Skerlje and Lipica

We left Mijo late in the afternoon on Thursday and drove to the Skerlje tourist farm to spend the night.  Skerlje is in a tiny village right near the Italian border and about a fifteen-minute drive from Lipica.  We had visited Skerlje last year and decided it was worth a second trip.  The family who runs it is truly amazing:  they keep pigs, chickens, rabbits, bees, a vineyard, an orchard, and a field of vegetables.  Plus, they run an inn and restaurant and they make everything they serve there from scratch (meats, cheeses, bread, honey, jams, butters, wine, juice…everything).  The place is amazingly beautiful and the food is amazingly awesome.

But, the real selling point for going back was that they have a pool.  Last time, we were there too early in the year to swim, but this time we took full advantage.  After loading up on crepes and eggs and apple muffins for breakfast, we donned our new swimsuits from Mijo and headed poolside.  Fortunately, we had the pool to ourselves, as we are likely among the loudest guests Skerlje has had.  If you want the full effect, click on this video and turn the volume all the way up: https://vimeo.com/46174215.  In fact, Mr. Skerlje kept walking by the pool chuckling at the mayhem.  It was so nice that Chantelle got in all the way up to her neck (we’re not making this up…the evidence is below).

When we were all swam out, we headed south to the LipicaStud Farm to catch the 3:00 show.  Lipica is the main breeding ground for Lipizzaner horses and is a main attraction in Slovenia.  The kiddos’ attention spans were a little short at this point (as opposed to the long attention spans they usually have), but Rosetta was alert enough to see the carriage draw a Figure 8 with its tracks:  “Daddy, that’s an 8!”  And they were all very excited when the jumping portion of the show got started.  After the show, we went out to the field and watched the ponies chase each other around, and then returned home to Ljubljana.

After returning our high-octane Opel Corsa, it dawned on us that some of the adventure of driving here is gone, now that we have some idea where we’re going and how to drive a stick.  That’s a good thing.