Napoleon Slept Here

Running Man (RM) and I spent Sunday seeing a new part of Slovenia for me. We drove down from Lokve, passing Nova Gorica to jump on the motorway that runs southeast to Ajdovscina and toward Nanos, at the end of the Julian Alps. As soon as I saw the countryside of the Vipava Valley, I was in love. Fields of crops, lush grass and vineyards covered the cradle of the valley while orchards, vineyards, pastures and timber covered the rolling foothills on either side. Small white clusters dotted the hills -- ancient villages, each featuring a church spire reaching up into clear blue skies. I had never seen anything quite like it and yet, I had dreamed about just such a place.

We exited the motorway and drove into the town of Vipava, named for the river than runs from it, through the valley, and over the frontier into Italy. The river is fed by multiple springs that appear and disappear from the ground and from the rock that walls off the back of the town. Sometimes called the "Slovenian Venice," Vipava is a picturesque town filled with small arched stone bridges that rise and fall over the river that winds through it. The town starts just off the motorway, then rises up into the side of sheer hills. On one jagged peak, high above the town, sits the ruins of a 12th century castle. Below, the town center is dominated by a huge manor house, built in the late 1660s by the wealthy Lanthieri family. You can still catch a glimpse of its original Venetian architecture beneath the dominanting Baroque features, added during a major renovation a century later. The main street is lined with Baroque statues of boys depicting the craftsmen and artisans of that time. And across the street from the house are the three surviving of four huge plane trees, planted in homage to Napoleon in the early 1800s.

Since it was Sunday, the town was fairly quiet so we could walk around and marvel at the sights. From one of the bridges over the river we could lean over the side and look under part of the Lanthieri manor to catch a glimpse of the huge inner courtyard. In the center of the courtyard is a wide, arched stone bridge where the family would enjoy their meals over the cool river during the summer months.

From Vipava's center, we drove to Zemono, the former hunting lodge of the Lanthieri family. Built in the late 1600s, the structure looks like a Palladian villa snatched from Venice and placed upon a hill with 360-degree views of the valley. The building was closed for the day but we could take in the fabulous views from the grounds. 

Stomachs growling, RM suggested we drive to Ajdovscina to grab a pizza at the microbrewery restaurant before returning to our apartment in Lokve. I had found that the Slovenes make the same great brick oven-baked pizza as the Italians, at least in this part of the country. I'm sure that's because this part of Slovenia was occupied from time to time by the Venetians and the Italians. I doubt the Austro-Hungarian Empire contributed to this particular culinary item.

We sat outside and enjoyed our pizza and beer, talking about the places we'd seen and about our Thursday appointment with a realtor in Nova Gorica RM had discovered through the proverbial grapevine. RM had told him what I was looking for and he assured us that he had some appropriate properties. I was getting anxious because Thursday was a long way away, it seemed, and my time here was running short. I wanted to look at as many properties as I could.

Full from our meal, we took a little walk around the neighborhood so RM could show me where his brother, sister-in-law and nephews lived in a large apartment above some shops, offices and restaurants. They usually spent their weekends at a little "holiday house" high up above Ajdovscina where they could escape the warm temperatures in the valley.

I stopped in front of an office to look at the homes for sale, plastered across a plate glass window. Several of them looked very interesting and RM translated the information. This might be a very good realtor for me. We wrote down the contact information printed on the door and headed back to Lokve.

RM called the realtor the first thing in the morning. She wasn't in yet but her assistant said she'd have her call back when she arrived. I worked on client projects on my laptop while awaiting anxiously for her call. The phone rang and RM answered then continued a conversation of which I could hear only one side and couldn't understand a word of it anyway. He hung up, smiled and asked if I was ready to go. The realtor had some things to show us.

Zvonka was a pleasant 50-something ball of fire who was hard of hearing and spoke no English, although her assistant, Jana, did. After quick introductions, we hopped into RM's car and drove to one of the properties we'd seen on the office window. Hard of hearing or not, her phone rang constantly and she would excuse herself to answer. She had a great sense of humor, or so RM told me. After all, I couldn't understand what they were discussing. But she smiled a lot and made me feel at ease despite the language barrier.

The first property we saw was near Ajdovscina and just off the motorway. It was a huge stone manor with a large walled garden. Apparently, Napoleon had slept there. Not a bad feature for a B&B. Whether that was true or not didn't matter. It was apparently part of the home's lore. The property was owned by multiple people in Ljubljana and she didn't have a key to the house. Nonetheless, we could walk around the property, through the gate and into the overgrown courtyard where we could peer through the ground-floor windows and spy some of the treasures inside.

Zvonka didn't know how much the owners would sell the property for, although rumor had it priced around $300,000, including the antiques inside. Reasonable for such a large place but too much for my budget, unless I could find a really great investor. It was huge and would need a lot of work. It was also near enough to the motorway to be just a little noisy, although the high stone walls gave it a marvelous sense of privacy.

Next, she took us to an even larger place that was being restored by a young man looking for partners. It, too, was near the motorway but sheltered by a line of trees. The castle, as it was called, came with huge grounds and was surrounded by acres and acres of open, flat farmland. It was massive and far more than I could ever think of owning. Still, I wanted to see something that was in the early stages of renovation. Hey, to dream cost me nothing.

On either side of the huge, arched main doors were the openings through which a drawbridge once rose and fell over a long-ago filled-in moat. They stood in sharp contrast to the awkward electrical lines, slapped onto the castle's exterior walls. It was going to cost millions to restore this relic, but what potential. The main staircase led up to a huge central hall with doorways on either side. The doors led into a large room with rooms on either side of it. I could easily envision the layout for a spacious, grand guest suite. 

 

This would be a phenomenal B&B, although I would have to charge a phenomenal price for staying there to make it work in a business plan. Zvonka knew it was out of my range but thought I should see it anyway. I liked that about her. She understood the importance of seeing a variety of properties and was willing to take the time to show them.

She took RM and me to three other houses that day of all shapes and sizes, but all in the Vipava Valley region. I knew that none of them were "the one," but I was now starting to better judge the locations, conditions and prices of the properties, relative to one another. What I was confirming was the fact that this was the area where I wanted to live. It would be my own little combination of Napa Valley and Tuscany at a Slovenian price.

I was hungry to see more and that was no problem for Zvonka. Give her a day, come back on Wednesday, and she would have many more properties for me to see. I couldn't wait.