Natural Beauty of Slovenia

We leave for Slovenia tonight!

Where? You ask....  Let's start with the three questions I know you're thinking first and get them out of the way.

1. Why Slovenia?  The answer is that Jason was there 17 some years ago and still maintains it was the most beautiful place he's been, and as you know Jason's been to some spectacular places.  He's been saying he's wanted to go back with me for over 15 years and we're finally doing it.  After a few google searches returning articles calling Slovenia the New Zealand of Europe, #4 on the list of top destinations in the world, an underrated gem, where you can find the best sparking wines you've never tasted, and many more, I was totally game.
2. Where the heck is it?  Slovenia shares a border with Italy, Austria, Croatia, and Hungary.  We will fly into Venice and pick up a rental and drive just 2 hours to get to our first stop, Piran, on the Western coast.  The whole country is about the size of New Jersey! We'll be driving through the country, from Venice, to Piran, to Ljubljana, to Bled, and back to Venice in 6 days. 
3. What is there to do there?  Here are a few of the stops we plan, Google them: Piran, Skocjan Caves, Predjama Castle, Ljubljana, Lake Bled, Vintgar Gorge.  Not too shabby, huh? 

It's also where Melania Trump is from, so I'm pretty sure it will be filled with beautiful and glamorous people. ;) Seriously, though, this I do know, it's an adventure! Someplace we've never been, and wouldn't think to go in our normal list of places, so why not? Looking forward to updating you along the way! I'll post each night if I can.  

Cheers, 

Sue

The Western Med

Our next sailing trip is upon us!

We've sailed with Leah and Ian before, in the British Virgin Islands, and off the coast of Turkey.  This time Leah and Ian are bringing a couple (Celia and John) and we are bringing a couple (Lisa and Seth) for the one week sail around Mallorca.  Then, for the last few days it will be just Jason and me, here we are just days from our trip and we've only just decide on those last days... southern France. The itinerary is below, and I'll update as often as I can, stay tuned!


July 25 | Fly to Spain with Lisa and Seth

July 26 - 28 | Barcelona, meeting up with the other couples

July 28 |  Fly to Palma, Mallorca to get our boat

July 29 - August 5 | Sail one week around Mallorca

August 5 - 8  | Jason and I spend a few days in the South of France

August 8  | Fly home

Side note:  I hurt my foot a few months ago and was even on crutches for a month.  I'm still not healed from the injury, so I'll be limited in the adventuring I can do this time. Wish me luck! 

Sailing Turkey

Days 13 – 15 Butterfly Valley to Gocek

Day 13

When we woke, we set off to hike up the cliff to the restaurant above for breakfast.  There were two trails, so we took the first of which led us to a waterfall and butterflies.  This valley has many species, but they are usually all out in the spring, so we only really saw the one species. 

Then we took the other trail up to the top of the cliff.  It was a challenging climb at times, but loads of fun.

And the view and the breakfast was well worth the climb.

We noticed how the Turks had well mastered what Leah termed the art of lounging.  All along this trip, we saw people of various professions finding a shady spot and resting, lounging, talking, playing games… the good life. 

As we descended from our mountain top, we could not believe the number of noodlers surrounding our boat.  The thumping music and loud horns to call noodlers back to the boat were an assault to the ears!  This was becoming a theme for us, we find a spot for the night, wake up to hike or swim, and then come back to a swarm of noodlers so we have to hightail it out. 

Our next destination was Gocek, another place we remembered very fondly, so we gave that part of this trip 2 nights as well.  As we approached the Gocek Bay, our first stop was Ruin Bay (also known as Cleopatra Bay because it was said that she and Antony honeymooned here).  Much better than Kekova, these ruins we could actually swim in and around, and, while while there were a lot of yachts around, we didn’t mind these, they were other sailers like us, not noodlers. 

After some fun swimming, we decided to head to the bayside restaurant for some dinner.  Turns out they don’t take cards and this was our most expensive meal so far, but the owner said, “No problem,” and gave us the name of his fishmonger brother in the town of Gocek who could run our card whenever we got to town.  Very trusting of him.

Day 14

Today, inspired by the Turks we’ve met along the way, and by the thought of Cleopatra enjoying this bay, we decided today we would devote to the Art of Lounging.  We woke up when we felt like it, did a little paddling around the bay at our leisure, read on the boat for a little bit, then casually made our way to the town of Gocek.  Leah and I wanted to get some shopping in, while the men looked for a part they needed for the boat, paid for our dinner last night, and got some more food for the boat.

First we had to eat at Jason’s destination:  Kebab Hospital.  He took a picture of the restaurant last time we were here because he thought it was a funny name, but then a friend of his saw the picture and remarked on how much she enjoyed eating there, so we had to go find it and try it. It was worth the trip!  Another fantastic meal.

Leah and I shopped for gifts for friends and ourselves, she even had a necklace made right there on the spot.

Then we skipped off to a beautiful little anchorage for the night

Day 15

We woke up and hiked up a little ways to the ruins of an old Roman town that was pretty amazing.  Honestly, these ruins really looked so well made and there were villagers who still live among them. 

When we returned, guess what we found?  NOODLERS!

It is uncanny how this keeps happening, we anchor in a spot that’s beautiful, wake up and have it to ourselves, then run off when the crowds of noodlers arrive.  Actually, turns out we’re doing it right.  So, we pushed off to make it to Ekincik for dinner.  Along the way  (as our intrepid captain is want to do) we found a little private cove to pop into for a quick dip.

Finally, we made it to Ekincik for dinner, and it was lovely.  Such a pretty spot for our last night, and they brought out the freshest fish for us to choose from.  It was honestly so delicious.  We keep saying how great the food has been, but in every spot the food is great, we drink amazing local wines and beers, and have desert but still pay way less than we would anywhere in the US. 

Sailing Turkey

Day 12 Kaputas, Patara and Butterfly Valley

This morning we left Kas for the last time this trip and we wanted to show Leah and Ian one of our favorite spots in Turkey, Kaputas beach.  This is how we remembered it…

And this is how it looks now…

A little disappointing, but we came, we saw, and then we left.  We decided to go to Patara, which we actually didn’t like as much last time, but this time we loved it.  The wide sandy beach was a welcome change of scenery from the majestic cliffs and mountains we were used to seeing. 

As we anchored the boat off the shore, we saw an adventurous young couple in the distance.  I leave you to find them in the picture. (NSFW)

Also, last time we were here we didn’t go to the ruins of Xanthos, which were really something.  Every time we see different ruins, we remark on how different they seem from each other.  These were being rebuilt to look like they once did, it was so interesting to see the process.

We had a long sail ahead of us, so we pushed off and went along our way to our next eventual stop, Butterfly Valley.  On the way there, though, we saw what looked to be a restaurant tucked away in the landscape and we decided to scope it out.  As we got closer we noticed something not quite exactly right, so through the binoculars, I tried to read the signs in the distance.  It was a backpackers hippie camp, filled with interesting characters… dreadlocked young men, fit older men with long hair, leathery skin and exceptional frisby skills… free-love, organic, granola, bean baggers with questionable hygiene.  We didn’t exactly fit in coming in from our yacht anchored off the shore, but they accepted us just the same and we broke bread together.

While sipping on mojitos, Leah and I remarked on a very attractive woman in a sexy bathing suit, Leah said, “what great shoulders,” Ian noticed some “unfortunate” acne which he attributed to her youth, then Jason chimed in by saying, “I’m pretty sure that chick pees standing up.”  Once that was on the table, we all saw it, too.  And it was all accepted in hippie camp.     

After the nice little stop with our young friends, we set off to see Butterfly Valley, and boy what a sight.  The stop at hippie camp meant that we would be turning the corner into butterfly valley as the sun was setting, which made it a stunning entrance.  The orange glow of the low sun gave the mountains an even more majestic feel as we slowing made our way.  It was breathtaking.

For perspective, we came around from the left of this picture toward the beach in the video

We dropped anchor and sat on the back of the boat in this magical spot and watched the sunset.  Our most beautiful anchorage yet.

Sailing Turkey

Days 9-11 Kas and Kekova

Day 9

Ian and Leah woke before the sun and got us the hell out of Greece. We sailed all day back to the Turkish side of the world, more specifically one of our favorite towns – Kas. The sail was long and (I’m not going to lie) a little boring.  We read, did some laundry, Ian and Jason did some MacGuyver-esque electronic repairs to our faulty GPS display, read some more, and really just tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible.  There weren’t any other boats around, we couldn’t see land, and we couldn’t really sail because there weren’t any winds, so we just put it on autopilot and motored for 10 hours.  You read that right. 10 hours.

The destination was worth it, though. Kas (pronounced kash) is our favorite town in all of Turkey.  It’s a little bohemian resort town with a lively downtown that has beautiful little shops, restaurants, and bars.  

It is a tourist town, but they are a mix of Turks, wealthy yachtees and vacation home owners and backpackers.  It’s San Diego meats Cannes, meats Positano without any pretension whatsoever.  Ian says, “ritzy, but laid back ritz,” there were over 100 fully crewed superyachts that he was drooling over, and beautiful homes built on the edge of the cliffs with infinite pools overlooking the Mediteranean that I was drooling over.  

We walked around town, did some shopping (Leah and Ian bought a carpet) and we had our best dinner yet at a little restaurant where there was live music played on an oud. Just beautiful!

Day 10

Jason and I enjoyed a delicious traditional Turkish breakfast while Leah and Ian went back to pick up their rug from last night, then we left Kas to head to Kekova.  None of us had ever been and we were all excited to check out this spot with sunken ruins and ancient towns.  As soon as we got there we hiked a small hike to ruins that proportedly dated back to 2^nd Century AD. 

Then we found an anchorage right next to some sarcophagi and ate dinner at a little restaurant nearby.

Day 11

In the morning we took to the dingy and the paddleboards to explore the sunken ruins.

It was really amazing, but the noodlers became too much to bear, so we got the hell out of there.

Noodlers (n. pl):  Sunburned Northern European tourists packed tightly on a large, loud boat which takes them to beautiful spots throughout the Turkish coast.  The tourists themselves cannot (or choose not to) swim, so they float in the water on pool noodles until a loud horn is blown and they all swarm back into the boat ready to be unleashed in their next beautiful spot. 

We had planned on two days in Kekova to explore, but we decided instead to have two days in Kas since we loved it there so much and the noodlers were overtaking Kekova, so we went back to our place.  This time we pulled into the marina like grown ups and filled up our water and power and took long luxurious showers in the marina.  In town, we did some more shopping and had another lovely dinner with a fabulous view, then back to the boat to sleep.  

While sitting at dinner, Jason and I decided (read: I decided and just need to convince Jason) that we should build a house here.  Honestly, I think it’s a great idea.  We could build it to our specifications, with an inlaw suite for my mother, and rent it out to offset the cost.  Stay tuned for more on that as I do some research, and then you too can vacation here by renting out our perfect little house on the hill.

Sailing Turkey

Days 7 and 8 Greek Islands

Day 7:

Today we woke up at the D Hotel bay among the beautiful yachts with our “cheap” little charter and decided we needed some real exercise.  We went into the hotel and found out that apparently, rich people don’t actually exercise while at a fancy resort…except in the gym with a (hotel provided) personal trainer – which is obviously not our style. So we found a little path to run on just outside the gates of the resort. FYI-even the path was a little fancy.

Then we took quick showers and enjoyed the infinity pool...like we owned the place

Then we made a quick stop at one of the beaches to take some pictures and enjoy a quick drink.

Next on our agenda was the Greek Islands, so we left our little luxurious slice of heaven and headed off to the island of Symi.  As we approached the little town nestled into the side of the mountain, we thought it was so cute.  There was a beautiful church sitting all by itself at the tip of the bay, seemingly welcoming us to the nation of Greece…

And the town itself was so pretty.

So we dropped anchor and decided to walk around the harbor to shop and eat, but something was a little off about this place… It was breeze-less and oddly hot, much hotter than we were used to.  The shops didn’t have anything local or handmade like Bozburun, it was “Greece” tee shirts made in Taiwan, chintzy shoes and bags, plastic statuettes from other islands, lots of sponges from the water nearby(?), and way overpriced restaurants.  

It was kind of unclean, too, lots of garbage all over (so we decided we would take our trash and leave it in the dumpster there, too). 

After a surprisingly nice (albeit salty) dinner right on the water, we decided to leave the loud and crowded harbor town and find a little bay to anchor in and go to sleep.  That’s the lovely thing about sailing, water is free and we can park our boat anywhere that looks nice, whether it’s a luxury hotel, bustling marina or an empty bay.  As night rapidly approached, we pulled into our relatively secluded bay. A couple of barking dogs and small houses dotted the shoreline and a somewhat recently wrecked boat sat uncomfortably on the cliff a little further out– this should have been seen as an omen.  We dropped anchor in the gloaming, and by the time the stars were out, we were all fast asleep.

BUT, within an hour, we were woken up by a territorial old Greek lady yelling at us in her native language to get out of HER bay and shining her flood light at our boat. After much debate, we pulled up anchor and tried to find another spot a little further up the bay. As we slowed to survey the possible anchorage, another friendly local began hitting us with his green laser pointer…Thanks for the lovely welcome, Greece. Begrudgingly we motored back to the busy, noisy harbor we thought we had escaped after our dinner of salt, dropped anchor once again and went back to sleep.  Ugh!

Day 8

After a disappointing trip to Symi, we had high hopes for our next Greek Island, Rhodes, so we woke up early and got moving quickly. 

As we pulled into the Island of Rhodes, we were so taken by the large Medieval walls around the old city.  They were really impressive, built during the Crusades, and we read that there were buildings throughout the city from all different times, Ottoman, Ancient Greek, Spanish - we couldn’t wait to explore.  We dropped anchor not too far from two enormous cruise ships (which should have given us our first indication of what we were about to embark on).  

We entered the city and traversed the area where the moat once was…high walls on both sides and various methods of defense inside – it was pretty cool…

...but once we walked into the city proper, everything went Greek on us. The city was Symi on steroids… full of tourists, cheap chochke souveniers, more tourists, crowds upon crowds, overpriced restaurants and unfriendly people. And tourists.  It was suffocating and draining, so we decided to get away again. 

We took off to Lindos, a city on the other side of the island…during our 3 hour sail we saw roughly 6 million umbrellas along the coastline. Eventually we arrived in a beautiful little anchorage just outside of the techno-thumping town.  With umbrellas and various instruments of motorized and inflatable watersports humming along somewhat loudly to our left, we turned our attention to the cliffs to our right, and in particular a cave high in the face of one of them…after some quick recon, we were on our way up the side of the cliff.

Not sure who thought we were crazier, the goats whose territory we were invading or the noodling tourists in the water far below.

2 and a half hours later, we had a delicious dinner of chicken and vegetables on the boat, watched a movie and went to bed just as the clubs of Lindos started heating up…we’re old.