When you move to another country, you usually do so fully convinced it’s a good decision, and that your life will improve. Fortunately, this is usually also the case. But the downside often is missing family and friends from your home country, in my case, the Netherlands. That is why it’s always so wonderful when people from the Netherlands come to visit.

Last week was a bit of a celebration because I had two visits from the Netherlands. First, on Tuesday afternoon, my cousin Hedi and her husband Stephan (with ph 😉) came to stay for a few days. They had been on holiday in Italy and wanted to end their holiday at our place. So much fun! Hedi was here for the first time last April, together with another cousin. That was also a lot of fun, and now she came again with Stephan, who had never been here before either. We had a wonderful couple of days together. Bine and Stephan get along really well, and the four of us had lots of laughs. Unfortunately, Bine had to work during the day, so I went out with them by myself. On Wednesday, we visited the castle in Žužemberk and enjoyed a drink on a terrace by the Krka river.

Later, Hedi and I drove our quad bike to the holiday house in the village that I rent out, and I then let her drive back. She’d never ridden a quad bike before and loved it 😊. In the evening, she and Stephan went for a little ride together.

On Thursday, I’d already arranged to meet the guests that were staying in the holiday house for a tour on a flatbed trailer pulled behind a tractor and a visit to a typical “zidanica” (wine house) in our village, including, of course, wine tasting and homemade bread, local delicacies like sausage, cheese, apple juice, and the neighbor’s delicious cake. I asked the guests if Hedi and Stephan could come along, and they didn’t mind at all. It turned out to be a very pleasant outing.

In the evening, Hedi and Stephan took us out for dinner, which we enjoyed a lot. The next morning, they left for the Netherlands again.

But no worries, because that same evening, four of my old classmates from primary school arrived. For a few years now, we’ve had a WhatsApp group of ten of us, and we meet up occasionally. So far, the meetings were in the Netherlands, so last time I asked them to have our next meet up at my place 😉. Six of them were supposed to come, but unfortunately, two of them had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. I rented a van, and Bine and I picked them up from Zagreb airport.

We drove to our house in the dark, arriving around eleven o’clock and chatting until 1:30 a.m. The ladies slept in Larsen’s old room, the men in Lexi’s room. The next morning, we had a nice breakfast together outside on our terrace and then set off with the van.

First, we drove to Mirna Gora (https://mylifeinslovenia.com/en/daytrip-tips-mirna-gora/), where we had a few drinks at the hut and enjoyed the view (the weather was beautiful), and then on to Krupa (https://mylifeinslovenia.com/en/beautiful-places-river-krupa/), where we had a picnic before going for a lovely walk along the river. Back home, in the evening, we had a barbecue and then went to bed a bit earlier than the night before.

The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast again and then went for a ride on the tractor. The flatbed that we used earlier that week wasn’t available, so we just took our garden chairs and put them on the trailer, which everyone found hilarious. You can imagine how people stared, seeing us drive around like that :D. We had a blast!

After this ride, we took the van and drove to Sveti Peter, the highest mountain/hill in the area, at 888 meters. We had to walk the last 20 minutes, and at the top, we enjoyed another picnic with a beautiful view.

Afterward, we relaxed for an hour or two at home, and around six o’clock, we took my classmates back to the airport in Zagreb. Just upon arrival, they received a message that the flight had been canceled, and they couldn’t fly until the following afternoon. Fortunately, everyone made it home safely, and I look back on a fantastic week with fantastic company. Thanks again to everyone for coming!