We enjoyed the free aire in Ormoz right beside the swimming pool. There was a heat wave coming over the next few days so we found this good spot to wait it out. It had many good things close by including a bird reserve.

On day 1 here Glenn went to the bird reserve at 6am to check out the birds. Thanks to the Collins bird guide to recognize the names – says Glenn. Here’s some of his very good photos:

Later in the day we did a food shop round the corner at the supermarket, accidentally bought some shoes and then went to the tourist information at the castle (closed under restoration) to find out about cycling and wineries. It was 30 degrees so we were planning for the future. While at tourist information we were able to taste wine from local wineries.

We tasted two from Verus winery – a white Sipon and a Pinot Noir. Sipon is the local grape and got that name from when Napoleons troops were passing through and drinking a lot of wine and said ‘c’est bonne’. The name was corrupted to name the grape Sipon.

Both wines were ‘tres bon’ so we bought a bottle of the white.

We met Nicholas the camper next to us who is half Greek and half Scottish – with 2 dogs. He is perhaps buying a small farm to live here in Slovenia and waiting for it to be approved. Local farmers have preference and can opt to buy it first. He is very interested in nature and helps UNESCO restore buildings and we spent a nice evening chatting with him.

There was a full moon so Glenn went down the street to get a good photo.

He also came across a hedgehog – unexpected here in Slovenia.

Next day Glenn was back at the bird reserve and saw these:

We stayed out of the sun most of the day. When it was really hot we went to the pool to cool down – it was extremely busy.

We then went back to the van to get changed and then returned to the cafe at the pool for dinner. It’s an interesting excellent cafe with burgers, pizzas and salads. I had what I describe as a poke bowl with chicken which was excellent.

Next day was a bit cooler so we went cycling along the river – a nice flat route where other routes are very hilly!

We were in amongst fields alongside the river with only a few houses around. We came to a restaurant and took the opportunity to have something to eat and drink. I had an excellent calamari salad – a very unusual dish for a restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

We kept cycling past many fields – and it was getting hot!

Like a mirage, an ice cream parlour suddenly appeared on the edge of the fields.

It was too good to be true – so of course we went there! We enjoyed a couple of cones while others had some amazing looking icecream sundaes.

We got back to the van after climbing some hills and went straight to the pool for a cool down. We had a very enjoyable last evening with Nicholas feeding us some gourmet pasta with hot tomato sauce – thanks Nicholas! And good luck with buying your property!

Next morning we left to go up the hills to do some wine tasting and were sad to leave our little resort. We had been there 4 nights!