Hello from Graz

I finally found Internet access here in Graz. Not the easiest thing I have to admit. To ask 3 people and finally went to the tourist info who competently directed me to the Internet Cafe.

the last few days have been interesting. The first day was my sister-in-law and I took a little trip through my home town of Weiz, and in the eight years I was here there was a lot of changes. New buildings, renovations, reorganization of transport. It almost felt like you were in second place.

On Saturday, my brother, sister-in-law and I started our little weekend trip to Slovenia and Italy. We drove on a motorway in Austria, the Slovenian border (only about 45 minutes from my home town). Then we continued for about another hour and 15 minutes to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. We parked the car at the river and took a little walk to the city tržnice.Mjesto is easy to pack and you can buy everything from fresh bread, meat, sausages, fish, vegetables, fruit, flowers. People were in full force, even shopping for candles for the annual trip to the cemetery. After all it was a weekend of All Saints and people take their duties very seriously Cemetery in Central Europe.

we walked through the old town with its cobble-stoned streets, and then began to steady climb up the castle hill. At the top of the old castle rebuilt tower that can be accessed. You can reach the top of the really interesting winding staircases and one out, is a beautiful 360 degree view of the surrounding area, including the limestone outcrops of the Julian Alps.

After a brief lunch at a local pizza place we continued our drive to the Slovenian coast. I could not keep my eyes open because I was so tired, so I missed a good deal of interesting krajolika.Proći Postojna mountains is always interesting, and then we near the Adriatic coast. We drove from the Slovenian city of Koper, Izola and Strunjan and eventually ended up in Piran.

Piran (the former Isola - in Italian) is a city that changed hands many times among many people. Most of its core was built by the Venetians and the hill above the town there is a clock tower whose style is very reminiscent of the Campanile in Venice. With the harbor is a beautiful square with a house that dates back several centuries. We checked into Hostel Garni Hotel Val-, very similar to the Youth Hostel, where we could stay for the euro 20/night. My sister-in-law and I stayed in a room with 4 beds (2 of them bunkbeds) and Sanitary / showers were in the hallway.

We went on a wonderful walk through the city, yet beautiful cobble-stoned streets, the weather is beautiful, we had blue sky about 20 degrees. Of course I climbed the bell tower, which gave us a nice 360 degree view of the city and the sea to the north, all the past Trieste. I almost had a heart attack when the bell tower clock began ringing right next to my ears. They were incredibly loud.

We had a nice dinner in the evening at a restaurant named "Dolphin". My brother is a fish course, one of the local specialties. I ended up picking up a stomach virus on Sunday and Monday I was dealing with some very unpleasant symptoms. Sunday morning we checked in and continued our journey to Italy.

After about 30 minutes drive away and there's no border control on the Slovene-Italian border, we ended up in Trieste, a city of 270,000 people, a major industrial and port city on the northern end of the Adriatic. Trieste to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the architecture is very reminiscent of many Austrian cities. We visited the main square with the City Hall, check the "Canale Grande", exit to the sea that extends into the city.

On the harbourfront was some sort of exhibition of the Italian Navy, the military and various police organizations. 3 warships were parked in the harbor, and apparently people were able to go on a tour of warships. All types of military and police vehicles parked in the port area and the sailors, soldiers and policemen and women are available to answer questions, pose for photos, etc.

After our brief stop in Trieste, we continued our tour of northern Italy and stopped in the town of Cividale, a medieval city that was originally built in the Germanic tribes Langobards. It also has an old town with ancient churches, narrow cobble-stoned roads, the most famous sight is the "Tempietto", a small temple that was built several hundred years before Langobards.

After lunch (where I could not eat any of Italian delicacies for my stomach problems), we continued our journey home over the Italian Val Canale, last Udine, Tolmezzo the Austrian border. It was rain a few days and it was still pouring and all the mountain streams were very close to full. Waterfalls full of water are breaking out of the mountains and great rivers, the Tagliamento, looked like it was going to flood the area in the very near future.

about 3.5 hours later we finally arrived at the house in Weiz, after driving through pouring rain. Sunday evening and yesterday I had it easy because my stomach is still bothering me a great deal. Today I finally took off, picked up my rental car at the airport in Graz, and I spent the last 2 or 3 hours of revealing my university town. I checked out Castle Hill (Schlossberg) in the city center, walked up to Uhrturm (clock tower), the symbol of Graz, and looked at all the medieval remains of ancient fortifications of the castle on a hilltop. I also went through the town, over the Hauptplatz (main square of the market, which also houses City Hall) and, finally, after some extended searching, ended up in the Internet cafe.

So the last few days have been pretty exciting, Austria, Slovenia, Italije.Ljepota in Europe are small distances between all the different mjesta.Savršeno place to visit a lover.