“No, you need to reserve before.” My heart sank. “You need to call ahead to book the tours. We work all day.” I had dragged my family up a mountain range on a winding path amidst a series of summer showers that practically blinded my sister-in-law as she drove. Two years ago in Hong Kong I…

No family trip to the Adriatic is complete without a celebratory dinner at some seafood restaurant near the water. There’s usually good bread and oil, a wide selection of local wines and giant scampi to pose for vacation photos with. Awkwardly shaped sunburns from earlier that day fade in gradually, the red glow contrasting noticeably…

We rolled carefully up the Julian Alps on what turns out were four defected tires, my brother, his wife and my two year old niece in stow. The view from those winding cliffside roads was mesmerizing: green hills, snow capped mountains, a valley whose depth is difficult enough to absorb on one’s own and impossible for a camera lens to take…

Another favorite fast food meat in Slovenia is Pljeskavica, often referred to endearingly as “Balkan burger.” Originally a Serbian dish, Pljeskavica can be found in pretty much any former Yugoslavian country. It’s a patty of ground pork and beef flavored with minced onion, garlic, salt and paprika and grilled over charcoal. It can be served as a hamburger,…

On the last day of our road trip in Slovenia my two sisters-in-law took off to Lipica, Sežana to visit the breeding ground of the famous Lipizza show-horse and ride a bit as well. The Lipizza stud was originally developed during the reign of Hapsburg Maria Theresa of Austria. These horses are fancy and white and as regal-looking as they must have been…

…And the place to do the Overpriced Seafood Tourist Shuffle in Portorož is on Obala. We chose Stara Oljka. The restaurant is on the beach and a few steps leads to water, yet this is a place to put your shirt and shorts on for. Wet bikinis and sandy bare feet are not part of the dress-code. A gorgeous terrace…

For me life doesn’t get much better than a plate of čevapčiči and ajvar with a solo of Laško on a sun-licked beach in southern Slovenia. The combination of juicy sausage, smoky veg spread and light Mediterranean lager on a hot summer day was enough for me in April to respond a resounding “Yes!” to my brother’s invitation to…

It was on the second morning of our road trip to Portorož, a sunlit beach town on the Adriatic coast of Slovenia, that the word burek was first uttered by my my sister-in-law in the context of local breakfast specialties. My brother, who studied abroad in Ljubljana in his college years and was perhaps too well acquainted with the dish winced at…