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Published: July 10th 2009
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Slovenia: 26th June - 8th August 2009
Here's my advice to anyone thinking about a vacation in Europe: run, do not walk...repeat: run, do not walk, to Slovenia. Here's why. First, it's beautiful. The place is covered with idyllic villages complete with onion domed churches nestled in misty valleys throughout the land. Second, the only place they speak more English in Europe is England. Third, when you buy 20 euros worth of groceries, you pay 20 euros, and this applies to restaurants and just about everything else as well. I honestly don't know how long things will remain this easy, cheap, and unspoiled in Slovenia. So, I recommend getting here quick.
That's the high level summary. Now, let me break this down point by point.
Part I - Eat your heart out, Frodo
Slovenia is on the eastern edge of the Alps and that equals natural beauty. But, also, being on the edge of the Alps and not in the middle, the valleys aren't as deep and the mountains aren't as high, resulting in terrain that is perhaps less severe and bigger skies than we experienced elsewhere. For example, Mayrhofen was also stunning, but being more in
the middle of the Alps, it was a bit like being in Nature's own Midtown Manhattan.
We came to Slovenia so I could participate in the Slovenian Open. Paragliding is a great way to see the countryside anywhere you go. For this comp, Rayma and I were staying in a town called Bled, an enchanted town with a castle on a crag overlooking a small lake where, amid the waters, there is a small island just big enough for the church that's there. Magical. The competition itself was about 35 km away in a town called Zelezniki (don't worry about pronouncing it, I was never able to), which took about an hour to drive each way on little windy roads over/around a mountain and through village after ancient village. The ride never got old.
Unfortunately, the comp was hampered by the same rainy weather that has been sitting over central Europe for the past few weeks. The first few days were rained out, and the next days were short tasks of less than 40 km. Unlike Levico Terme, the damp weather made for weak thermals, and frankly my equipment was no match for the comp wings and high
performance kit that a lot of the pilots brought. That's ok, though. I got to practice a lot of the skills Kelly taught me in Bassano, and I do think that I went higher and farther as a result. Best of all, I'm happy to report that I wasn't in last place. I was, however, low on the list, but I maintained a standard of mediocrity that only a neophyte would celebrate.
What I like about competitions is the organization: access to local knowledge, well planned tasks, transport to launch, and retrieval upon landing. Also, the participants and the organizers were very friendly making all the “parawaiting” more enjoyable. Best of all, English was the language spoken for the comp. This brings me to my next point about Slovenia.
Part II - Se habla Ingles
The Slovenians know that nobody but themselves can speak Slovene, and given the tongue twisting nature of the language, nobody else is likely to. As a result, you can also hear lots of German and especially lots of English. And if you have something to say, you don't need to be nice about it, no need to lead off in the local
language to show good faith. Just go right in and fire port cannons at will, Mr Quigley. The butcher, the guy at the post office, and without question the waiter at the restaurant all speak enough English to get things done.
This is in contrast to our experiences most other places in Europe where I even resorted to broken French to get a point across once...barely. Now THAT'S desperation! Not in Slovenia, though. It's a lazy American tourist's dream!
OK, so far, we've established that Slovenia is fabulous and there's lots of English to smooth the way, but now we get to the final and perhaps most temporary quality of Slovenia.
Part III - “A penny saved...”
I realize that we moan a lot about what things cost various places. But, to reiterate for those in the blogosphere who haven't been savoring every word of every blog, let's just say that Geneva's $17 ticket price for Star Trek made me question how much I really like Star Trek (if only for a split second). If that feeling of getting overcharged was tiresome in Jordan, we were seriously over it when we crossed the border into Slovenia.
Then it happened. We stopped for a soda. And the guy wanted 1 euro. I'm thinking, okay, maybe there's something wrong with the soda. Expiry date is 6 months from now...it's not that. Better check the seal, but it was intact. We left puzzled, but less thirsty. On we drove to the grocery store, where we stocked up on food for our stay. We bought bags full of real food: fruit, meat, pasta, etc. And it all cost 43 euros, “a fair price” was my exact comment to the lady at the cash register, who smiled politely, if quizzically.
To top it all off, Rayma negotiated a great deal for a house, not an apartment, a newly renovated house with every imaginable convenience for 70ish euros a night.
And when we started thinking about moving on to spend a week in Croatia, you might forgive us for failing to spring for the cracker box in Dubrovnik for the low low price of 150 euros a night. No, we're fine here in our Slovenian mountain hideaway for another week. In these troubled times, one must be frugal, mustn't one?
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Marko
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I is really nice to read about folks coming to Slovenia and enjoying it here! I hope you have a blast - the whole time you are here. :) Even the weather seems to be changing for the better now. _______________________________________________________ Visit Travel Photo Blogging at http://photo-blogging.blogspot.com