To the Land of Dragons & Magical Wine
We interrupt this newsletter with a brief PSA1.
rent our home thank you in september+, mi casa es su casa, please
After crossing the border into Slovenia without ceremony we landed in Vipava and knew we were not in Kansas Italy anymore. Everything got a little more slavic: the people with their steely exteriors and warm gooey hearts, the best natural wine we’ve had yet, and fluffy/crispy/unctuous pistachio croissants.
We started our time the way that we start most trips: at a restaurant2. Chester wasn’t having the best meal ever in the mosquito infested heat, but we had to soldier through the remaining courses after tasting the shrimp carpaccio and wine pairing including “Zelen”, a grape that only grows in the valley (allegedly). Several courses and bites later, we buckled the little son into the car milliseconds before getting smacked with a thunderstorm. After over an hour of stand-still traffic, we pulled up to a graffiti covered building3 in Ljubljana around 11 and promptly passed out. The next morning we discovered our new home (accidentally a studio) was swanky and well-designed, and we met the morning hours with a soon-familiar pattern of 6am vending machine espresso + pastry, exploring the market, and walking along the river in old town until a proper coffee shop opened (which gratefully abound in Ljubljana - shout out to our unofficial sponsor Stow Coffee.)
We really embraced city life. While rest was much needed (this is proving to be a consistent theme) and we watched our fair share of television for the first time in a while, we managed to get a biking day in, a couple ‘date’ nights, and a freebie museum visit. Liz even went to a yoga class almost entirely in Slovenian except for the instructor’s incessant demand for a position called “Michael Jackson” that she wasn’t familiar with.
The last night in town, we had the pleasure of attending a social hour with a group of people we realized we relate to differently these days - sexy young professionals. We became acutely aware of our social rust and lack of jargon and left early to argue in front of a falafel restaurant. We realized that these days, we socialize better with exhausted romantics that are doing their best: parents!
On our way out of Slovenia, Liz finally bought an Aeropress (we realized we were spending >30 euros/day to keep her properly caffeinated), and we had one final argument near this amazing water feature in the town center before heading to Rovinj, a seaside town in Croatia that we proceeded to flee within less than 24 hours (details available for inquiring premium subscribers.)
We collected ourselves and took a hard left back to paradise at an Italian Agroturismo. More on that in our next correspondence.
important Slovenia photos below:
This is the best time of year to be in Asheville. We are offering a $500 referral bonus if you find us someone who stayed for more than a month (i.e. 2+)
Fun fact: We’ve been using the Michelin ‘bib gourmand’ rating as an easy indicator of inexpensive, great food and haven’t struck out once yet.
The telltale sign of a young and budding country, according to Alex
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