SLOVENIA - BLED

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Without cheating, write down everything you know about Slovenia. Information such as "it's an 8 letter word beginning with s will not be accepted. What you have written would probably fit on the back of a postage stamp. If you gaze at a world map, Slovenia is roughly the same size as that postage stamp. While she is small, Slovenia punches way above her weight in terms of attractions.
Now, pretend you are an artist, and without anything to copy you would like to paint a landscape. A lake would be nice, surround that lake with hills and in the distance some mountains sprinkled with snow. How about a castle perched on one of those hills and a steeple in the midst of a lakeside village. This might be overkill, but let's throw in an island and the cherry on top, a church on that island. All we need now is a name. How about Bled and we throw it smack bang in the middle of Slovenia.
We based ourselves in one of the many glorious villages surrounding Bled and partook in the great alpine outdoors for a few days.
The capital, Ljubljana, is a quick drive from Bled and Selo an easy day trip. Ljubljana (c'mon, who can pronounce it) is everything a capital city should be - hip, groovy, relaxed, progressive, vibrant - and that's the old quarter. Sitting at a riverside bar late afternoon sipping a local cabernet that seems to have been lifted straight from Margaret River's finest, staring up at Ljubljana Castle, life couldn't have been too much sweeter. Aaah, but then it does get sweeter. If there is a more ambient music venue than the dungeon of Ljubljana Castle, take me there now. The local jazz quartet were hot, the wine cheap and the concert FREE! You gotta love this city.
Slovenia also boasts a staggering 45 klms of coastline. The jewel in the crown is Piran, an old, old walled city occupying every square cm of a peninsula lapped by the Mediterranean. It's been discovered, but I'm tipping this to be the next "big thing" for the rich and famous, particularly when word escapes that Colvin and Yeates have been here.
The Slovenian people are warm, amicable, helpful and well educated. It appears the young, of which there are plenty, live in the city and the older generations are resigned to the rural areas of Slovenia to tend to the fields.
Nationalistic tensions still simmer beneath the surface of older folk, if Damien, the guy who ran our hostel, is any indication. He is about 75 and a great guy, if a tad on the eccentric side. As he related to me, "I'm not a bigot, but (as soon as someone says I'm not a ...... but, you know they are what they say they're not) you just can't trust those backstabbing Croations over the border. Tito (Damien still reveres the ol General) didn't like them and neither do I! And as for that Tony Blair, somebody must shoot him now!" Now there's a solution to the world's problems straight out of the former Yugoslavian archives.
With Damien's parochial philosophies and the fact that his hobby is hunting, Penny and I both accepted to agree overtly with everything Damien said. We didn't want him lumbering off to his cache of blunderbusters to rid himself of those traiterous Aussies by "shooting them in the back!"
Slovenia. If it had some surf it would be "pack your bags Penny, we're moving to Ljubljana." A week's interlude between Italy and Croatia was never near enough. A fine reason to return Ljubljana one day.
Any complaints? Two.
. parking in Piran
. the Slovenian keyboard is tough to negotiate ćčš kjlč0
Until next time from Croatia (don't tell Damien).
Yeatesy.

Slovenia, population 2 million, land size roughly that of Tasmania and a very outdoor nation who have the glory of a number of Olympic medals including gold in Sydney for the double skulls.
So arriving in Bled, our first stop, GPS free and me in the navigators seat (only a few wrong turns). We got amongst it on mountain bikes and checked the town/lakes/mountains out. Dinner at our hostel with some interesting conversation (don't mention the war, any war). We tucked into 2 meat 2 vegy (or in our case I had 2 vegy and Gaz 4 meat 2 vege) and sampled some of the local homemade wine. I need to get to the dentist quick to check I still have enamel on my teeth. Woke the next morning and looked in the mirror and saw "elephant woman" gazing back. I had been attacked by mozzies, I think, and my eye and jaw were swollen. It looked like Gary might have given me a back hander during the night. Fortunately Ljubljana during the day was bright and sunny so I was able to don sunglasses to disguise the damage.
Ljubljana, a great city, not too big, not too small, just the right mix of students, culture and old architecture, and as a bonus, a jazz festival. Ljubljana also produces some pretty fine wines, especially compared to the home brew we'd been experiencing.
On to Piran for our last few nights in Slovenia and our wedding anniversary. The perfect location. A small coastal/fishing village comprising compact housing on a peninsula overlooking Croatia to the east and Italy to the west. Our room with roof top balcony overlooked the entire town and was the perfect spot to watch the sun rise and set of an evening over the city square. Superb and a sad farewell to Slovenia with its clean water, free and conveniently located WC, reasonable priced food/wine and delicious walnut bread and herb cheese. Water temperature about 21 degrees.
Penny

More images at:

www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com

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Photos

Bled
The Lake

Selo
The view from our window

Ljubljana
After the rain cleared

Ljubljana
Pepes back window

Ljubljana
The flying Ljubljans

Postoja
Pit stop to Piran

Piran
From the city walls

Piran
From the harbour

Piran
From the plaza