Exploring Slovenia

On our following day in Slovenia we decided to rent a vehicle. As good as public transportation is, there simply are no buses that go over high mountain passes, along scenic routes or cover the entire country in a matter of two days. Turned out that we tracked down a fantastic deal through a company called Sixt. We got ourselves a brand new Hyundai (with 1500km only) for a mere 80 Euro for three days.

First we headed south to the Skocjan Caves which are noted on the UNESCO World Heritage List primarily because they contain one of the largest underground canyons. While walking the 3.5 meters underground we had to cross a bridge 45 meters over the river that flowed at the bottom of the canyon. Quite the impressive sight. It was not necessarily the caving experience I was looking for, but still quite different from the cave in Lebanon and “civilized” enough for Julita to have enjoyed it.

From there we drove further south to the Slovenian coast and the tiny town of Piran. It was truly one of the most picturesque coastal towns we had seen – and much nicer than most of the towns in Croatia. Situated on a peninsula that juts into the Mediterranean Sea it has water on three sides of it. Although there is no real beach, there are plenty of access points to the crystal clear water and paved docks where you can stretch out, suntan and simply relax. The water was so amazingly warm that you did not want to climb out. It must have been at least 3 or 4 degrees warmer than the Red Sea.

In Piran we roamed the little Venetian Style alleys, admired the churches and chapels as well as the clock tower which was constructed to mimic the ones in Saint Marco’s Square in Venice, had the most delicious dinner for 10 Euros and then relaxed at the sea until the sun went down.
The most amazing part of this day is the fact that we went from the northern/central part of Slovenia all the way to its southern coast in 1.5 hours. Everything here seems to be within arm’s reach, especially in comparison to the distances at home.

The following day we started bright and early and traveled north. The journey took us into Italy for long enough for Fido to track my movements and to send me a welcoming text message into yet another country. Within 20 minutes we were back in Slovenia and heading toward Bovec, a little town that is likely the adrenaline capital of Slovenia. From here you can go on white water rafting trips, kayaking excursions, caving, canyoning, paragliding and I have no idea what else. My choice this time round was to try out canyoning.

So while Julita rested her swollen ankle in a café I went for a two hour hike along the Soca river and then on a 3 hour canyoning excursion. Photos from this might follow as I was joined by a Dutch couple with a waterproof camera. For those who might not know what canyoning involves the recipe is as follows: (1) freezing cold glacier water (probably about 5 degrees); (2) a wetsuit and helmet; (3) a ½ hour steep hike upstream; and (4) some momentary insanity which results in all common sense being thrown out the door. The 4th element is absolutely crucial since no one of a sane mind would decide to make their way back to the starting point sliding and jumping off of boulders inside the river. The return journey involved a combination of walking in the narrow river, swimming in it, sliding down natural rock slides and jumping off of cliffs. Some slides were innocent enough, a meter or two long and nicely slanted. However, others were 5 – 8 meters high, nearly vertical so that the guide had to hold you by your wetsuit while you got in the correct position, then release you into the unknown. Most of the time you would go on your back (arms and legs crossed), but at other times you’d slide down head first either on your belly or your back. Some slides went into caves, others had really narrow “landing” ponds where you were instructed to make sure not to reach out with your arms because that would result in them being smashed against the rock.

The slides alternated with jumps: spots where the rock was not smooth enough for you to slide down, but where the drop off was too high to simply climb down. In those places you had to find your own courage since the guide could not give you the necessary push, and for someone like me, who is terrified of taking that leap, it took quite a bit of willpower to jump off the 6 or 7 meters.

But I must admit that I chickened out of the last slide. This one was again virtually vertical and 12 meters long. I just could not get enough courage to go on this 3 second ride.

From Bovec we returned back to Kranj via a mountain pass route that took us along 50 serpentine turns from about 650 meters to 1650 meters. There were 25 turns going up and another 25 going down. Despite the massive rain clouds the views from this road were stunning. The greenery in this country is insane and if not for the rain hiking in these mountains might have been irresistible. Slovenia’s highest peak can be summated in a day or two, so there definitely is no shortage of hiking options, from the easy strolls to more challenging mountaineering.

Back in Kranj we went out for some drinks with Florjan and his friend then returned to the hotel to chat late into the night. Our following day was spent with an excursion to Lake Bohanj, were we again got caught by a massive storm. This was followed up with an incredibly entertaining conversation with Florjan’s father (in what must have been 5 languages). Florjan’s father asserted that since Polish and Slovenian languages are so similar, we should be able to understand each other if we spoke in our respective languages. This was often interspersed with German and English when Florjan would come to our assistance and translate and augmented by Serbian which at times had more appropriate vocabulary. Apparently many Polish words are not Polish enough: diabel (devil) is too Italian; urlop and wakacje (vacation) were too German and to English respectively. There is also some word in Slovenian for peach which is something similar in Serbian and apparently refers to woman as well but the Polish equivalent for it evaded us, so we are not sure what it was. Florjan was too hesitant to translate this part of the conversation.

After our multi-lingual conversation we headed a couple villages over and took a nice stroll with Sana’s dogs then packed our bags and headed back to Ljubljana were we are currently sitting and waiting for our train to Pecs, Hungary. This won’t depart until 2am and will take us back across the Croatian border (where we will be woken up by the border guards), into Zagreb, from there on to the Hungarian border (where will again be woken up by the border guards) and then into a town on the Hungarian side where we have to change trains and eventually arrive in Pecs after what is promising to be a rejuvenating and sleep filled night.

The next post will be from Hungary.

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Slovenia: From Ballet to Tractors

From Ljubljana we headed to Lake Bled where we were picked up by Florjan, our next couchsurfing host. He took us around the lake where we got to photograph what must be the most prolific postcard setting ever: a little island with a church in the middle of the lake. We also got to go up to the castle to have the traditional view of the lake from up above. However, as per Florjan and his cousin, there really isn’t much at Lake Bled and the locals don’t really understand why all the tourists seem to always go there.

So the rest of the day’s itinerary was left in their hands. We first headed to what used to be his family farm. Now the farm serves only their needs as opposed to being a business operation. There we were greeted by his grandma and grandpa (93 years old) where I got interrogated by his grandfather in German about how we know him, what we do, where we are traveling, the political situation in Poland and my relationship status. We also met his mother, uncle and aunt as well a number of other cousins.

After a delicious snack of homemade juice, fresh bread, good cheese and homemade salami we headed out into the fields on their tractor. Since Julita had mentioned earlier that she used to drive a tractor when she was younger, he insisted that she give it a go and later on made me have a go on it as well. It was truly the last thing I ever expected to do in my life, and definitely not on this trip, much less a mere 12 hours or so after watching ballet in the main square of Ljubljana.

From the stunning views of the fields, with horses in the foreground, church towers somewhere in the distance and the Alps in the background, we were taken up to Kravecen, their local ski resort. The views would have been stunning if not for the clouds that had rolled in. Nevertheless we went on a walk through the green ski slopes and admired the number of chairlifts and routs available (all for a mere 20 Euros per day).

With the evening upon us, we headed back down and were told that we’d be picking up Florjan’s brother from somewhere. This turned out to be a mere rouse to get us up on yet another hill. Here, instead of chairlifts at the summit, there was a beautiful hotel. Turns out that it is a family business and that this would be our accommodations for the following three nights. (From the top of the hotel you can see nearly 20% of all of Slovenia.) We even got to go into the local chapel, climb into the bell tower and ring the giant (and incredibly loud) bells so that our wishes could come true. After a dinner with his cousins and his mom we retired into our luxurious accommodations and went to sleep still in awe of the hospitality that we had been shown and the entire day’s events.

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Ljubljana: A fantastic introduction to Slovenia

Well, Zagreb might have free public transportation in its city center, but Ljubljana has the free concerts and festivals in its main squares happening throughout the entire summer.

I did not mention it before, but yes, Zagreb did have completely free public transportation in its city core: this included all buses and trams and was introduced to decrease car traffic. However, this failed to compete with Ljubljana. When we arrived at 10pm, we found the city center alive with classical music only to find out that they were having a Ballet Festival lasting the entire week. We caught the tail end of the contemporary ballet performance that night, but on the following evening were privileged to watch a beautifully choreographed ballet opera to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. All this takes places right on the banks of their river and starts at sunset.

When the Ballet Festival is over, it is followed by the Jazz Festival, then the Ljubljana Festival, then some other festival etc. etc. etc. The free performances simply do not end and most of the time you actually have to choose which event you want to see on any given night. Couple this with the fact that the garbage man wear black dress pants, black dress shoes, a white shirt, a bowtie and white gloves while walking down the street with brooms and those dust pans on a stick, there truly can’t be a better capital than Ljubljana.

Like Sarajevo it is a relatively small capital city, but then so is Slovenia. It is a tiny country, about half the size of Switzerland with just over two million people. Pretty much from anywhere in Slovenia you will not be more than 50 km as the crow flies from the border of a different country, whether it would be Austria, Hungary, Croatia or Italy. They call it “Europe in Minature”, “The Sunny Side of the Alps” or “The Green Piece of Europe” and all of them seem quite appropriate, especially the last, given that with more than half of its total area covered in forest, Slovenia is one of the greenest countries in the world.

We were hosted about 8 km outside of Ljubljana and as a result got to spend an entire incredibly hot day roaming and enjoying the town. The cleanliness, the cute little streets, the great service, the smiling people, the fantastic food and the absolutely amazing ballet performance made it a fantastic day.

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