Ljubljana :: Slovenia
I know, I'm still here.
Places: Bled, Postojna, Piran & Ljubljana .
Coolest thing I did: Watched everyone go orange as I swam in an Adriatic sunset.
Coolest thing I didn´t know: Slovenia has a lot of good stuff in it.
Bled is what you would call a dictionary definition of picture postcard territory. What you get is a glacial lake, surrounded by pine covered forrests, a castle perched on a rocky cliff face looking over it, with an island with a monestary in the middle of it that can only be reached by gondola. Any one of those things could be anywhere in Austria, but nowhere has the whole thing all mashed together, in a handy, photosized area. Very thoughtful, these Slovenes. Thanks to the fact the lake is very shallow, you can go swimming in it in the middle of summer and it dosen't offend even those as ill prepared for the cold as us Aussies. I spent half a day walking out to a nearby gorge, which, with all the water around, seemed almost tropical in the heat. Again, a stark contrast from Bled itself. The Austrianess of the place is not too surprising, when you consider the pedigree of the place. It's the setting (or near to) the war bit of A Farewell to Arms. The Italians in the book were fighting the AustroHungarians over the Julian Alps, all of which are located in present day Slovenia. This also explains the Ernie Hemmingway cafe/hotel/truckstop/supermarket/tollbooth you see all along the road. I would have stayed out there another day, but the Italian weekenders (the place is closer to Trieste than Ljubers) had it all booked out by Friday, so I had to return to the capital.
My next trip, to the nearby Postojna caves was, to put it lightly, not one of the better days I've had on tour. I started out badly, by loaning one of the girls in the hostel some money for dinner the night before. Not an issue, but had I realised how rarely the busses come on the weekend, I would have insisted she checked out before 11am to give it to me. My bad. So I had to wait until 1 in the afternoon until I could get a train out there. This itself, would have given me pleanty of time to make it to the caves then onto Piran on the coast, however, disaster struck. The board on the platform told me the train was off to Postojna, however they changed it just as the train was pulling out. I guess that's what the Slovene talking over the loudspeaker was telling me. So I was on the express train for the Austrian border. A four hour round journey took me back to Ljubers, far too late to see either the caves or make it to Piran with time to look for somewhere to stay. I then had to trudge around looking for another hostel to stay in (as the one I was in was booked out), which added to my foul mood. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, so I went off to the park to sulk. Just as I'd laid down to read, with my shirt off, a huge dog bounded up and slobbered all over my back. My mood took another couple of notches down as I went home for a shower.
Thankgod for 21 year old Irish blokes. I found myself sharing my room with 3 of a group of 7 Dubliners Eurailing around for their summer holidays. Whilst I turned down the offer to go out on the beers (I knew how quiet Ljubers is), they did cheer me up with their youthful enthusiasm. I was also happy to talk to them over breakfast about the resulting crapness of their night out, and how well they took it. It made me realise I was being a grumpy old man over nothing.
So, take two. Postojna is what mass tourism is all about. The caves themselves are wonderful, after all, mass tourism needs a product to sell. However, I knew something was up when we were ushered into the kind of little trains that take you around Disneyland. The trains whip you into the caves at breakneck speed, rushing past rows and rows of stalic-things. I found this funny. I kept asking when the bar was going to come down over my lap, but this joke was lost on the Germans next to me. Humorless people, they were. After 2km of this, we were hearded into 4 groups, based on language spoken and then led through the caves by a ranger. The poor woman. Everytime she told us the limestone was light sensitive, about 100 flashbulbs would go off. My favorite bit was the "human fish". These Anglosaxon coloured salamanders are the largest things they've since found living in the caves and they are totally blind. There was, however, a whole lot of the Mona Lisa Syndrome ("Is that is? I thought they would be bigger". Go to the Lourve, see what I'm talking about).
After the caves, I finally made it out to Piran. Piran is an old Venetian town that looks like Venice would, if it had less tourists and no canals. The second I walked off the bus into air so thick and warm you could spread it on toast, I forgot all the troubles of yesterday. The water is so warm, and there was a perfect sunset to swim under. While there is no beach, the girls all line up on the rocks over the bay and brown their breasts, something that can only add to the ambiance. Very impressed. I was ready to spend another whole day out there, except a storm rolled in off the Adriatic overnight and didn't let up. Instead, I'm back in Ljubers writing postcards.
Man, this country needs more vowels. It's like playing A Wheel of Fortune when you are reading roadsigns "John, can I buy an 'e'?".
Tomorrow, I'm off to Croatia, baby! (for some reason, I can't say the word Croatia without adding the word baby).