Search for Best Café in Europe 2014
Day 5
I had arrived in Slovenia for the Alpine leg of my mission to find the best cycle cafe in the whole of Europe in order to be able to crown the potential Cake Crusader European cafe of the year 2014 winner. Today's ride was going to take in a steep climb up towards the Austrian boarder before heading back down to Monstrana in Slovenia. Today's guests were Chris (wife) and George (son). Once eldest son Peter had discovered that some serious up hill pedalling was involved he decided he would rather stay in bed and wait for flatter cafe cycling rating opportunities.
In cloudy conditions we quickly made it the 9 or so miles (or 15 kilometres) along the flat cycle path to the start of the climb. Soon we were breathlessly climbing up along stone tracks on our Slovenian mountain bikes. The views were stunning and I was enjoying them so much I missed the signpost for the route we were on resulting in us going the wrong way. After about 20 minutes of shear up I thought something didn't seem right and on consulting my map I had to inform the party of my error. My how they cheerily laughed about the extra climbing I had made them do as we rode back down before starting to climb again, or something like that. I will of course be returning my Boy Scout map reading badge as soon as I return to England.
As we cycled up further my guest's started to suffer and were complaining of sore knees, backs and that sweat was dripping down places that it ought not to be. However I'm sure they were enjoying it really.
Considering the potential stunning views on offer the Gostinstvo in turizem cafe was a little disappointing from an ambiance perspective as all the mountains were hidden by the surrounding buildings although it did get an extra half point for having a proper table tennis table in its outdoor seating area.
For food I ordered a banana split flavoured ice cream and George a strawberry and milka ice cream. We thought they were ok but Chris thought the strawberry ice cream was the most disgusting ice cream she had ever had tasting like medicine. However as she hadn't ordered any food her rating of -100 didn't count.
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| Having a rest after discovering we had gone up the wrong bit of mountain |
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| Very much enjoying the ride |
Eventually we made it over the top and had a quick picnic lunch near some noisy cows who were practising their alpine bell ringing skills.
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| Noisy bell ringing cows |
It was then a downhill stretch and ride along some new cycle path until we got to Monstrana and found the Gostinstvo in turizem cafe.
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| Outside the Gostinstvo in turizem cafe in the bicycle parking zone |
After the disappointment of the poor hot chocolate (chocomel) available in Holland then it was good to have a nice one here. There was also refreshing beer and grapefruit shandy available for my guests so drinks score reasonably well.
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| A nice and well presented hot chocolate |
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| The interestingly flavoured ice creams |
This was a poor start to the alpine leg of the search for the best cafe in all of Europe. However due to the good hot chocolate Gostinstvo in turizem cafe avoided the European wooden spoon.
Hopefully our next alpine cafe visit will be a better contender for Cake Crusader European cafe of the year 2014.
European league table after 8 cafés.
Cafe Drink Food Ambiance Score
Morgenstond cafe, Griendtsveen, 8 8.5 7.5 8.00
Holland
Central cafe, Baarlo Holland 8 8.75 7 7.92
Hererg de bonged, Bassel, NL. 8 8.5. 7. 7.83
D'hefren van Baarlo, Baarlo, NL. 6. 8. 9. 7.67
De Ijsvogel (kingfisher mill to you), 8 6 8.5 7.50
Arcen, Holland
Passi cafe, Horst, Holland. 7 7.5 6.5 7.00
Gostinstvo in turizem cafe, 7.5. 5 5.5 6.00
Monstrana, Slov
Dakepello, Panningen 5 6.5 5 5.50
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