Trans-Slovenia: Ljubljana to Tabor

It looked like it was going to be decent weather for the week so after 5 days of touristing around lovely Ljubljana I decided to head towards the north east part of the country with hopes that the weather would stay sunny.
Getting out of the city was easy for a Tuesday morning as with a lot of European towns, bikes make sense in the smaller centres and immediate area. Most of the areas leading to the city have partitions to keep bikes and cars very separate which makes it safer getting in and out of the city on two wheels.

My destination was Tabor. A small little place that had one of the 'tourist farms' that on the map looked easy enough to get to. I'm learning the details of a map aren't always as reliable as you would hope. It does sometimes lead to glasses of wine on the roadside compliments of a farmer empathetic to your dilemma (and thirst).

The main highway cutting across Slovenia is the A1. It replaced the drive from south west to north east via valleys and small towns but at the expense of some of the picturesque areas it seems. Having said that, it meant that the road that I would be taking no longer sees the traffic it used to given the new highway. There were stretches of highway where there were hardly any cars for km's.

The climb of the day wasn't too bad and the intelligentistas of Slovenia wisely put in what most people would want to see at the top of a climb, naturally.

View from top

Lunch stop at top of climb

The rest of the trek was downhill and I sailed into Tabor around 1:00, just as it started to rain. I headed to a cafe and had a coffee and waited for the rain to pass. The owner was nice enough to buy my coffee so in exchange we had a shot of the Canadian whiskey I brought with me.

I headed off in search of the farm which involved a bit of climbing get to and navigating the hop lands, but when I got there, after the shower, there was a fantastic bowl of soup and lemoncella to warm me up. The farm owners, Maja and Roman, have been there for 7 years and are part of the ever expanding slow food movement there. Maybe its not as much of a revolution as it is a step back into the more common way that most of Slovenia lived. We stayed up and chatted about food, weather systems, Savary Island and the Croatian coast. Roman made a great breakfast and showed me around the farm in the morning and the barn that they're converting for campers. They reminded me of friends back in Vancouver and what they prioritize in life.

Roman in front of his handy work

Renovated barn for "Hippie campers"

The road to the farm

It felt great to be on the bike again, touring with no time constraints or real agenda. The more I see and cycle by the more I realize 5 weeks may not be long enough. Although I say that now. . . . . . . .Part II to follow.