Every dinner should be under a canopy of wine grapes!

The breakfast in Slovenia continued to impress.  Since we had been doing a bit of car riding, today, we decided to stay close by.  A group of us walked around Smartno.  We checked out the local stores (there weren’t many).  I got some gifts from a natural lotions and soaps shop.  Then, the group did an olive oil tasting.  We were told how to properly taste olive oil and got to try it with bread and apples.  I purchased some lemon olive oil to bring back for the family Christmas party.  After our tasting, we headed to the old house that is located in Smartno.  We watched a quick video on the town and then did some jewelry shopping in the lower part of the house.  Finally, it was time for lunch.  We got a variety of dishes to share (and proceeded to eat way too much!). 

Sierra and I wanted to explore more so we asked how to get to a local tower.  Last time, Albin drove us up there and then when we tried to walk up there were wasps up in the tower.  Sierra and I asked the innkeepers how to get up there and off we went.  Well it sounds easier than it was.  We traveled mainly uphill and stopped to check out the wine grapes.  We made friends with some goats that were roaming.  Then got to a section where we didn’t know what to do so we navigated under a fence and arrived to the tower.  We climbed up to the top and snapped some photos.  It was a great view – we were able to see the hotel and the city of Smartno along with most of Brda.  It was a really beautiful view!

Sierra and I made our way back down the hill (or mountain according to our legs).  We had to get ready for a trip over to Albin and Majda's.  It was wonderful being back at their place.  The other family arrived - Sidonija and her daughters and their husbands - and I also met a new cousin named Vladimir.  Vlad brought us wine from the Benedetic Winery (we ended up enjoying it at the Benedict Christmas Party).  Majda prepared wonderful appetizers.  We got to explore the house and listened to some of Albin’s music (not live but on the computer).  We were running out of time to get to our reservation for dinner so we loaded up and headed to have dinner in Gonjače. 

The restaurant was located right next to the tower we climbed up to earlier that day.  At the hotel, Masa (and her boyfriend Matic) and Alja were waiting for us.  These were two cousins I had not met before.  Masa is the older sister of Mija who served as our translator on the 2011 trip.  Alja is a world-class athlete in kayaking in Slovenia and even competes internationally.  The dinner could not have been more special.  We started out the dinner with everyone taking a shot with a soaked cherry in the shot (woah!).  We had this wonderful family style meal and right when you thought you were full, you got another dish to share.  They had asked about food allergies and about 90% of the meal was perfect for Susan (Savannah wasn’t feeling good so wasn’t able to join). 

The young family members sat together and talked about life in Slovenia and life in the United States.  They had a great time getting to know one another and everyone made sure to find each other on Facebook and Instagram after.  I got to spend time getting to know Masa and Matic.  They lived in Nova Gorica.  I am probably going to get this wrong but I believe Matic worked in the Slovenia tourism arena and Masa served as a translator for a company (she was tri-lingual maybe more!).  Oh I forgot to mention, not only was this an amazing dinner but the view was incredible.  We saw most of the Brda wine region from this dinner spot.  We had dinner under a canopy of grapes on trellises overhead.  It felt like a dream.  We ended the evening was a sweet treat of strudel!!!  Strudeling across Slovenia continues.