Slovenia, Croatia, Italy

Over the July 4th weekend, we drove down through Italy to Slovenia & Croatia. The Bergs and the Pettys let us stay in Italy a night on the way there and back so our drive wasn't so long and we enjoyed our time in Italy with them. Kelsey has been a little champ on all of our long car rides...it's fun to see the things she does to keep herself entertained.

PoRToRoz, SLoVEniA

Our hotel and topless women in the background. We loved the beaches in Portoroz but it's very different than the beaches I'm used to. They don't have sand unless it's imported (very few) and it's all rocks and sidewalk. It's beautiful though.

Our hotel by night. It was very nice and in a perfect location. We'd stay there again but I don't think we'll be in the area again.

Shipyard along the waterfront walkway


Sunset at Portoroz
Here I am keeping Kelsey distracted while waiting for dinner. There was a dog at the table next to us and she would have stayed right next to it the entire time if she had her way! We found the food in Slovenia to be very bland. With everything we tried we kept saying, "this needs more flavor." One night we bought gelato and ended up throwing it out and buying new ones!
Authentic Slovenian food. It wasn't bad, just lacked flavor. Kelsey enjoyed walking along this gate. At one point, Tal and I were just talking and when we looked up, Kelsey was gone! We looked all the way at the end of the fence and there she was about to put a cork in her mouth. She's loving her new found freedom and I'm thinking it's going to be a lot of work!

What do these two things have in common?
Despite the huge difference in price, they get you from point A to point B with the Mclaren/Maclaren name.


PuLA, cROaTiA

After spending a day in Slovenia we decided to head to the Istria peninsula in Croatia, so we drove an hour south of Portoroz to Pula. It was HOT, but we really enjoyed the ancient Roman Amphitheater and the fortress at the center of the city. The FX rate is about 7 Kuna to 1 Euro so the price of things seemed astronomically high even though it was pretty cheap compared to the rest of Europe.





The Amphitheater

Ancient ruins just lying around.

ROvInJ, crOaTIA

Rovinj is only about 20 minutes North of Pula and the old town is built on a hill that is surrounded by the Adriatic Sea on three sides. This picturesque little town was mine and Tal's favorite of the trip and we fell in love with the marble stone streets, beautiful views, and colorful culture.

pORec, CrOATia

The little market on the peninsula at Porec was fun to walk through and I even found the perfect little blue and white sailing shirt for our upcoming cruise. Porec is known for it's mosaics so we checked those out at the basilica and then finished up the day at a colorful little restaurant at the harbor. All in all, except for the heat we had a picture perfect day in Croatia.

What's wrong with the picture above?

PiRAn, SlOvEnIa

After spending another day in Portoroz we headed back to Italy, but we decided to visit the near by town of Piran before leaving. We enjoyed a leisurely stroll along the boardwalk to a lighthouse at tip of the peninsula and then found a little sea front restaurant on the way back. The water was a beautiful blue and it contrasted beautifully with the white rocks used to fortify the boardwalk. It was fun walking through the narrow walkways of Piran and finding so many kids kick playing in the car free streets.

Italy
On the way home from Slovenia, we passed through Triste, Italy. Once at the Petty's, we were able to visit a walled city called Cittadella. It was beautiful. We also got some pics of the corn fields, and the sunset at the Petty's house.

Kelsey playing with Abram...or trying to pull his hair. He refers to her as "Kelsey - pull hair." She's creating a name for herself!