stone and marble and colors. A work of art in itself. 

We took our time at the Basilica , walked through and read the snippets about each artifact, then we left and proceeded back to the train station in a similar fashion to the way we got there, by wandering the mini streets in the general direction we needed to go. Another thing I noticed was that there seemed to be a lot of graffiti on the walls of buildings, doors, and bridges. I tried to angle my pictures so you can't see, but it was hard to avoid, and if you scroll up you can catch glimpses of it, particularly in the photo of the first narrow street and the one with the large bridge.

Here we have a quaint Italian Balcony, complete with wood shutters and flower pots. 

Zoom out and you can see the graffiti, like a large kid went and scribbled on the doors and walls. It seemed to be everywhere, and it detracts, but if you can ignore it, there's beauty, usually just above arms length of the average sized human.

  

The only take away item we purchased from Venice was a very very small Venetian mask. It was an ornament for €2. My DH and I had previously decided that we want our Christmas tree to be filled with ornaments that have stories and meaning, small mementos of our travels and experiences. Even though we were rather disappointed with Venice, and despite it being a tourist trap, there is a lot of history tucked in there and we are still very thankful that we even had the opportunity and ability to travel there, and that’s what the wee glittery mask ornament will stand for.

              We did enjoy our trip to Venice, but it didn't live up to the hype and I don't believe either of us really feel the need to go back. We're rethinking the trip to Rome we had planned for this weekend (since it's a 3 day holiday) and are now browsing maps for hiking trails nearby, thinking it might be a much better fit for us than the stereotypical tourist destinations. I hope I didn’t bring you down with this rather gloomy portrayal of Venice, but that is how it appeared through our eyes and I thought you should know it as we experienced it.