Slovenia & Croatia – Culture and Culinary Delights Tour

ITINERARY

• DAY 1

  Welcome to Ljubljana, Slovenia!

  Welcome to Slovenia! Upon arrival, our representative will meet and greet you at Ljubljana International airport for your private transfer to Ljubljana city. Spend the day on a leisure day to relax and rest after your overseas flight. Overnight in the hotel.

  What's included?

  • Accommodation
  • Transfer
• DAY 2

  Ljubljana - Walking tour in the city and prepare dinner under the chef’s guidance

  You will begin your city walking tour which will be also an introduction to the culinary specialties of Slovenes. Those will be found aplenty at the Central Food Market and in small shops scattered around the old town of Ljubljana, where we will organize small tastings to get your taste buds acquainted with Slovenian tastes and introduce to you what is to come.
  
  Lying between the Alps and the Adriatic, Ljubljana is an ideal destination for lovers of Central European flair and one of the most engaging cities. It has preserved evidence of a 5000-year history including the remains of the Roman city, the old city center with its medieval castle perched on top of a hill, Baroque façades and their decorative portals, distinctive Art Nouveau buildings, and the 20th-century masterpieces of the world-famous architect Jože Plečnik, native of Ljubljana.
  
  The tour of Ljubljana will also include a ride with a funicular to visit Ljubljana castle and the castle tower for panoramic views and the castle’s unconventional history. In the late afternoon, you will join a small group of other food lovers with whom you will prepare dinner under the chef’s guidance. You will prepare Slovenian dishes and later enjoy them at their premises.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Dinner
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 3

  Bled - Visiting the charming Bled island & Alpine region

  After breakfast and check-out we will drive to the Alpine region. The town of Bled in the Julian Alps could be a setting of a classic fairy tale: immense natural beauty with mountains and forest surrounding an emerald glacial lake, in the middle of the lake is a church steeple with a wishing bell, a clifftop castle with picturesque views, and a signature sweet treat. Bled, together with its surroundings, ranks among the most beautiful alpine resorts.
  
  In Bled you will take a ride on a traditional wooden boat called “pletna” to the charming Bled island to visit St Maria church and ring the wishing bell. Bled island is also home to a so-called “potičnica”. “Potica” – a traditional pastry is a must for every holiday in Slovenia, be it Christmas, Easter, or a family celebration. Traditionally it should be baked inside a bread oven in a POTIČNICA – a round, clay baking dish, usually handmade and modeled on the crown of Jesus Christ. And this is also where the name of this coffee shop and workshop derives from.
  In Potičnica you will have a chance to learn about this traditional cake preparation, followed by its sampling of a few different tastes of potica.
  
  Bled Castle; perched on the cliff above the lake, is to written sources the oldest castle in Slovenia. Castle buildings are arranged around lower and upper courtyards with a small printing shop, castle wine cellar, honey shop, chapel, and museum, offering visitors a unique experience. In the afternoon we will transfer to Lake Bohinj located in the serene Bohinj valley (30 min drive). This largest Slovene lake lies in the protected area of Triglav National Park (TNP), the only Slovenian national park and one of the oldest in Europe, named after Mt Triglav, which is at 2864m. (9400 ft.) the highest mountain of Slovenia. We will visit its picturesque villages and one of the dairy farms to learn about the particularities of Bohinj cheeses. And what is seen without trying, so you will sample some right from the producer.
  
  In the late afternoon, we will transfer to a small town near Bled, Radovljica. The compact city center is a veritable open-air museum of beautifully restored buildings and narrow sloping streets, a perfect setting for a taste and touch of tradition. First, you will visit a unique gingerbread live museum where you will learn the handicraft of typical gift honey bread (called Lectar) making. You can give it a try at decorating a Lectar heart to see how delicate this trade is and how it differs from the one you learned of a day before.
  
  We suggest dinner in the in-house restaurant, where you can savor unique alpine Slovene dishes and sounds of Slovenian folk music, or at a Michelin starred restaurant just 10 minutes away (mandatory reservation).
  
  Overnight in Bled.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
  • Transfer
• DAY 4

  Rovinj - Exploring the most famous Postojna cave

  After breakfast, we will first visit a nearby town of Škofja Loka, one of the loveliest medieval towns of Slovenia, considered amongst the oldest and most well preserved in Slovenia. There, among other things, you will have a chance to learn about local handicrafts and "Loški Kruhek" (Škofja Loka honey bread).
  
  Transfer to Karst region. Karst is also the name for all the amazing shapes created by waters in the fusible stone. Picturesque Karst phenomena are known for more than eight thousand caves and potholes, as well as Karst springs and intermittent springs, swallow holes, and disappearing lakes.
  
  The most famous in Slovenia is Postojna cave, also the most visited cave in Europe. It is a 13-miles long Karst cave system, a web of underground passages, galleries, and chambers, which has in 200 years been visited now by over 39 million people. An electric mini-train will take you deep inside the caves and a guide will lead you through fascinating chambers rich with various forms of stalactites and stalagmites.
  
  After the visit, cross the border to start the Croatian part of the tour. Overnight in Rovinj.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
  • Transfer
• DAY 5

  Rovinj - Truffle hunt, olive oil testing, and the Roman Amphitheater

  Around Istria menus brim with truffle–seasoned dishes and a popular festival takes place each fall in the village of Livade, put on the map when local truffle hunter Giancarlo Zigante found one in 1999 weighing over two pounds.
  
  We will start a truffle experience at a truffle farm in the morning. Truffle hunters will introduce you to the world of truffles and the way they are hunted. You will have the opportunity to meet with the hunters and their dogs, hear about the tradition of seeking truffles in Istria and the general history of truffles, and even try short hunting with dogs in the nearby forest.
  
  On arrival, you will be offered homemade aperitif honey schnapps, mistletoes, or cherry schnapps. Followed by a tasting of truffle products. You will have a chance to participate in the preparation of their famous scrambled eggs with truffles, a real delicacy. The food will be accompanied by local wines from their cellar. in the nearby forest with special tracking dogs who search for them.
  
  After the truffles, we will get to see and taste another Istrian product, which is some of the best in the world, Istrian olive oil. We will visit an olive oil-producing farm in the heart of Istria, which has gained recognition on a world scale. You will have a guided visit to the olive trees plantation and guided olive oil tasting.
  
  Continuing to Pula, a town on the tip of the Istrian peninsula. Although the amphitheater in the town announces Pula's Roman origins, its history stretches far, far beyond this period. Archeological findings in the area suggest that Pula's history stretches back 40,000 or even 1 million years BC. The Roman amphitheater, which you will visit and is locally called The Arena, was built during the 1st century AD and is the sixth-largest in the world (of those that still exist).

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 6

  Rovinj - Taste local brandies & visit the Euphrasian Basilica

  After breakfast, your first stop will be at Buzet to taste some local brandies along with homemade Istrian salami at distillery Aura.
  
  After Buzet, we will visit another small picturesque town of Motovun, famous for its history and culture. In the northern part of Istria, overlooking the Mirna River valley lies surely the most famous and attractive Istrian town of Motovun. This captivating hilltop town is one of the characteristic symbols of the Istrian interior. It is a medieval town that grew up on the site of an ancient city situated on a hill 270 m above sea level with houses scattered all over the hill.
  
  The first part of the day will end at Buje with a typical beer house meal in a local beer house. In the afternoon stop will be made for a sightseeing tour of the beautiful town of Poreč before going back to Rovinj.
  
  Porec is a well-known tourist center on the western coast of Istria, also known as the city of mosaics. Its complex Euphrasian Basilica is listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, as the only place in the world with preserved early Christian architecture. You will visit exactly this gem of world heritage, but also walk through the old town. Porec is a city founded by the Romans and right here you can walk the main Roman streets (Decumanus and Cardo Maximus) that now adorn medieval buildings from Romanesque to Baroque ones.
  
  Overnight in Rovinj.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 7

  Plitvice - Picturesque mountains & the beauty of its lakes

  Breakfast at the hotel. Early departure to Fužine – a municipality situated 730m (2400 ft.) above sea level, in the southwest part of Gorski Kotar, surrounded by picturesque mountains, the silence of centenary evergreen woods, and the beauty of its lakes. We will have time to visit the cave Vrelo and have a nice walk around Lake Bajer. The lunch will take place in a famous local restaurant, famous for its venison meals that we shall have the opportunity to taste. Afternoon departure from Fužine to Plitvice. Overnight in Plitvice.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 8

  Zagreb - National park Plitvice Lakes

  After breakfast at the hotel enjoy the beautiful scenery of one of the most beautiful National Parks in Croatia – Plitvice Lakes. This tour will take you to the most beautiful European park, protected by UNESCO since 1979, as a World Natural Heritage. In NP Plitvice nature has created 16 lakes and connected them with amazing travertine waterfalls. The National Park covers the surface of 29685 ha, where lakes take up to 200 ha, while the forest covers the rest of the park. One of the attractions is the 78 meters (256 ft.) high waterfall. Lunch will be served in a typical tavern.
  
  Late afternoon drive to Zagreb for overnight.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 9

  Zagreb - Croatian Castles & visit baroque facades city of Zagreb

  Begin your scenic drive through the beautiful continental part of Croatia exploring Zagorje and its castles and stories from the past. Your first stop will be the small town of Klanjec birthplace of sculptor Antun Augustincic, a prominent 20th-century Croatian sculptor, whose most notable sculptures include the Peace Monument outside of the United Nations building in New York, and the Miner statue in front of the International Labor Organization headquarters in Geneva. On your way to Veliki Tabor castle, where you will relax and have lunch in a nearby farmhouse Gresna Gorica, you will have a short stop in Ethno the village of Kumrovec. Once a regular inhabited village, today a museum village of Kumrovec is also known as the birthplace of Josip Broz Tito. Upon the tour of Kumrovec, you will continue driving through the interesting Zagorje countryside. After lunch, your guide will take you for a tour of the Veliki Tabor castle which is part of the Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje.
  Return to Zagreb in the afternoon and enjoy a guided encounter with Croatia’s largest city. With an air of a true European capital, Zagreb charms with its baroque facades and spiffy towers, green parks and open-air terraces, quiet courtyards, and bustling streets.
  
  Overnight in Zagreb.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 10

  Depart to Zagreb Airport to fly back home

  After breakfast at the hotel, private transfer to the airport to fly back home.