The heart road and vineyards of Slovenia

After a long workshops season I took my family to the wine region of NE Slovenia. This is where the famous heart road is located. We spent two nights at Valdhuber winery on a recommendation of my friend Miha from Slotrips. Valdhuber winery has three brand new apartments – a unique combination of modern design and wood. The location is perfect to explore the surrounding Svečina wine area plus they produce excellent wines and hearty food – Diana’s chicken stew was one of the best I’ve ever tried!

Even though this was a family holiday my camera gear was with me. I planned to photograph for sunset and sunrise and the rest will be family time. Luckily the area is small, the roads good (but confusing) so I was on locations quickly. Of course the first thing to photograph was the famous heart road at Špičnik.

To photograph this heart shaped road you can visit the Dreisiebner winery – they have the best view on the road and surrounding vineyards. The best thing to do is to order some of their nice wines (or juices), have some homemade cold cuts and enjoy and photograph the views.

Views on surrounding vineyards. Dreisiebner winery lies on the border with Austria. It is easy to walk across the border and enjoy views on both countries.

Probably my favourite “rattle” shot so far:) Just love the sound of them rattling when you walk around vineyards!

Next morning I drove to Placki view tower. The reason to photograph from this place is Peter Zajfrid, local photographer with stunning photos from this area. Check his website – it will make you drool!

The layer of fog was a bit too thick to see much, but in every situation there can be great photographs made. I enjoyed the view for about one hour before returning for breakfast.

Of course I needed to stop several times on a way back, running out of a car with a camera to capture beautiful scenes! Not sure if this scenery is in Slovenia or Austria, but who cares – it’s beautiful 🙂

A backlit rattle. The pole with a bar on the left of rattle is probably a lookout for birds of prey.

This is the scenery on the next morning, taken from Plač view tower. It was overcast, but less mists so there was more views. The colours are more muted, more serene. Just wish the owners of the pink house at the top left had more sense for colour!

Before we left for home I snapped this one more shot – the Valdhuber wines at their super-stylish wine tasting room!

Two nights went by quickly and one thing for sure – we will be back!