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Published: September 18th 2006
Slovenian Alps
Had great views along our walk!Hello all!!
So, I have just returned from a week long somewhat whirlwind tour of 3 very beautiful and all very different cities....
I started out catching a bus to Bled, a delightful little town in the north of Slovenia that sits next to a gorgeous but tiny little lake, rightly titled Bled Lake. I was definitly a little nervous, out on my own with a backpack for the first time! My nerves were quickly calmed though as I started talking to a couple from the UK, who turned out to be headed to the same hostel as me! Meeting other travellers I discovered on this trip is really the easiest thing in the world. Trains, buses, hostels, and less-known tourist sites provide the perfect, easy atmosphere for meeting people who you obviously have something in common with because of your situation! Even if you're as shy or shyer than I consider myself it would be difficult to home away without having shared stories over a pint with someone! Anyway, we found the Hostel (Penzion Bledec... GREAT hostel), and then they said they were headed for the Gorge, which I had heard was beautiful, so I asked if
The Gorge
Very beautiful and relaxing walking through there I could tag along.
About an hour of walking up (and up and up..) beautiful little Slovenian back-country roads, we came to this beautiful little river winding through the bottom of this beautiful, deep, gorge, lined with trails and boardwalks for our viewing pleasure. It was a great start to the trip... just a chance to relax and enjoy nature... we took our time walking along the trails. It only goes for about 1.6km, but then you have to go back the same way. On the way home, we were a little hungry (it was about 4pm and we hadn't had lunch)... so we picked fresh fruit from the trees that lined the road... apples, pears, plums, apricots, and grapes all straight from the tree or vine!! So wonderful!
After sharring dinner (and of course a pint) with the couple, I decided to go for a walk around the lake. The entire lake has walking/biking/rollerblading trails around it, and it takes maybe an hour and a half to walk around it. The trail is used by locals and tourists alike, so along the trail you end up getting greeted in at least 3 or 4 different
languages!
The next morning, I got up pretty early (early for backpackers anyway...) and hiked up Velika Osojnica, a famous view point of Bled. I quickly saw why when I got to the top too... something about seeing the lake with its quaint little island, the castle sitting on top of a rocky steep in the distance, and a backdrop of Slovenian alps was just stunning. I could have sat all day on the top of that mountain and been content, but alas, I had other touring to do and people to meet!
The rest of the day I filled with rowing a little boat out to the island and visiting the church, laying on the beach and swimming for a couple hours (the water was gorgous), walking up to the castle (not worth it to pay to go in... the view was better from the mountain), and then going for a heaping plate of calamari, a couple of beer, and a round of fooseball with Vinny, an Aussie I met at the Hostel. By the time the day was done I felt like 3 had passed with all the activity!
The next morning
Island on Bled Lake
Very Picturesque... in the winter it must look enchanting! I left bright and early for Salzburg. I managed to JUST miss the first bus, and then get on the WRONG bus an hour later and had to get off at a middle of nowhere stop and wait yet another hour for the right bus. Like I keep saying, I'm blonde for a reason! I finally got the right bus, and actually headed back to Ljubljana, where thankfully the train to Salzburg was late so I caught it just in time. In my cabin on the train was a very nice man named Amer who was from Iraq. Of course, I had to ask about the war... not a very easy question to begin with I must tell you, but he was very happy to entertain my 2000 questions that followed! He told me that he thought the war was basically about what we all know its about.. oil and american control, but he also gave fresh insight to me as well about how great that control could really be because of Iraq's geographical location... control over Iraq basically means the U.S. creates a buffering zone between Iran and Israel, and the proximity to Saudi oil means, well, oil. Between
Bled Lake and City from above
Great view from Velika Osojnica! that conversation and learning a lot about the roots and truths of Islamic religion it made the train ride go pretty quickly!
I got to Salzburg and went straight to my hostel (The Youth and Family Guesthouse... it was decent but I don't recommend it), where I met these two AWESOME girls from Abbotsford, BC who were in the room next to me. Turns out one of them, Annie, worked with my friend Patty-Ray (hola Patricio!) at Moxies! Small world indeed! Anyway, we had dinner together at the hostel, and then, as it is showed EVERY NIGHT at the hostel, we watched the Sound of Music!! cheezy, I know, but whatever... watching the Sound of Music in Salzburg and then the next day going out and seeing all the places in the movie was kinda cool!
The next day I took off early for castle hill. The thought came to me as I found myself going up a ka-billion stairs that people shouldn't buy stairmasters... they should just go to Europe and travel on foot. Because its guaranteed between climing up to castles, up church spires, and rattling metal staircases up the side of a cliff
Oye..
This is me trying to take a picture of myself in the row boat i rented to go out to the Island. This was the best shot I got... to get a good view, that you're going to climb about a zillion stairs by the end of your trip!
Anyway, so the castle was... ok. I think I expected a lot more of castles than I've seen so far. Maybe I've just picked not very good ones to go to, but I always expect a zillion rooms that you can walk in and out of and dungeons and tons of tall towers you have to crawl up a narrow rickety stair case to get to and knights fighting and ladies waiting and peasants peasanting..... ok, maybe I just expect to much... it was nice to get a view of Salzburg though. It helped me plan out my root for the day!
The rest of the day I spent basically in and out of churches, that were surprisingly all free to get into. My favourite was one was one I walked into and heard the tremendous sound of hundreds of organ pipes blaring away. I sat down for about 20 minutes and listened as the organ player transitioned from song to song, not even stopping for a break between songs... it was beautiful. St. Peters (the
church Maria gets married to Captain Von Trapp in) was also very beautiful, with great gardens and a quaint cemetary around the back.
That night I had a horrendous dinner with the girls from Canada again that basically consisted of fried Spam and instant mashed potatoes (thank the Lord for the salad bar!), and then we went out to an Irish pub for a couple beers. We found out quickly that there was a big football (soccer) game that night between a team from England and Salzburg. Needless to say, the pub was FILLED with crazy English and Austrian fans getting geared up to go to the game. We made our way to a different pub to watch the game and have a couple more beers, and then after decided to go back to the first one for the after game party. The game had been a tie, so we figured it wouldn't be TOO crazy... well, we were wrong, and ended up leaving after the dance floor quickly turned into a bit of a mosh pit!
The next day, slightly hungover and with a hoodie that reeked like stale beer from being spilled on the
night before (is that too much detail for you mom?), I took off for my last destination city... Budapest! I rode in the train car with 3 guys who were from Budapest, and told me all the good places to go and where to stay away from... and gave me a quick language lesson too! One of them, Victor, after seeing that I was most likely going to have a terrible time finding my hostel, said "I too go in that direction, my flat is near, so I would prefer you come with me". My street smarts deciphered this as he was genuinely being nice, so I accepted, and Thank the Lord that I did because there is NO WAY I would have found the place on my own!! He even walked me two blocks out of his way, right to the door! Its nice to be reminded that there is still a TON of good in the human race.
Well, the hostel in Budapest was WONDERFUL... if you are ever there stay at the Home Made Hostel (www.homemadehostel.com). Not only is it a great location, but the staff are SO helpful, and its a small place (only
maybe 24 beds?) that is decorated in a very cozy, bohemian style with a full kitchen we could use and free internet (a backpackers best friend!). My first night I was pretty tired, but more than I was tired I was hungry, so I went for dinner at a great little place around the corner from the hostel with a quiet, yet very interesting fellow named Jani from Finland who was staying at the hostel.
The next morning, I set out for a LOOOONG day of aquiring more blisters (i.e. walking) about Budapest. I went up the castle hill (more stairs...) and walked around for a bit there. Again, not terribly impressed... I didn't go in the church because it was terribly expensive, and unfortunately did not have enough time for the museum either, plus the place was SWARMING with tourists which definitly killed it a little for me. I did again get a great view of Budapest, which is a pretty immense city compared to what I am used to (2 million people I think?), but very beautiful and no sky-scrapers which is nice.
I trodded off to find this place some people at the
Hostel had recommened to me called the Labyrinth. This turned out to be AMAZING... The Labyrinth (http://www.labirintus.com/public/home.php?m=0) was actually a fairly spiritual experience for me... because I was on my own (litteraly... there were HARDLY any other tourists in there) in these dank, very dimly lit caves, there was definitly little pangs of terror that came over me. Not claustrophobia really, but more anxiety that something or someone was going to jump out at me. A drop of water fell on my head and I nearly hit the roof. It didn't help that through a lot of the caves there was creepy music playing... They did have parts that definitly lightened the mood tho. I came to this one better-lit section and there was a beautiful founain covered in vines in the middle, and out of the fountain was pooring red wine! The wine was apparently drinkable, so I had a little taste, but I don't think I would have done as the couple that was there did and take a water bottle full of it... you never know how long that wine has been cycling through those probably not very clean pipes!! Another part of the Labyrinth is called
Church and Fountain and... Pretzel stand?
If I was a photo obsessed tourist I would have been so mad that this pretzel stand set up right in the middle of a great photo op. Me being me, I laughed and took a photo anyway for the funny factor! the "Courage Labyrinth". Basically, its a dank tunnel which, unlike the rest, has not been lit, and so is COMPLETELY pitch black. To find your way, you have the guide of only a single rope strung along one side of the tunnel, and when you reach the end there is a small ring of light. Its a really spiritual experience... and REALLY terrifying. I did the first half of it, and got to the light, and then you have to go out a different way... and for some reason this just totally freaked me out, so I ended up going back the same way I came because I knew that way already!!
After, I tried to go the parliament buildings, which looked incredible from the outside... very gothic architecture which really contrasts the rest of the city... but unfortunately the tours were VERY disorganized and after waiting 20 minutes to find out if I could even get a ticket, I left and walked back to the hostel, and on the way noticed the beautiful Opera house. Of course, I looked at what was playing, and had my interest sparked... so I bought a ticket and went to a
Hungarian Opera! It was wonderful... actually it was 2 ballets and an opera. The first ballet was my favorite because it was more traditional, and the Opera, while short and only really having two characters (and in Hungarian so not understandable to me), was amazing because of their beautiful voices and the passion put into every gesture!
After the Opera, I had planned to just go home and hit the hay, but when I got there, two Aussie guys had checked in since I last left and invited me out for a beer. (... why are you even asking? of COURSE I went!) We went to this place that was recommended by one of our hosts at the hostel, and it turned out to be SWEET... it was this indoor/outdoor bar in an old, old run down building that had random, funky rooms everywhere, tons of old furniture and upstairs crazy decorating, not-to-loud and not at all techno music, and the roof was a solarium covered in vines... I wish I could describe it better, but it was definitly something you have to see to understand the raddness of it! We hung out there until maybe 3am... hurray
Bridge between Buda and Pest
(Originally the city was 2 cities called Buda and Pest, and were later merged into one big city... hence, Budapest) for Hungarian beer!
The next day (Sunday now) I was supposed to head back to Ljubljana, but due to the meeting of the Aussie boys... Davie and Micky by the way..., who after spending 3 hours with I felt like I had known for 3 years, I decided to stay and extra night and hit up the Turkish-style baths with them. And I'm SO glad I did! Our supposed 20 minute walk to the baths took something more like 2 hours... the road we took had been completely shut down for this huge childrens festival that was definitly the most random festival I have ever seen, including Road safety demonstrations, bicycle courses, concert stages, a giant inflated dinosaur that was built of cars and busses and trucks, beer, peasants, hip-hop dancing, real grass rolled out on the pavement to create a little knoll, ping pong tables, and a man who entertained children by dislocating his thumb over and over, whom Micky so eloquently nic-named Thumby.
After that, and a good round of Hungarian sausage and potatoes, we finally hit the baths, which were soooooooo nice... something about soaking in 15 different pools of varying temperatures of
spring water with hundreds of other foreign bodies is just marvelous! We spent about 3 hours there, half an hour of which included me and Davie making 3 rounds of this huge place looking for Micky, who had unfortunately already returned to the change rooms, and then meandered back to the hostel through the ever evolving festival.
Well, that's pretty much it... today took the train home (7 hours... ugh!!) and came home to find 2 roommates had moved in! 2 girls from Montreal are now living here, one in the room next door and 1 downstairs. They seem pretty nice... so hopefully we'll all get along! Hope you all enjoyed my essay... sheesh I will have to either do these more often or cut down on the story tellage!
Love you all,
Mel.
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Nancy Hill
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Incredible!
I am glad you are having so much fun, Melissa!! Photos are great! I NEED a wine fountain!!