After spending the day in Skocjan Caves, we drove in the vague direction of our hotel reservation, assuming we would find somewhere to eat dinner. We wound our way through Vipava, but the one time we got out to see if a wine shop also offered food, everyone inside turned to watch us. This is my literal worst nightmare, so we walked right back out (also it was clear they’d don’t have food).
We drove through winding streets that increasingly looked that we were leaving civilization behind, and when we finally found the town where our reservation was, we were stopped when the road led us to a castle wall. We walked through the entrance, and I connected to wifi at the (closed) castle exhibit. With new directions in hand, we walked along the village wall, knocking on doors and opening ones that were unlocked. Just when we were about to give up, a man stuck his head out of a second story window. “You have reservation here?”
“Yes!” we said, and gave our name. He welcomed us at the door and showed us to one of two available rooms.
Still very hungry, I asked where we could get food nearby.
“Oh, today is a bad day for you. It’s Wednesday,” he said ominously. “The restaurant is closed. There is another one 5 km away, but it is also closed.”
At our devastated faces, he offered to make us dinner if we wanted. “YES, thank you, anything would be wonderful!” We went back to the car and brought our things to be tiny apartment. Thirty minutes later he knocked on the door, announcing that dinner was ready. We climbed the stairs to his apartment, where he had laid out a delicious meal, complete with local red wine and a TV turned to the Olympics. With food in our bellies, we happily chatted with him for awhile. It turns out we were staying in the tower of a castle’s city wall!
When we finished our meal, he asked if we would need breakfast as well, and the next morning he had once again laid out a feast for us, quietly leaving us to eat alone in his kitchen after some chit chat. We paid him for the room and the food, and what had begun as a giant confusion turned into one of the most enjoyable parts of our trip!
It Is Trish 