We stayed at Hotel Malovec in Divaca which has been built recently with much financial support from the EU. Every piece of furniture and all of the fixtures have EU stickers on them. The Guesthouse Malovec next door is where we requested due to the lower price.
The commercial form of Brinjevec (that we sampled in Ljubjana at our hotel) and the blueberry liquor that we shared with the "bride to be" a few days ago.
We were upgraded from the cheaper rooms in the guesthouse to the more expensive rooms in the hotel. Yes, it was in the hotel and nicely outfitted, but we were given the tiniest room you could imagine. In fact they built the room inside the well of the hotel's service staircase. This made it quiet but odd. In fact, the luggage storage chest was outside the room in the hall, not even in the room. The new bruises on our shins are a reminder of our room in Divaca. Our breakfast was good, the setting was beautiful, but the all-important coffee machine stopped working just as we arrived. The hotel staff phoned the Coffee Company and thankfully the repair man came and after a long wait we were able to enjoy our morning coffee. We decided to stick to the secondary road that we rode on yesterday as the bike route looked nasty. We have confidence in our ability to ride up and down the hills, but at this point, we don't want the extra km as the bicycle route follows a very circuitous path. A few miles out of Divaca, we came across the second most famous caves in Slovenia. We rode down a steep hill to the caves to check them out.
The second most famous caves in Slovenia. The Karst region of south westSlovenia is known for its limestone cliffs and plateau which is home to subterranean world of countless caves.
This teacher is here with his students for a field trip to the caves. He saw our bike and was very interested in our lives as it is also his dream to tour one day with his wife by bicycle.
The Skocjanska Jama is a UNESCO sight and the caves are said to be quite spectacular. It is tempting to tour these caves as it is less commercial than Polojna, but it takes a long time as you hike in with a guide. They don't allow any photography in the caves, even photo taking without flash. We decided against doing the tour as we wanted to get to the coast. Maybe the next time we are in Slovenia we will do it. Meanwhile, on to the Adriatic and then Italy!
We rode back up the hill to the secondary road. The next 30 km were up and down and very pleasant. Then we came to a sign with a warning that the next 7 km was a 7% downhill. The road surface was good so we let go of the brakes and let Seavo fly down the 7 km until we got to the switchbacks. It was quite exhilarating and we were grateful to have all 3 brakes on Seavo working. We stopped at pull offs to take in the view and let our brakes have a rest.
As we were going down we got glimpses of the Adriatic Sea. Having ridden the Amber Route almost from the Baltic Sea it was thrilling to see the Adriatic Sea. Also exciting was seeing olive tree groves, palm trees, bouganvellia and other plants that are found in this region.
This is our first glimpse of the Adriatic. Suddenly, the landscape has changed from the verdant lush green hills we have known in Slovenia, to this Mediterranean like landscape with olive groves.
We think we are looking at Trieste Italy with more of Italy in the distance. Slovenia has a very small section of Adriatic coast, sandwiches between Croatia and Italy.
Stopping at a pull-off on the descent marvelling at where we are. Below us is the freeway, the A1 with the towering bridge carrying the traffic over the valleys and the hills.
The Parenzana Cycle Route is on a former train line which connects Porec Croatia with Trieste Italy. This is the first dedicated cycle path that we have had in Slovenia.
We emerged from riding down the hills to this incredible scene, the Adriatic framed by bicycles. We had to get a photo. We are looking at the port of Koper, Slovenia.
When we arrived in Koper, we realized that we would need to start looking for a place to stay. We had read about a guesthouse that had been an Elementary School at one time in an old village. The price was right, it sounded good and it included breakfast, so we booked it. In their description, it stated that the location was close to the bike route. Google maps refused to create a route from where we were (Izola). It wanted us to backtrack quite a ways, so we went in to a gas station and asked the young woman working there for directions. As it turns out, she lives in the village, Korte, where we are staying and she told me it was pretty simple "turn left and go up and up and up and you will find Korte". I asked her if it was rideable with our tandem and she smiled at me and said,"it will take some time". It was a challenge but we were able to see vineyards, farms and tiny villages perched on the edge of these hills. It was stunning. We finally arrived in the village of Korte and our Guesthouse. Charming and unique - it was actually worth the work to get here. The views are panoramic and unforgettable. The building had been the village school from 1907 to 1978 and has been beautifully restored. Sleeping in the mountain air, and being tired after working hard, I think we will sleep well.
Every type of transport takes advantage of the bike path. This 5 km stretch of the bike lane is completely car free. There is a lane for walkers and two lanes for bikes. Not sure where this guy belongs.
As this is Tuesday, the small store and a cafe are closed in Korte. The girl at reception kindly sold us a couple of beer, Union Beer from Ljubjana, that she had in the frig.
It felt good to sit in the courtyard of the guesthouse, enjoy a Slovene beer and take in where we are and where we have come from. Anything is possible, one pedal stroke at a time.
