Nomad Life - The City of Dragons
Nomad Life - The City of Dragons
A story about the charm of Ljubljana, bathing in the rain, and Skutull’s encounters with exotic animals
This edition of The Storied Scrolls features a new Nomad Life chapter, “The City of Dragons,” a story about the charm of Ljubljana, bathing in the rain, and Skutull’s encounters with exotic animals.
If you’re following us along our journey, we’ve recently changed our itinerary after realizing our original route of Ireland → Portugal → Norway all by land & sea was going to require too much travel time to enjoy. We’ve now made next summer the Scandinavian leg of our journey and will be spending one month each in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
Let’s break the wax seal and unroll the scroll…
The City of Dragons
CHAPTER 11 of Nomad Life
Rain fell from the night sky—more than a spittle, but less than a downpour—adding volume to the streams already flowing through the streets of Ljubljana. We stood under an awning at the train station, debating whether we should brave the 15-minute walk to our apartment or take a cab.
I knew the city well and was confident I could route us. I fell in love with Ljubljana when we visited in 2019 and didn’t care that it was raining. I wanted to be in the city. If it was raining, I’d bathe. I spent several minutes laying out my case to Shelby.
“Ok, but Skutull and I are going to be grumpy with you for a bit,” Shelby declared, finally conceding to my insistence that we walk, “and you have to carry both suitcases.”
Where in the World are Zack, Shelby, and Skutull
Current location: 📍Motovun, Croatia
What we’ve been up to: truffle hunting in the Istria region of Croatia and scrambling to decide how to handle Austria’s covid lockdowns (our next stop).
Top travel tips learned:
Use both Google and Apple Maps: Google Maps works great most of the time, but I think it is far too optimized toward avoiding traffic. The last few times we’ve used it for longer car journeys, we researched the “normal” route the night before, then woke up the next morning and could not get the app to stay on the “normal” route. Once there was traffic, it diverted us on crazy routes that are a hundred miles longer and there is no override to stay on the “normal” route. Apple Maps has been more reliable in this regard.
Plan lunch for days on the road: when we jump in the car for an 8 hour day of driving without a lunch plan, it never goes well. The combo of finding somewhere healthy, highly-rated, and that isn’t a 2-hour sit-down meal is challenging when you’re passing through cities on the highway. We try to either plan the exact spot we’ll eat lunch the night before, or bring a packed lunch.
Miles traveled: 24,346 (0.98x 🌎)
Days nomadic: 268 (0.73x ☀️)
📜 Our Story | 🗺️ Map of Our Journey | 🌄 Future Itinerary
Supplemental Travel Material
🏰 Learn about the history of Ljubljana Castle: Ljubljana Castle Wikipedia page
🐉 Find out why Ljubljana is called the “City of Dragons”: Ljubljana, City of Dragons
🏛 Meet the architect who crafted much of the visual charm of Ljubljana: Jože Plečnik Wikipedia page
Enjoy the journey,
