Today we left our lovely little farmhouse accommodation and set off for the wine region of Slovenia. We headed off to Brezice and travelled through the the beautiful winding hills heading north. It was a beautiful drive heading for Bizeljsko which is the centre of the wine region. The hills are steep and the vines tumble down the slopes without any terracing. You just can’t imagine how they work up and down the rows particularly in the wet and the snow. Our first major stop was at a winery called Najger. This is unique as they store all their wines in Repnice. These are small sand caves hewn into the hills under the vineyards. They used to be used to store their vegetables (notably turnips) all year but the wine makers latched on to them and they are now used for wine barrels and bottles. The temperature is a constant 7-11 deg C and the humidity around 90%. This winery makes between 27 and 30,000 litres and they sell it all to tourists. Needless to say we bought some to add to our travelling wine bar. But not before we’d tasted them to make sure we liked them!!
The lady there put us on to a place for lunch again gorgeous but we’ve wised up a bit and we no longer take their lunch special which turns out to be 4 courses. They are a little surprised when we insist on just one course!! Then we headed off again this time to Olimje Monastery which is very beautiful. Behind the monastery is Syncerus Chocolaterie. Just full of beautiful chocolate which, of course, meant we had to buy supplies for our journey too. Then onward and upward to a most beautiful 2000 yr old town of Ptuj. It is a most beautiful town, second only I believe to Ljubljana. It is lovely and the Ptuj Festival is in full swing tonight. We are staying in a nice hotel and through the windows is the thump thump of the music blasting from several venues around the town. Its a lovely festive feeling. We realised later tonight that we’d left our beautiful chocolates in the car…they no longer look so beautiful but no doubt they taste as good!!
Its bed now and Zagreb tomorrow.