August 2016 - Page 4 of 4

Visitor SIM: get connected in Slovenia [also Predjama Castle & Piran]

SIM cards are always on my list of things to look into when I’m going to spend any time in a country. Overpriced roaming charges on my American AT&T account are out-of-the-question except for the occasional first text to a landlord, etc. (I absolutely detest being gouged.) I try to keep a French and a Belgian SIM card active, but with no non-roaming EU-wide SIM (yet), I often need a new SIM card when I’m in Europe. Options vary widely from country to country, but Eastern Europe can offer some great deals. Unfortunately, those great deals are often hard to take advantage of if you don’t know the language.

Slovenia has solved that problem with Visitor SIM. For a price, sure, but it’s not an unreasonable price, IMHO, given the convenience. https://www.visitorsim.si/default.aspx There are 3 options, and we chose the €20 for 15 days, 10GB data+ €5 of voice. You can use the data to make VoIP calls, Skype, etc., but we wanted a little easy talk time for local calls and it came in handy when we needed to rendezvous with our AirBnB landlord. The Visitor SIM cannot be mailed outside of Slovenia, so you need an address with someone present to receive the package. We weren’t sure we’d have that option with our AirBnB digs, so I opted for to have the card sent to the Ljubljana airport. I was told the card was would be waiting for us at Café Avioncek in the Arrivals area. While David checked out our Sixt rent car, I walked the 30 yards are so to the café, gave my name to someone behind the counter, and was back in no time with the SIM card. (You’re supposed to provide ID, but no one asked.) The card installed, without problem, on my Android phone and we were up and running, Google Maps and all.

We spent the next days exploring Slovenia and found Internet coverage to be good in most places, if a little spotty in some very rural areas. I can’t say enough good things about Slovenia. I’d been wanting to visit for many years, and we found it to be beautiful, amazingly clean (Ljubljana has been named Green Capital of Europe for 2016), and very accessible. Lots of people spoke excellent English in Ljubljana and we found good English most places save for near the Eastern border with Croatia. I’d go back in a heartbeat!

20160331_134941 — Riverside café in Ljubljana. Slovenians love their cured meats!

One of the great advantages of a small country. You can visit a castle built into a mountain in the morning and be eating super-fresh seafood on the coast by lunch:

20160401_161042 — Piran, on Slovenia’s small coastline on the Gulf of Trieste

On the drive back from Piran to Ljubljana, we made a quick detour out to see the salt-pans at Sečovlje Salina Nature Park. It’s only a short drive out of town and worth a look even if, like us, you don’t have the time or inclination to take a tour or visit the Lepa Vida thalasso spa located in the park. http://www.portoroz.si/en/experience/natural-attractions/secovlje-salt-pans Salt has been harvested from here since at least the Middle Ages.

20160401_172826 — Sečovlje salt-pans beyond the canal

March 30- April 1, 2016

Beer post #1: Venice

Venice for most of us means wine, not beer. But, for my awesome husband, everywhere now means beer. Craft beer, to be specific. So, I can’t leave Venice without a quick nod to Il Santo Bevitore, the fun little beer pub we found (after much wandering and inquiring of strangers).

To explain David’s and my fascination with good beer, you need to understand that in the last couple of years, we have spent a couple of months a year–in 1-month stretches–in Antwerp, Belgium. We cat- and house-sit there for a couple who have become friends and to whose cats and home city we’re always happy to return. We’ve developed a real love affair with tiny Belgium and along with that a real love for fine beer. David, in particular, has become very knowledgeable about all things beer and we’ve been privileged to make some world-class “beer pilgrimages:” We’ve made multiple trips to the monastery at Westvleteren, Belgium, scoring cases of rare “Westy 12,” the Holy Grail for many beer enthusiasts; we’ve visited the Cantillon beer brewery and museum, to taste unique samples of that legendary sour beer; we’re regulars at renowned beer bar/reliquary/dive “Kulminator” in Antwerp.

My older son gave David the “Beer Bible” as a Christmas gift and I was soon joking that I’d married a man who read the “Bible” every night. David quipped back that he is a “beer evangelist,” and he has accrued scattered “acolytes” with whom he swaps pictures of beer. [The Beer Bible is available on Amazon in paper and Kindle formats.] As you can see, as people who formerly drank wine almost exclusively, we’ve gone a little beer nuts (not that we’ll ever give up wine!). Anyway, the point of all this is that, no matter where we go, David seeks out local craft beers and beer pubs and I plan to give these finds their own posts and category.

So, background aside, Beer Post #1 is Venice where we spent a happy afternoon celebrating David’s birthday. We found a large selection of craft beers on tap from several countries in the tiny little pub. The Italian beers David was most intrigued by were available only in bottles, but we had fun sampling them and buying one to take back to our apartment. Cicchetti, or small bar snacks made of toasted bread with a variety of toppings, were tasty and provided a light lunch in anticipation of the evening’s big meal…and a little buffer for the alcohol.

DSCF0442 — Il Santo Bevitore’s line up of taps

As with a restaurant our first night in Venice, we had trouble finding Pub Venezia because Google Maps put the address in the wrong physical location. This is a common problem in Venice as Google Maps seems to struggle with the Byzantine maze of narrow streets and canals and addresses (like that of Il Santo Bevitore) are often just a general neighborhood and a number. If you look up Il Santo Bevitore, the address you get is “Cannaregio 2393/A – 30121 Venezia.” Not helpful. Luckily, you have us: Il Santo Bevitore is located on Fondamenta Diedo, just beside the bridge that crosses Rio di Santa Fosca from Campo Santa Fosca, a small paved plaza with the statue of Paolo Sarpi at its center. Fondamenta Diedo shows up on Google Maps as a short stretch of canal-side street, so you should have no trouble finding the pub. Below is a photo of the outside of the pub as viewed from the bridge:

20160328_160139IlSantoBevitoreCrop — Il Santo Bevitore pub viewed from the bridge, with Campo Santa Fosca behind the photographer

AirBnB: Venice, Italy; “Calle Gritti Apartment”

20160327_154255 — Gondolas beneath the windows of our AirBnB apartment in Venice

Venice is an expensive city so we were willing to pay more for the right AirBnB apartment than we might elsewhere. Still, $429 for 3 nights (inclusive of all fees) seemed like a good deal for the lovely 1-bedroom apartment we rented from Maurizio and Francesca. The location was perfect: very near the famous Gritti Palace Hotel and an easy walk to San Marco square, but far enough to be away from the crowds and the noise.

Maurizio was very responsive prior to our arrival and provided detailed information for guests arriving in Venice by any means imaginable. After taking the People Mover from the cruise ship we took a vaporetto (public transportation boat that is essentially a water-bound bus) to the Santa Maria del Giglio stop where we were met, as promised, by Francesca and escorted the short distance to the apartment, down a smoothly paved (easy on the rolling luggage) path.

Behind heavy wooden double doors with brass name plates, we found a pretty little courtyard that gives onto the stairs leading to the apartment (one flight up).

20160327_152240 — David in our Calle Gritti apartment courtyard

Although the building itself is old, the apartment is beautifully renovated and full of thoughtful conveniences, including one of my personal favorites: a portable hotspot I could drop in my purse so that both David and I had internet access anywhere we roamed in Venice, Burano and Murano. A bottled of sparking strawberry wine and biscotti awaited us in the apartment, along with coffee and tea for our breakfast.

AirBnBpic3 — Bedroom of our Venice apartment with gondola path just below windows to left (More windows in living room beyond)

Francesca was an energetic and enthusiastic guide to both the apartment and the neighborhood. She spent a full hour with us, making sure we knew how everything in the apartment worked and then taking us around the neighborhood, pointing out landmarks to help us find our way around (always a challenge in Venice). We laughed as she strode down the narrow streets pointing left and right and restaurants and bars saying “No. No. Absolutely not. Yes. No. Yes, Maurizio and I eat there all the time.” and so on. We took her advice to heart and were never disappointed.

Capture — Lovely bathroom with large shower tiled in green Murano glass (behind photographer)

Our one moment of minor crisis came when the washing machine door jammed shut with my clothes inside–(a new one for me!). Maurizio apologized, acknowledged they’d had a problem and promised he’d get it fixed. Right away, he made the trip in from the island where they lived while we were out exploring, and we came back to find my rescued clothes nicely hung to dry.

Francesca came through again when we got ready to leave: I panicked a little when we arrived with our suitcases to catch the vaporetto to leave and saw signs saying you couldn’t buy vaporetto tickets on board. We had no idea where to buy them as our stop didn’t have the usual machines. Fortunately, I ran into Francesca who hurried to a nearby vendor (She seemed to know everyone in the area.) and confirmed that the signs were wrong and we could buy the tickets on board. [In fact, although the ticket taker said he would get back to us when we boarded, the boat soon got crowded and he never did charge us.]

All in all, we loved this apartment and would stay there again in a heartbeat. You can check it out yourself at: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1054462

If you’re new to AirBnB and want to give it a try on this or any other apartment, you can use my referral link which should get both of us $30 in AirBnB travel credit: http://www.airbnb.com/c/tcuthrell Let me know if you have any questions.

Venice to Ljubljana, Slovenia: GoOpti van was the way to go

Our 3-week Caribbean and trans-Atlantic cruise on the Costa “Deliziosa” dropped us off in Venice, Italy, on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. It was my 4th time in Venice and David’s 2nd, but our first time together in that magical city and we were excited. It was my first time to arrive by ship and I was surprised to find that our large ship was allowed to dock just beyond the main train station. Undoubtedly convenient, given the 2-minute ride to the train station on the super-cheap “People Mover” to which we walked from the ship, it’s still disturbing to think of allowing these sea-going behemoths so close to the fragile old city. We heard later that there are plans to ban such ships from docking so close and I can’t help but think it’s wise. If you’re going to Venice by ship, I’d keep tabs on that potential dock change.

Despite the Easter crowds, we had a fabulous time in Venice. Our AirBnB apartment was one of the best we’ve had: beautiful and well-equipped, a short distance from the Gritti Palace vaporetto stop, a few blocks from San Marco square, a charming building on a picturesque courtyard, on the gondola path, with one of my favorite mobile amenities, a mobile hotspot so David and I had wi-fi throughout the city and nearby islands, and great hosts (one of whom, Francesca, spent over an hour getting us acquainted with the neighborhood and pointing out her favorite restaurants and those to avoid). One night, we celebrated David’s birthday at Michelin-starred Il Ridotto. We enjoyed their creative holiday prix fixe meal, but after 4+ hours we were ready to surrender!

Because it seems a crime to gloss over Venice entirely, below are a few photos.

20160327_154045 — Gondola jam beneath our bedroom window

20160327_214140 — Buildings lit up in the colors of the Belgian flag to show solidarity after the Brussels bombings

20160328_191722 — Easter menu at Il Ridotto (minus a couple off-menu courses)

20160328_201259 — Roasted pilgrim scallops (“cappesante”):

GoOpti

After several days in Venice, it was time to begin our much-anticipated Balkan adventure. Research yielded the surprising news that no trains run between Venice and nearby Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The trip can be made, but you have to train to the border, taxi across and then catch a Slovenian train. More hassle than we wanted. We also didn’t want to drive given Venice traffic restrictions and the cost of taking a rent car across a border, even within the EU. After weighing options, we decided to book with GoOpti, a van service that offers a sliding price scale depending on when you book and whether you are willing to share a ride. https://www.goopti.com/en/ I booked almost 3 months in advance and it was far cheaper than flying and without the attendant expense, hassle, and time always required for flying. (Our total cost for GoOpti was €48; €24pp–a great deal.) Even on budget airlines and traveling light to avoid luggage surcharges, you’ve got to factor in transportation to airports which are nearly always a distance from town as well as ever-increasing security delays. For short flights, it’s often quicker to travel by land.

For GoOpti, you choose from offered departure points and departure time windows (of 1-3 hours depending on the time of day) with a maximum arrive-by time at your destination given for each departure time window. GoOpti says they will text and email you the day before departure with a precise time, so wi-fi or phone service is necessary. As promised, GoOpti emailed us the day before saying pick-up would be at 2pm, but emailed again shortly afterward to say 1:30pm. The van arrived promptly. We chose Piazzale Roma (the plaza just across the canal from the main Venice train station, by the big pedestrian bridge) for our departure point. My only uneasiness about the arrangement was the failure of GoOpti to provide any details as to where in the big, busy piazza we were to meet our van. This meant we arrived extra early to allow time to find the van and David waited with our luggage on one side of the plaza while I made a circuit, asking random strangers and vendors about GoOpti to no avail. We finally decided to postition ourselves near the only traffic entrance to the plaza. Eventually, I spotted a GoOpti van stuck in traffic and was able to get him to roll down the window. While he wasn’t our driver, he pointed us in the right direction. So, here’s the scoop: If you arrive by vaporetto, motoscafi, etc., just walk away from the canal, past all the large buses and you’ll find a few benches built into a long planter where you can sit, facing away from the canal and buses, to wait for the GoOpti van. Just walk over to the van and identify yourself when it arrives. The GoOpti vans will simply park, head-on into one of the regular parking spaces. Walk up to the driver and identify yourself. They’ll have your name and reservation or direct you to the driver who does.

20160330_132343 — GoOpti van picking up customers

20160330_132425 — GoOpti van parking with bench/planter seating to the right of the man in blue. The People Mover station where you arrive from the cruise port is behind him.

Although we booked a shared ride, there was only us in the 9-person van. (This was a Wednesday.) The van was immaculate; our Slovenian driver, Petra, very friendly and English-speaking. We had control of our own air conditioning in the back. She stopped for a little snack and bathroom break when asked about 1.5 hours into the trip, but would have stopped, she said, whenever we asked. You can buy sandwiches and drinks (coffee, soft drinks, water, beer, etc.) at the convenience store/filling station where she stops. There’s also free wi-fi and clean toilets. The drive from Venice to the Ljubljana Airport took 3 hours. Highways and roads are excellent; the drive smooth and uneventful.

GoOpti provides transfers to many locations in northern Italy, as well as quite a few in Slovenia and Croatia. It also has connections as far as Munich, Vienna and Budapest.

Although we planned to spend some time in Ljubljana, we chose to be dropped off at the airport so we could pick up a rent car as well as the Slovenian Visitor SIM card I’d pre-ordered and had delivered to an airport café. A terrific convenience! More about that in the next post.

March 30, 2016