South of Austria and Slovenija

I know it has been awhile, I am having challenges with uploads for sure. Sometime they work, mostly not.

A few days ago arrived in Villach, the town I was born in and stayed in a famous hotel in the centre of town. One always has these memories of wanting to do something growing up and I always had wanted to spend a night there. Of course that would have been crazy and was not possible. So my expectations were high and I was in for a disappointment. I loved the food and service, I did not like my room, it felt I was sleeping in a nunnery.

Met with schoolfriends and ate delicious local culinary specialties, having fun with beer tastings and glad that I brought my teas, just not the thing here, but coffee is delicious.

Travelling between Villach and Jesenice, a border town in Slovenija where I have family. Wedged in between mountains, hugging the slopes, memories of childhood vacations spend there are resurfing and the story telling is abundant.. Remember when and so on. We drove to Bled to simple see it again, as a teenager, my cousine and her friends we walked the route roughly 20 km. I remember it as a sleepy town by the lake, local fishermen taking you to the island and the castle left untouched. Local tourism and a Sunday trip to eat the famous custard napoleon and have turkish coffee.

Today it is a tourist town, every nook and crany field with hotels, motels, private homes, shops and more shops.... including a teashoppe called Jamine. I bought a nice little gadget to attach to a teasack to hang and a proper tea thermometer. Great for travelling. Of course we had the same pastry and it was delicious. Now the castle is open for tours and we wanted to have a coffee and take the view. 8 euros per person just to get through the gates to sit on the terrace... I think not, so we enjoyed the climb up and down. Parking lot full of tour buses, it no longer is a sleepy town.

Today traveling over the mountains back to Villach to finish off some things and to enjoy an outdoor concert on the banks of the river Drau, that divides my hometown in half. The concert is free, a gift from the major each year to the towns citizens and tourists. Weather will hold and it will be a beautiful event, probably ending with fireworks.

Plans are to travel to a Spa near the Croatian border, my cousine has a summer home and we will spend the weekend there. Monday, my journey begins anew, and will be off to Innsbruck with a sidetrip to Wattens, to view the Swarovski Crytalmountain.

Until then, Ingrid