Europe 2010 Diaries: MY NEW BEST FRIENDS

We left Ljubljana on Thursday and headed to the far eastern end of Slovenia. (More about that later.)

I was going to post to the blog when we left here, but today was too great to wait for that.

When we started this adventure we put Slovenia on the list as we wanted to go somewhere new. Then I took it off because of other opportunities in Italy. Then I read a fellow Vespa rider's account of the country and heard comments from our friend Daniel, a jazz musician with Nomo that tours Europe regularly, both of which said we had to go because it is the most beautiful country in Europe. (More on that later) So, I put it back on the tour. It has been great but today has set it apart from all other places.

We are staying with Paul and Rachel Dennison, two escapees from the rat race in England. They recommended that we go to Hisa Vina Cuk (http://www.hisa-vina-cuk.si/) in the town of Lendava, where they have wine tasting and serve homemade cold cuts and cheeses. It is only a few kilometers from Turnisce where we are staying; but they said they would drop us off and come get us. I said no, we will be all right. Their offer should have been warning.

We did touristy stuff, saw a floating water mill, drove a wooden car, visited a church, etc., etc. waiting to go to the wine later in the day, and then a concert in the next little town tonight.

love island

About 3pm we had run out of things to do and headed for the wine. As we wound our way up the one lane hill through the vineyards we saw lots of people harvesting grapes. They all seemed to be family type operations. At Hisa Vina Cuk we parked and decided to walk around before going in. Little did we know how dangerous this can be in Slovenia. The first little winery I asked to take pictures and we wound up drinking many glasses of wine, red and white, right out of the tap!!!!! We got the whole tour and though they were busy harvesting, the father made us the most important people on his property. We finally decided we should move on as we still intended to Hisa Vina Cuk and drink, so we asked to buy a bottle of wine. We paid the 3eur's for the bottle and then he gave us a free one.

fill 'er up

heck, just help yourself!!!

This is no phoo phoo sipping wine and spitting. You fill up the glass and down that sucker!!

the label

We walked back to Hisa Vina Cuk and I saw a guy next door pressure washing a wine press, so I went to take pictures. This was the biggest mistake of all. We instantly became New Best Friends. Our NBF had finished harvesting and the party had begun. They started pouring them and us wine. It must have been 50 proof, as they watered it down with sparkling water. All kinds of eats came out. Almost everyone spoke english. After standing around the barrel we went to meet the wine maker and his operation. They still squeeze the grapes with a hand press. They make about 1600 liters a year and none is for sale. We sampled more wine. It is for the family and partner's private stock. We sampled more wine. We had to drink the fresh squeezed grape juice, we had to sample the wine, we had to eat, we had to sample the wine, we had to meet more people, we had to sample the wine, we had to tour the vineyard, we had to sample the wine, we had to tour the making process again and sample the wine. They kept trying to get Vicki in the barrel to mash grapes with her feet. We sampled more wine, They gave us a bottle. We sampled more wine. They gave us another bottle. We sampled more wine. We kissed the baby. We sampled more wine. They gave us another bottle. We sampled more wine. Did I mention that the wine was being served in 8oz water glasses? After several hours, we decided we had to get off the hill because my new friends at the policija station (friends but not NBF), who I had visited with earlier, were nice but probably were not going to let me drive home as drunk as I was gonna be if I stayed. We wound our way off the hill and back to the safety of the Dennison house. We missed the concert. The Slovenians keep proving every day that they are some of the nicest people in the world.