Finally a day when multiple thunderstorms came, the first one on our vacation tour. Flemming and I had otherwise been so good at flying to the parts of Europe with sunny and dry weather. We decided to spend that day in Ajdovščina, and to explore the city we stayed in.
A bike turned powered bike on the photo above – must be fun, but also noisy? By the way, in Austria we didn’t see even one electric bike. There were lots of bikes, scooters, but no electric bikes.
We came to Ajdovščina by chance: because of the storming weather, it was one of the few places we could fly to from Croatia. We had already seen some of the city, and now had a chance to go discovering. Located in the Vipava Valley, it is surrounded by mountains. And the Vipava Valley is on of the top 10 list of destinations in Europe! We understood why, when we went on a hike the day before – it was so beautiful.
Ajdovščina is also called the Garden of Eden, because of it is always green, rich with cultural and natural monuments. The Fužine ob Hublju, the ironworks from the 16th century that we visited on our hike, was just one example.
The Romans built a road through the Vipava valley and along its slopes. Later, in the area of today’s Ajdovščina , the fortress of Castra grew:
Among all the Slovenian places that are the heirs of Roman cities, only in Ajdovščina is the almost completely preserved Roman wall with fourteen towers. It was a part of the Romans fortified military camp, which was included in the defense system of the eastern borders of the Roman Empire, around 270 AD:
A torrential river Hubelj divides the city into two parts: Ajdovščina and Šturje. The spring of Hubelj is an important source of drinking water for Ajdovščina and the whole Vipava valley.
Ajdovščina is also the birthplace of Slovenian puppetry. On 22nd December 1910, Milan Klemenčič staged the first Slovenian puppet show in his living room in Šturje. Klemenčič later encouraged the creation of the Ljubljana Puppet Theater and was its first director. On his 100th birthday, the municipality of Ajdovščina paid tribute to him with a commemorative plaque on the house in which he lived.
When a thunderstorm came, Flemming and I went to our favourite Kavarna Cukr, a cozy cafe close to our apartment. Soon it was full of people, searching a nice shelter from the weather.
Flemming and I did flight planning for the next day, which wasn’t easy. I wanted to fly to Italy, and then to France and Spain. But Flemming needed to get back to work. He was also working sometimes during our vacation. What to do – to keep a relashionship, or to send your partner with a bus from Slovenia back to Denmark? We had had an agreement, if I wanted to fly longer and alone – I could do it, no bad feelings. We also considered flying to Italy, then France, then Switzerland, but the weather in Western Europe seemed to be quite unstable, with big areas of thunderstorms, strong winds and rain. So the most difficult decision of the Summer 2023 tour was taken; we decided to fly back home together and via the Eastern Europe, though visiting different places this time.
When the rain stopped, we went out. The air temperature dropped from +35C to +25C, and it felt cool. But as soon as the sun came out again, I had to unzip my trousers, and take the long-sleeved top off.
Can you see the blue house on the photo below? Our apartment was right in front of that building, and the place I’m standing on is the main square of Ajdovščina. The central part of the city was closed for traffic, but the people living there had permission to drive to their homes in case it was needed; no parking was allowed. The thing I’m pointing at is the remains of the Roman baths:
There were many other interesting things to see, like an open-air photo exhibition, or an old church surrounded by very narrow streets and old buildings without windows (unfortunately impossible to have meaningful pictures of). We finally went to see that church we flew over when we arrived to Ajdovščina:
It was Church of St. John the Baptist that was built on the site of a cemetery in Roman times:
In the afternoon, I had an appointment with my host-cosmetologist Teja:
Teja was so good, such an experienced cosmetologist, with a big beauty clinic, and I was so happy to get my facial and body massage! I was talking much about it to Flemming, and he was happy for me. I also had a haircut that day during rain time – got rid of 20 cm of my long hair! When I returned, the dinner was ready:
We had a little Slovenian sparkling left, which we enjoyed so much – it wasn’t that bubbly, with a very good taste:
The flowers were from our hiking trip the day before. There were so many of them in the mountains – I collected a big bouquet.
We had a sauna in our apartment, a big one and with a grass front (in the bathroom), but we never used it – the weather was too warm. Well, next time!
We loved Slovenia – its nature, people, food and wine, and wished we could stay longer. But the weather was changing, and Flemming needed to get back to work. We would bring our memories of Slovenia with us. Maybe next year, who knows?