Rain Rain - Go Away
We awoke to a beautiful morning. Our breakfast was out on a terrace overlooking the so called Adriatic beach. This beach has a seawall with ladders that go into the water. It is probably the only way the commercial sites on the coastline can control and protect their properties. But is seems strange from the Great Lakes perspective. We saw many people in swimming before breakfast. They were all shapes and sizes.
Matt and I decided to get some exercise, and walk up to the city walls that were east of the church of St George. It was a great walk up the steep cobblestone streets. I was very sweaty once we got back down to the town. We saw Nora and Pam who had been shopping, and I decided to join them. Matt was not interested, so he went back to the hotel. Just as Nora, Pam and I were finishing our purchases, the clouds let loose. None of the three of us had umbrellas or jackets. We figured we would wait at the store, for the rain to let up, and we were there for over 30 minutes waiting. Each minute was closer to the time we needed to meet in the hotel for our departure. And as soon as the rain would let up, it would start raining harder. I finally asked the store owner to call Tina, so that I could talk to here. But instead he spoke with her, and she came to our rescue, with Matt's rain jacket, and one extra umbrella. Our feet were soaked because some of the streets were flooded, and our hairs were quite damp. The next challenge for all of us was to get to the bus, as it was too big to come into town. All 18 of us jumped on the city shuttle with other city folk, to get to the bus station. Tina realized that some of our folks, had umbrellas from the Hotel. So she quickly called them, and then collected them all, jumped off the shuttle to give them to a hotel staff member, and get back on the shuttle before the scheduled time.
Our next stop was to the town of Secovlje for the Salt Pans. Here they showed us how they produce the best salt in the world. The process has not changed in 700 years. Here are a couple facts that interested me: Environment has to be exact for salt flowers to grow, meaning hot temperatures and no rain. Salt flowers grow on top of the water above the algae. If a child were to throw a stone in one of the evaporation areas, it would take 8 years for the area to be rebuilt. The workers where special wooden shoes so their feet do not break the lowest level of muck in the water.
Lunch was in Portoroz, which is another resort/beach town. We decided to have soup at a restaurant that had a patio that looked out on the beach. The waiter surprised us with an welcome appetizer from the kitchen. It was a little cooked fish in a sardine can. Matt was thrilled - NOT. The soup was excellent. Afterwards I went to the beach to stick my feet in the water. I can now say I have been in the Adriatic Ocean !
We got back on the bus and headed to Nova Gorica. This city is on the border of Italy. She had the bus stop to show us a landmark from 2004 where a wall that separated Nova Gorica, Slovenia, and Gorica, Italy was taken down. The wall was a green wire fence. She said there were all sorts of stories about relationships between people on each side of the fence. 2004 was when they joined the European Union, and the fence was no longer needed. Not that long ago - huh!
For dinner, most of us decided on an optional tour to Goriska Brda, a wine region of Slovenia. We had a wonderful beef tenderloin dinner with 3 wine pairings. The restaurant was on the top of the hill, and outdoorsy and lovely. We asked the waiter for some beer for Matt, but they said they had none. So Nora helped drink Matt's wine, and Matt helped Nora with her dessert. We had a great time chatting with different people and Tina at dinner.
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