It has become a common theme that most of our blog posts start with “we had a massive drive ahead of us”.. This blog post is certainly no different and in fact, we probably did the longest haul to get from Marseille to Venice than any other drive we had done thus far. We thought we could do it in a day (we laugh at that now) because 5 hours in we were still climbing over the French Alps & Italian Alps and, still had a long way to go! We underestimated the time it would take a big 7m van to navigate through the Alps. On the plus side, it was an incredibly scenic drive. It got to the point that we had to say “right, no more pulling over for photos otherwise we will never make it!!” Anyway, after a long two days on the road, we finally pulled into a wee campsite right near the bridge to Venice.
July 17th, 2019
We had 1 1/2 days allocated to Venice, one being Morgan’s Birthday! We wanted to make the most of our first full day in Venice. We caught the bus early that morning and slowly wandered the streets. Much to our surprise, the streets were quiet. We had heard horror stories of Venice being so overcrowded so we were glad to enjoy a few hours cruising around at our own pace. We booked ourselves into a walking tour around mid-day, which gave us a great insight into the history of Venice. Here is a fun fact for you: DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT put your feet into the canals. Even if you are dying of heat! The older houses have not modernized their plumbing systems, so where does all the sewage go? Yeap, you got it. Right into that lovely canal. Morgan & I would cringe each time we saw people sitting with their feet in the water, trying to cool off.
A few hours later, we too were dying of heat but instead of putting our feet into the canals, we opted for a cold Aperol Spritz! Luckily our tour guide gave us some pointers where we could eat & drink in the more local areas rather than getting sucked into a tourist trap. Aperol was only €5 instead of €10 in the busy center! Our celebrations for Morgan’s birthday started early and, we spent the afternoon drinking our way around Venice. Hard life, isn’t it?
Later that afternoon we made our way to St Marks Square. Remember how I said we heard horror stories of overcrowded streets? Well, that was 100% correct! It was so crowded we could hardly move! We wandered around St Marks Square for a while however due to the crowds, we decided to move on. We made our way to the Bridge of Sighs which was great to see but we couldn’t help but laugh at the size of the crowds and the number of selfie sticks! We came across a little side street that took us up close to the Bridge of Sighs and away from the mayhem. We think this was a much better view! After a short stop to take a few pictures, we kept moving. We much preferred the quieter streets of Venice!
Ok, so I got one good shot 
View from the little alleyway
The rest of the afternoon was spent walking until we couldn’t walk anymore. Exhausted, we made our way back to our little home on wheels.
July 18th, 2019
Morgans Birthday!! Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worst and we woke to thunderstorms and rain! We had originally planned to go to the island of Burano, which is known for its brightly-colored fishermen’s houses however we decided we’d give it a miss due to the rain. We were grateful we had spent the previous day exploring Venice and felt satisfied we had done what we came to see. With that in mind, we decided to hit the road towards Slovenia a little earlier in the day than we had planned.
The drive to Slovenia is a story within itself.. let’s just say that Morgan was turning 26 today, however, he almost turned 50! The drive was VERY hairy and took us down a “two-lane road” that was only just big enough for us to fit, not to mention it was gravel and, in the middle of the Slovenian mountains. Thank goodness we didn’t come across another car on our drive.. or is that a sign of something?
We finally made it to our Aire for the evening in the city of Kranj. Despite the drive aging both Morgan and I by a few years, it is up there with one of the most beautiful drives we have done. The land was vast and so beautifully green. There were rolling hills with countless gorgeous villages. The houses are all so stunning. On every window of every house are planter boxes with the most vibrant flowers pouring over the sides. Lots of bright pinks, reds, yellows & orange. Hydrangeas seemed to be a popular flower of choice. There is something magical about Slovenia. It feels like you are in a Fairytale book.
We got settled in for the evening and cracked open a beer to celebrate Morgan’s Birthday while we waited for our special guest to arrive… Jess! Jess flew in to spend a long weekend with us to celebrate Morgan’s birthday and explore stunning Slovenia.
Although our time in Venice was cut slightly short due to the rain, we enjoyed exploring the beautiful canals and soaking in the sights. It is such a unique place!
