Here we are at the end of another year filled with amazing travels, unique destinations and incredible adventures. Let’s look through 2019.
1. Travelling done in 8 countries
Austria
The fourth largest city of Austria Salzburg is a combination of cute old town, amazing museums, beautiful palaces and good food. City is also known for being the filming location of famous movie Sound of Music. We spent three days there in November and also loved visiting Hangar-7 (the Flying Bulls aircraft fleet and a collection of Formula 1 race cars) and Stiegl Brauwelt brewery. Check out my 7 favourite things to do in Salzburg here.
Every year before Christmas I visit Christmas market in a different European city. This year we chose Graz. The city has 14 different Christmas markets, however for me the best ones were on the castle hill Schlossberg. On the trip we also visited Zotter chocolate factory in Bergl. We tried all the ingredients of chocolate from coca beans to the final products. Delicious!
Bulgaria
Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital is great destination for a weekend break. I visited it in March and enjoyed exploring its history, culture and food.
Croatia
One of the most beautiful natural wonders of Croatia are situated in the Northern Dalmatia region. Although this is not far from Slovenia, this year was the first time I visited gorgeous Plitvice Lakes and Krka National Park. We combined the trip with a visit to cities Zadar, Šibenik and Niš. I also had a nice girl’s weekend getaway in seaside town Crikvenica.
Italy
I visited Venice a few times already, however this year was the first time I was in city for the Biennale exhibition. I just loved all the interesting venues and art from different countries. We also visited the boat show Salone Nautico Venezia and took advantage of the visit to explore gorgeous Venetian canals.
Kazakhstan
In our trip to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan we also stopped in Kazakhstan’s biggest city – Almaty. We loved how modern the city was, full of nice cafes, wide streets and international food choices.
Kyrgyzstan
Gorgeous nature, giant Issyk-Kul lake and views of snowy mountains. We loved Kyrgyzstan and visited the capital Bishkek, Burana Tower, Tamchy, Cholpon-Ata, Karakol and Altyn-Arashan. We also stopped at Jeti-Ögüz Rocks, Kok-Jayik valley, Fairytale Canyons and Kyzyl Tuu. One of the best parts of trip was definitely our stay at Bel’tam Yurt Camp.
Slovenia
I am glad to say that every year I also manage to see more and more beautiful corners of my home country. This year I did a few day trips and visited Prekmurje region with Expano, Mill on river Mura, Vinarium Lendava tower and Ocean Orchids tropical garden. I also went to the west part of country to Primorje to see lovely seaside towns Izola and Piran, with a stop at the Črni kal fortress for a great view. I visited Grad Snežnik, hiked to Sv. Ana and Iški vintgar, admired Treetop walk Pohorje and tried out Slovenia’s best wellness – Wellness Orhidelia. You can find out more about some of these destinations here. I also attended interesting French cooking class at renown Akademija Jezeršek.
I took advantage of living in the capital Ljubljana, where each first Sunday of the month museum are free to visit. So this year I explored Museum of architecture and design in Castle Fužine, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, National museum of Slovenia, Slovenian Museum of Natural History and City Museum of Ljubljana – the exhibition of Slovenian writer Ivan Cankar. I also attended some interesting festivals, like the Lighting Guerrilla Festival and Ljubljana’s Gin Festival Brina.
Uzbekistan
The gorgeous architecture and rich history of Uzbekistan is just amazing. You can never get enough of colorful tiles in madrasahs. We admired the gorgeous cities Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. The latter is especially interesting due to its Soviet history and beautiful metro stations.
4 new countries visited
In 2019 I visited four countries for the first time: Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The total count of countries I visited so far is 48! So, just 147 left to see them all.
2. Most popular on blog and social media
Most popular blog post
It is not hard to imagine why Canary Islands are so popular – nice beaches, beautiful nature, cute villages and great food. So it is no surprise that the blog post about Gran Canaria, which includes all of the above, was the most read blog post of 2019.
9 best photos on Instagram
You can follow me on Instagram here.
Facebook post that reached most people
You can follow me on Facebook here.
My blog in media
I was interviewed for a travel portal Vandraj. You can read the article, in which I talk about my travels and blog, here (only in Slovenian).
Also this year my blog got a short article in Žito’s internal newspaper Drobtinice.
3. Travel lectures
This year my boyfriend Klemen and I prepared two travel lectures about our travels in STA Travel Cafe in Ljubljana. In January we presented Peru and Bolivia and in November we shared our adventures in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It was great to share our travels and advice on visited destinations with fellow travel lovers.
Happy New Year! May 2020 and the new decade bring lots of travels and happiness to you and your loved ones! 🙂
