This leg of our quest to find the finest retreat venue in all the world begins in Ljubljana, Slovenia with a coffee and a regroup at the airport before driving to the old town. I am completely subdued by the beauty of the buildings. I have a thing about stone so this is truly a happy place for me.

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I see Ljubljana as a perfect place to revisit. It lacks the pressure of really big cites. The pace seems “just right” said Goldilox. The river and all that happens along its banks – from markets to bars people are gathering, restaurants serving pizza and regional fare, or locals just strolling or walking their dogs.

The food has been great (coming here was recommended to me for that reason), the shops are interesting and the people don’t take much encouragement to warm up and smile. (Though they may the be the first to do so.)

A tiny amuse bouche of chicken liver pâté on a crispy bit of nothingness (like a prawn cracker) at a restaurant at the top of the city near the castle.

I spied a restaurant near where I were staying called Georgies and booked for dinner. 5,30 was the only time free. This is a good sign and I could tell by the cookbooks on display and just the way the place looked that we would be in for a treat.

This was another amuse bouche. A slitherine of sweet potato fried till crispy (where would chefs be without their mandolins?) topped with a intense roasted cherry tomato and and drizzle of fig jam. It was a perfectly balanced burst of flavour.

Our quest for the perfect retreat venue continues…

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this poster at the airport when I arrived. I cannot read it but I know it is telling a tale of a something wondrous happening in Turkey. I imagine it is saying hop on a plane and go there now. It just looks like a children’s fairytale. I’m not going to Turkey on this trip (why?) but it is a very groovy place with incredibly worthy food so maybe we’ll keep that one up our sleeves for another time.

I love and adore a fine custard square and this is next level. It has a layer of cream as well. That’s a thing in Slovenia and this was the first of many such treats I discovered. That will be going on the ‘make the minute I get home list’. We usually go easy on the icing sugar but that was not happening here as you can see.

It seems this label is completely unreadable. Oh dear.

I have a thing about grappa and my good friend M. Statham once treated his dinner guests to a spritz of grappa as an after dinner treat. Yes, it was sprayed into the mouth (or, I guess, anywhere you like) just for the sheer pleasure of it. (We love you Italy). But to stay on point – I have been sampling local equivalents which every country seems to have. This was a rather fine Slovenian one. Whenever I enquired about local wines, beers etc they all seem to be made just nearby so that’s an added bonus to sampling local food.

This is local too, no doubt. Venison tartare with shaved fennel.

A plant version. Beetroot tartare.

We have covered matters mostly epicurean today. In our pursuit of Perfect Health and Ideal Weight, I have recently written a little article about why you don’t need to diet which you may find interesting, especially in light of all this foodie indulgence.

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Lastly, my intrepid wildlife photographer friend is on mission in Africa and taking photos for me around what a retreat there would look like for us. More on this next time – especially the gin hut set up for sundowners.

Till then, next stop Croatia.