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.