Day 3 - Slovenia

“this Mom is my wine”

Highlights

Charcuterie of my lifetime with a fantastic private wine tasting - Hvalla to Vesna

Setting our first ‘sail’

Jelly fish along the coast

Octopus for dinner

Learnings

It will always be hot - don’t complain
Nautical knots
I do not watch enough tv to be on a boat with three female teachers

Up early in Grado, I snuck away to the coffee shop we noted we would be having breakfast at in the morning. It was perfectly set next to one of the two churches in Grado, so I indulged in another croissant (yes Jeremy, they are delightful...) and a coffee. The owner of the shop was a little turse at first but funny enough after the group joined me and we went to pay - she very kindly spoke with me enjoying that I spent time capturing the city, and offered me a postcard free of charge. Finally, a small moment of kindness on this trip.

Everything looks so far distance wise on the map but I’m finding that we travel quickly. It is much quicker on land too apparently. Our next leg was from Grado to Izola and we will be in Slovenia for the next few days.

Upon arriving we again took a few moments to enjoy the beach. Much different here as it was more of a pier I guess? Just a ledge to sit and then you jumped over into the water. Rocks not sand. I enjoyed this much more than the 20m of hot sand to the water and expensive chairs which you couldn’t really survive without in Grado.

We left the beach to prepare for a wine tasting arranged by the lovely Jose. He always seems to have a magical new place or restaurant or site or person for us to see/meet.(Thank you J, can’t tell you how much I srill appreciate this reference - no fiancée for me though - yet) I had heard from a few travellers in Venice that the wine tastings they tried were overpriced and only had a few samples. Jose said we would be paying 20€ which I decided to just not question. Slovenian wine is well known around the world and I was excited to experience this here.

The lovely Vesna brought us into her small store where she only sells local wine from the Izola area including some local olive oils. It is a small and simple shop- I really felt like I was just with her in her home. Upon beginning she introduced a sparking white and some history of the wine in the area and cultural influences. A Pinot Grigio was next - and with it a delightful surprise of a beautiful array of homemade tapas! So much! She had a tapenade with fresh tomatoes and cheese, another with a bruschetta she had made and the last was a fish based mix (common for tapa - it has a mix of soft cheese and mayo typically - can’t remember the name) and on top of this she had her own marinated seaweed which she picked herself from the coast. Wow. I’m already over the moon.

She moves us towards a rose which actually appears more of an orange color. If you’re a wine buff you may have heard about ’Orange Wine’ apparently a name made popular by a NY times journalist - to which our host was a little disappointed about. She is unhappy such a name has been made as it doesn’t represent proper and along with that its very hard to make this type of wine so in this sudden popularity a lot of stress was put on Slovenians. Also, in its popularity, many people were saying they made this type of wine when really it was not correct. She was very passionate about the wines in her shop and their authentications so this is mainly why she was not happy.

She explained the reason it is ‘orange’ - or amber as she may have preferred it be described - so we now describe it as Amber obviously - is due to the grapes in this region. They are so dark that a rosé in its typical color simply doesn’t really exist here how we know it at least as the light pink. This also makes the red wine a deep dark color which was what we were to have next. She said she needed a minute to prepare and as she left Jose explained now we will have a bit of meat. More food!? Is this real life?!

... I’m already over the moon at this point of the experience.

It’s all been incredible, including her kindness and vast knowledge of each wine, but what came next I can’t even put into words really. She arrives with a plank about two feet long with prosciutto home made sausage two kinds of sharp cheddar cheese fresh olives and cured pork. My goodness, with their red wine... heaven.

We finished with a light dessert wine. I couldn’t believe when Jose told us it was only 15€. This was incredible. I would have paid double for what we were given. I also purchased 3 bottles and have no idea how I will get them back to Canada - my new new new adventure?

After this, really enough for the night, we still journeyed to the restaurant where we were told they had the best octopus dish. So, I clearly had no other choice - how could I not order it... and it didn’t disappoint.

We could see a storm along the horizon but it wasn’t forecasted but oh boy - what a storm it was. We got back to the boat and about 20 mins later the winds had started to - how do you describe wind? This is an odd moment uhh - wail? Gust? Savagely Gust? I’ll let you Use your imagination - and shortly after the rain began to POUR. We got to ‘batten down the hatches’ Lololol I love saying it - I didn’t realize how real this was until we had to do it - there’s a sense of urgency just like you would think, since the hatches are the small windows on top of the boat that allow air to enter - so we clearly had every single one open due to the heat of the day. Hatches closed and locked - it was time for bed.

Another day behind us. I feel that I may try and get these blog notes in at night. My memory is fleeting and the days are so full.