Hot, Hotter, Portorož – The Dutchies walk the extra miles!

Summer School Slovenia 2013 – Day two is slowly going to end and ahhhh! What a day that was! The glorious first day, yesterday already produced some unforgettable memories; nevertheless day two was even more grandiose! Much more sun, much more heat, much more activities and however the Dutchies took some extra miles on their way back from the Salt Pans…!

But let’s start the story from the beginning… Our last evening ended quiet and relaxing at Cacao Bar in Portorož, praised to offer the best ice-cream south of the Alps. And guess what! They were right. Ice-cream in all kinds of variations – superb! And the view on the bay of Portorož when it’s dark has its own magic.

 Now coming to today’s adventures: Well let’s call them damn early adventures!
Waking up at 6.30 in the morning, some of us were definitely not amused…but as it turned out, the bay of Portorož is a beauty at dawn as well. Ha! Take this sleepyhead! Our destination for this morning was the Salt Pans of Portorož and the Spa ‘Lepa Vida’, actually located inside the pans. I know the conservative people among you may have had used the bus, but that’s nothing for some Tourism Students. Our mentality always searches for challenges. So we took a boat tour to reach the ‘Lepa Vida’. And I can tell you it was way better than any bus tour could be, especially early in the morning – what an experience!

Well ‘Lepa Vida’ and its Salt Pans, how to describe them? Well pictures describe more than thousand words people say, so here are some! Beautiful, interesting, astonishing – full stop! Just some short, general information: ‘Lepa Vida’ is a recently opened Spa that lies in the middle of 700 year old Salt Pans, which in return lie in a Natural Reservation Park. The Spa uses the products created by the pans. These products, especially the salt is unique in its creating process and high of quality. From serious sources we know that a famous British cook, which name were not allowed to mention (Jamie Oliver!? Maybe you can find out…!) uses this salt! To conclude: One nice program during the morning!

And to describe the weather in one word: HOT!!! What does it say in that song?! ‘Hot in the City’?! Well actually it is hotter in Portorož! …however the point arrived where it was time for the journey back to the Turistica in Portorož. A bus was arranged to bring us back. What did we mention about Tourism Students and bus tours? Right! So, how to solve the problem? Also right! The Dutchies (including our Dutchy tutors and fellow students) went for a walk back to the faculty. Around 5 kilometers in the heat of the noon…do you think it was a torture? Well no! It was a pleasure! During the afternoon of course we had our ‘traditional’ (can we already say this!?) program: Pre-Lunch Swimming -> Lunch -> Post-Lunch Swimming/Pre-Workshop Swimming -> Workshops -> Post-Workshop Swimming!

As you can easily imagine a day full of fun, learning experiences and sportive activities! Now give us some time to enjoy our dinner at our balcony with a perfect view on the Adriatic Sea and temperatures warm enough for shorts and…okay I will stop it. Don’t get jealous! Have a nice evening and stay tuned for our Blog tomorrow! Tot morgen!

PS:

 Gerrit explains today some things about ‘mysterious mussels’!
And, you may ask what we drank yesterday during our time in Piran. Here’s our answer: Tasty Slovenian Beer of course!