Autumn Has Arrived

After our refreshed stop-over in Croatia, it came time to say goodbye to the coastal towns and beaches, and head North through central and eastern Europe. The first stop on our list was Ljubljana, the quaint capital of Slovenia; we stayed at a restaurant-come-petting-farm for two nights. The accommodation was free with a meal so we gladly indulged in the hearty Slovenian home-cooking and were entertained by the snoring pigs in the evenings.

This was our first taste of ‘cold’ weather since arriving and it took us a little by shock! We ventured into the city for the afternoon to look around when the rain had cleared to find a small city that wasn’t overly touristy and stacked full of fresh market produce to buy.

The long awaited and much anticipated visit to Venice, the ‘City of Canals/Water/Love’, was finally here! We spent a jam-packed afternoon walking through the narrow streets before ending up in Piazza San Marco to gawk at the sights (along with what felt like 1 million other people). We paid a few Euro and headed up the San Marco Campanile to see the views of the city and very glad that we did, it is difficult to comprehend the land area that Venice was built on – it seems to be made up of waterways as opposed to solid ground but somehow it just ‘works’.

A visit to Venice would not be complete without a gondola ride down the canal; we picked up a gondolier from outside Doge’s Palace and sailed silently under the Bridge of Sighs and entered the inner city canals. How we didn’t tip out numerous times or hit various other gondola’s I still do not know, it was a bucket-list experience for me and didn’t disappoint! As this was our last time in Italy, we made the most of the cheap espresso and gelato opportunities on the walk home before finishing off the day in classic Italian fashion – homemade Aperol Spritz in Big Karl.

Our next journey took us into a new country, Austria. Our destination was Munich in Germany but after a long day behind the wheel we took an overnight stop in Innsbruck, an alpine town in the middle of the Alps which doesn’t lack views. We took an impromptu ride up the mountain gondola before the sunset to get a glimpse, the photos talk for themselves!