I love Slovenia! Day 7- Pirano!

We decided to go back to Pirano for some beaching.  It was a very hot day and walking around Trieste or any other place would not have been a wise option.  It felt much hotter in Pirano, since they don't have the trees like Barcola to shade you from the sun. We found the people from Quebec again, but I didn't talk to them this time.  "HEY QUEBEC!" (Eh Sandro!)  We spent a few hours there and then decided to do a little shopping.  That night we went to Monica's, where I finally got to meet my friend.  We have become fast friends and I adore her very much.  Monica is Sandro's manager and she books the art shows and does all the hard work, getting the artists and bringing them together.  She is also a very independent, strong woman, heading up the Endometriosis Foundation in Trieste as well as being a writer for La Voce di Trieste.  You can find her work here;
http://http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5777751714035606892&postID=5064486022235962782www.lavoceditrieste.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1518:torna-la-voglia-di-angeli&catid=77:societa&Itemid=86
Apart from that, she also has a full time job.   She is such a fantastic woman with a loving soul and has the best laugh I have ever heard in my life! I hope to see Monica again in this lifetime :)
Je te manque Monica! Mi manchi Monica! xx

Day 6- Barcola

We went to Barcola for a beach day- just about 10 minutes drive from Sandro's.  I LOVE Barcola! The cars lined up one after another along the boulevard- lucky if you find parking.  What I love about Italian women is that they all wear bikinis- all of them.  It doesn't matter what size you are- they are all so comfortable in their own skin. So many different bikinis; colourful ones, thong ones, some topless and let me tell you that maybe 2 out of 10 have a rockin' body- but it's great because as a young girl you won't have any doubts about what you should look like. No girl should grow up and not appreciate her body or feel embarassed.  It isn't like North America at all, where fashion magazines and being as thin as you can are thrown in your face. Growing up in a beach city, you become part of the sea life- or perhaps it becomes a part of you.  People stay for hours, bringing tables and playing games.  It is an all day event and it's nice to see whole families take part of this. 
We laughed (mostly me) at the men in their speedo's.  Most wear them and I noticed very few wear board shorts like Sandro did.  The water was refreshing, some days very wavy, the next quite calm.  Each day I would swallow salt water and each day I would get a little burnt, be it my feet, my back or hand... Beaching it in Barcola is great!

That night we went to Rossopomodoro for some pizza. We ate outside, and the dinner was delish!
(Apart from the douchie waiter :) )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcola

Day 5- Pirano, Slovenia and Umag, Croatia

We drove about 30 minutes to Pirano, where Sandro's mother was born.  It is a beautiful little town on the sea.  You can't drive into the town unless you live there so you park above and walk down.  Once we got into Pirano, I heard some people from Quebec so I went and briefly spoke to them.  They were staying in Trieste as well.  Sandro was laughing at me, because I will go up to anyone and start talking.  I spotted a lovely ceramic bell and fish when we arrived and would get them as we left but the store hours are so funny- closed between 1-4.  However, I would pick them up on our next trip in.

Pirano has to be one of my favorite places.  It was another world, so charming and colourful!

We stopped for lunch in Portorose, and ate at Cacao. A sandwich and the coldest Coke I have ever had- in a glass bottle. 

I found it to have a very coastal California feel- colourful hotels along the main strip.

We decided to drive to Croatia after walking around Portorose, and thought we would find a beach there.  We ended up in Umag but because they aren't part of the European Union, we would have to change over some money for anything we wanted; parking, souvernirs etc... We tried to find a beach with free parking but never did find one.  We got lost along the way but it was great fun and we enjoyed looking at the scenery.

One thing that Sandro pointed out was that the soil there is red.  It gave such a nice contrast to any photo, and especially under grapes- the green and the red was spectacular!

We stopped in Muggia on the way back in Italy and wanted to swim but there were so many jellyfish- turned out they weren't the stinging kind but slimy to say the least.  We just wet our feet and layed in the sun.
That night we were back at the Celtic Festival for some crepes and music.  We saw the Shenanigans, a band out of Austia.  The singers respectively are both Irish and British- We had a lot of laughs that night, the drummer always had a funny grin and the guitarist with the shortest jean shorts! What's up with that!?  The atmosphere was fantastic! The stars were even brighter that night.

Day 4- Slovenia (again)

Socerb Castle

We drove back to Slovenia as Sandro wanted to show me where his art exhibition will be on July 8th.  Unfortunately it was closed that day so we could not enter. 

That night we attended the Triskell Celtic Festival in Trieste and saw Wooden Legs perform.  They are a band out of Trieste, great rhythm and great music!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/wooden-legs/116438243912 
The violinist was incredible- I was so impressed....makes me want to perhaps take up the violin again... :)

Day 3- Slovenia

We decided to drive to Slovenia- only about 30 minutes to Komen, where we went to an old castle and village. The village is set among the castle ruins, little winding streets that were so lovely to walk through. Beautiful hydrangeas everywhere and stone lanes.

http://www.komen.si/slo/ 

Once we were done there, we went to Branik, another little village with castle ruins, and again just as breathtaking.  We climbed to the top on a spiral staircase with high steps- the view was definitely worth it!

Just look at this view!!!
You could see for miles!

Peek-a-Bo

We descended a narrow stone staircase and I decided to jump from the 4th last step, unfortunately I landed on my knees- tried to grab Sandro (in a not so great spot for a guy)- it could have been  bad situation- a broken kneecap and pain for him but it all turned out ok- a little scratch and something to laugh about.
We drove to an Osmiza- these are homes that open up to the public twice a year for lunch.You sit outside
and have a choice of a few dishes. We had some prosciutto, smoked bacon, roasted ham and salumi.  All great, however I was not fond of the smoked bacon, very different from North American bacon- almost raw and not crispy.  We took a short walk on the Carso, overlooking Barcola and Trieste.

Day 2- Trieste

Walked downtown Trieste and saw 3 weddings along the way; 2 in which the bride was driven in an old American car- The first wedding was at a castle/church, the bride was beautiful in a lovely flowing dress with ruffles at the bottom. We laughed at the Italian cowboys with their stetsons and wranglers. Seemed so out of place there!
It was a hot day and I wasn't used to the heat yet- quite humid. We stopped for some gelato at Grom- delicious! I loved my strawberry gelato!

http://www.grom.it/ita/

Sandro made a great dinner- pasta with peas and horse meat. We he first told me about horse meat, I thought he was joking. Who eats horse meat? We did and it was GREAT! The texture resembled grated cheese- and the combo of the meat and peas really complimented each other. Way to go Chef Sandro!

Italy!

June 17-

Arrived at Ronchi dei Legionari Airport around 10:30 am. The flight seemed like an eternity!
I saw Sandro before me, wearing a red t-shirt and shorts; looking like I have 'known' him forever! When I came out he quickly walked over to me, arms extended giving me a huge hug. It felt so natural to see him, after 22 years to finally meet. (Sandro and I became pen pals 22 years ago when letter writing was by post. No emails, texts or skype....)
We kept smiling,  blushing like a bunch of teenagers in the car, just looking at each other, taking it all in.
At this point, I had been awake for 23 hours, pretty exhausted, dehydrated and hungry- not a good combination. For some reason, I was served a muslim meal on the plane- because really my tats and the lack of headscarf really must have given off that I was muslim. The meal itself was not good- horrid really! It was some kind of rice/tofu or maybe chicken? I had a few bites of rice and some melon. Breakfast consisted of the same 'muslim' meal and I ended up with a muffin which was great. The excitement and exhaustion kicked and to add the lack of eating brought on nauseousness on the way to Sandro's home. We stopped along the way at some beautiful look out points- so beautiful to see Trieste in the background, the water glistening in the sun like glass and the view was just a gorgeous. At the second look out, I picked a flower which remained on the kitchen table for a week. A lovely little reminder to look at each morning.


Once at Sandro's, I looked around in wonder- I saw photos prior to arriving but it was not the same as being there. His paintings are everywhere, to be able to touch them finally turned surrealism into reality, and they are more beautiful in person.