20 Dec Seniors enjoyng Izola
On the 12th of November 2016, 15 Austrian travellers started their journey to Izola, Slovenia. I had a special role, as I was the youngest of our group and the tutor.
The first part of our trip was to travel from Graz to the capital city Ljubljana by train: the destination is not so far and that is certainly a plus. The journey was very comfortable – no change needed, it took 4 hours – and time went by quickly with some nice chats in the cabins, that warmed our group. One of us had taken a Slovenian class and taught us some useful words and phrases; some of us who had been to Izola before told us about the breathtaking landscape.
At the train station in Ljubljana we had a minor problem with a out-of-use elevator but together we managed it. As lunch time approached, we directed to Kratochwill restaurant near the station, that Alenka Ogrin from ZDUS had reserved for us. The staff was nice and the meal was delicious. The bus drivers of the ZDUS-Hotel ‘Delfin’ picked us up from the restaurant and we travelled to our final stop Izola by mini-buses.
Checking in at hotel ‘Delfin’ we had a pleasant surprise as everyone got a double-room with ocean view. At dinner time we met Alenka and had dinner together: she illustrated the visit’s programme and the European project DiscOver55. After dinner, a band played in the foyer of our hotel: lots of people laughed, had fun and danced to the English and Slovenian songs, a very nice start of our stay!
Next day, Sunday, some of us tried the morning activities offered by the hotel from 7.30 to 8.00: the fitness class and the water gymnastics. After breakfast, we met Nina Golob, the hotel manager, who presented the hotel and the link with ZDUS. The hotel was built out of financial funds of the seniors’ organisation and followed their idea about relaxing and holiday.
Slovenia only possesses 46km of the Adriatic coast, so they had to find new ways of tourism: Hotel Delfin was designed as wellness oasis, which from this year also include a Kneipp Garden where Kneipp therapy is offered water paths, botanical medicines, exercise and nutritional recommendations.
In the afternoon, we had a guided visit to the historical centre of Izola. Formerly an island (“Isola” in Italian means island), the region is fascinating and you can feel the history from its architectural beauty. We also stopped for a small degustation of wine and prosciutto. On our way back to the hotel we met an old lady, who told us that as a child during the Second World War in Graz she had been imprisoned. This was really touching and showed us that it’s still important to work for a better future – across borders, across generations. At dinner we reflected on Austrian and Slovenian history, about what we have in common and what we know of other’s culture, nature, people and so on.
On Monday, with the local cold wind “Bora” blowing, we visited Strunjan, with Irena and Alenka. The award-winning thematic walk ‘Strunjan and the Nature Region’ informed us about local production, especially of salt, one of the most expensive products also called ‘White Gold’. In a lovely tavern we enjoyed a typical Slovenian lunch together with lots of local people that were eating there: a Kakis dessert was a special treat!
Visit to Piran in the afternoon showed us a lovely city with Venetian influence: violinist Giuseppe Tartini lived here and the central square is named after him. Saint George is the city’s patron and the church up the hill is devoted to him. We also had a short stop in Portorož, already in 1300 known as a health resort. We experienced a wonderful sunset in the so-called city of roses.
On the fourth day we visited the green spaces of Izola with a special 16-stops tour developed by the Hotel, including the Kneipp Garden. Lunch at ‘Gostilna Doro’, one of the best restaurants in Izola, offered a special treat with duck and red cabbage on the occasion of Saint Martin’s Day: everyone really loved the food. After dinner at the Hotel a musician played evergreen songs, also some songs in German which was a lot of fun.
On Wednesday, 16th of November, we visited a farm where we learnt about olive oil production. The visit to the church in Hrastovlje was a special experience: famous frescoes were discovered in 1949, showing motives from the bible.
We then visited Koper, the biggest city in the Slovenian part of Istria, in Roman Times ‘Goat Island’. This modern city is influenced by history, especially Venetian ruling when it flourished. Nowadays you can still see and feel the Italian flair. After we visited the biggest wine cellar in the Slovenian part of Istria, Vino Koper. We tried Malvazija and Refosco, typical vines of the region. We also had dinner there, and some of us bought wines as gifts.
On Thursday, our last day, we drove back to Ljubljana. We had a guided tour of the city centre, discovering the secrets of one of the greenest cities in Europe. After a nice lunch at Druga Violina we went to the train station and travelled back home: we were really sad that the trip came to an end, but we were also looking forward to tell everybody at home about our new impressions.
I think one of the memories which will last from this journey are the lovely people. They were all really kind and tried to speak some words in German. We also tried to learn some Slovenian words, but the language is really hard to learn: it would be nice to have also a language class at the Hotel, to learn just a few words. To conclude, I can say, that some of us are looking forward to travel again to Izola, because it is not far away from home and Slovenia is a cheap country compared to Austrian standards. I am a little bit too young for the Hotel Delfin, but my grandparents would be the perfect target group. The program was versatile, but sometimes it was a little bit too much. I think one excursion a day is enough. But all in all we spent some lovely days in a beautiful region and we can definitely recommend it to elder people!