Journey: Gabicce Monte, Italy to Dornberk, Slovenia
Distance: 419 km
Campsite for the night: Saksida wine & camping resort
YouTube link: Days 8 & 9

For the more geographically aware among you, you’ll have noticed that yesterday we headed south from Venice but today we ended up to the east of Venice in Slovenia.

What happened you ask? Well a number of things made us change our plans. The campsite yesterday was a bit basic and the pitch we had was rubbish, the forecast was for rain and cooler temperatures for the coming days as we headed south and we just weren’t feeling the east coast of Italy. It was pretty, yes, but there wasn’t actually much there we were interested in and the weather made beaches, swimming in the sea and pottering around on bikes less appealing. We also just felt we were on a schedule to get to Bari to get our ferry across to Dubrovnik, where the weather also didn’t look great. We’ve been to Dubrovnik a couple of times in the past and it’s a lovely old historic city but very touristy so we weren’t actually bothered about going again. Additionally, we needed to do some washing and the machine at the campsite we were on couldn’t really be called a washing machine — it managed to not wash anything and leave our clothes a mix of sopping wet and bone dry.

So we decided to change our plans completely and head to the Slovenian wine region where the weather looked a lot better. We could then enter Croatia from there, spend time in the north of Croatia, which we don’t know and then come back through Slovenia again via the mountains as originally planned. Decision made, we set off back towards Venice, which was a boring drive and then onwards towards Slovenia, our third country of the trip. The only annoying thing about this change of plan was the fact that we had to cancel the ferry and one of our campsites — again proving that we really shouldn’t book ANY campsites before travelling!

Arriving in Slovenia, the landscape, the look of houses and the whole feel just changed instantly. The roads seemed calmer and safer and we were both big fans. The campsite we’d found was also stunning and we set up camp amongst the vines with views out to the mountains. We put our washing on and then had a wander into the nearby village to check out the little supermarket. We got some bits for lunch the next day including a peculiar vegan chickpea pate and some decent looking bread. Everyone we met was really friendly and the landscape was stunning. After a dinner outside, I strung out a washing line and hung my washing up, and we settled down for the evening.

Only for Emma to suddenly recall that we’d seen quite a few toll signs coming into Slovenia, but no where to get a ticket or pay. After a hasty google, she discovered that we needed a digital vignette and it looked like if we bought it before midnight, we’d be covered. And after looking at the FAQs on the Slovenia vignette site, I discovered we’d also need one for Austria… So much for my research into what was needed for each country before coming! I had hi-vizs, warning triangles, first aid kits the lot, but hadn’t found anything about vignettes being needed for Slovenia and Austria.

Although we’d initially booked two nights, I think we’ll be here longer…