2 to 9 May - First week in Slovenia

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Fittingly Gina and I arrive in Slovenia on my birthday, 2 May. Over about 3 days we’d taken Le Petit Pois down from Argenton into the south of France and then across Provence, past the riveria towns of Cannes and Nice, into Italy. We scooted past Genoa and, because it was raining, went straight across the northern expanse of Italy in one day, breaking the journey outside of Venice. The next day we made the short hop across to the Slovene border taking the coast road past Miramar castle into the Italian city of Trieste. The road provided us with beautiful vistas of the Mediterranean Sea. Passing through some villages on our approach to Trieste we got an idea of the passion of cycling in this part of the world, as we and other motorists were bundled off the road by a steaming cavalcade of police motorcyclists, cyclists and, in pursuit, the support vehicles. Exciting stuff. We also saw that in this area of Italy the mixed backgrounds of the people. Street signage is in both Italian and Slovene, which is typical of the border areas of most of Europe. However what was more surprising were the number of banners put up in these villages in support of May Day – they were all in Slovene. Also of note was the amount of May Day red flags – this didn’t register until we made our way into Slovenia and I was suddenly aware of the total absence of any of this sort of communist paraphernalia.

As we neared the Slovene border I was reminded of the acute need to secure a Vignette for our car. Unlike in countries such as France and Italy where you pay to use the freeways at designated spots along the way (peage) Slovenia had done away with the tollgate system instead requiring all road users to prepurchase a sticker called a Vignette. I’d read stories of western tourists straying onto the Slovenian toll ways without a Vignette being caught by the overzealous transport officers and hit with 250 Euro fines. I’d also heard that finding a place to buy the Vignette was a challenge. However after mangling our way to the border, we managed to find a bar about 50 yards from the abandoned customs post where I could buy a Vignette. Thirty Euros gave me the right to drive on Slovenian tollways for a month. This is a bargain compared to what we’d paid for tollways in France and Italy so I was pretty chuffed as we finally made our way into the Slovenian hinterland.

The first thing you notice as you make your way from the border is Nanos. It’s a large round barefaced rock that juts out at the end of the mountain range. The rock rises up some 1200 meters and dominates the horizon. After passing Nanos we move into the valleys of Slovenia proper. The valleys are green, very green and are dotted with network of little villages, each one topped with a small church. Neat as a pin, each of these villages looked just were lifted out of a postcard. Something many people imagine about Austria and Switzerland. My eyes were litterally bleeding from the sights. It was warm as well something we'd noticed the previous evening near Venice where we'd felt the warm evening breeze from the Adriatic. I have to say I got a bit emotional about it all and I went very quiet.

We wound our way through the centre of the country, passing Cerknica lake, as enigmatic as Lake George near Canberra, arriving in Novo Mesto in the early evening. We’d made our way across half of Europe with the aid of a fairly basic map. However with this map we couldn’t find my cousin Joze’s house, so we made a call for him to collect. After the greetings, he was surprised we had travelled without a GPS. We showed him our map (Slovenia was all of 3 inches across on the map) and it became the standing joke between cousins and uncles.

The next couple of days we spend visiting a few relatives from my mothers side of the family - uncles, aunts and cousins - and settling into the town of Novo Mesto. My cousin Joze and wife Vesna put us up in their very ample house on the outskirts in the village of Otocec, avery pleasant little village complete with medieval castle thats been converted into a flash 5 star hotel. A couple of days after arriving Gina and I drive up to the capital Ljubljana and pick up Ellen from the train station. She's had the last week in Paris with family friend Agnes spending a lot of time chilling, and cooking, one of her favourite pastimes. We travel back to Novo Mesto and reacquaint her with the family. We'd been there 9 years earlier to meet the family first time around.

Meeting the family is great but we realised from the previous trip that we needed to get away occasionally otherwise we'd not see anything. Having the car especially good for this as it gave a bit independence. So we did a couple of day trips to look around the Dolenjska, the region around Novo Mesto. One trip we did was to a nearby Carthusian monastery at Pleterje. The monastery still functions with about 16 monks who have taken the pledge of silence...for good. As such the place is off limits to visitors but we did visit the museum next door which is really a museum showcasing rural life in days gone by. Fascinating place

After a couple more days we go on another road trip, this time to Croatia with my cousin Alenka, her husband Bostjan and kids Ajda and Lana. Alenka and Bostjan are hosting Ellen while she is staying in Novo Mesto so it will be nice getting away with them for a couple of days, from the clutches of the family. Travelling in Bostjan's peugeot people mover, we head some 25kms to the Croatian border before heading a little way further on the freeway and then heading along the coast where we catch a ferry across to the island of Pag. On Pag we head for the camp ground at Strasko where Alenka and Bostjan have a time share cabin. Gina and I have a van at Joalah Park in Durras on the south coast so we thought we knew exactly what we were heading for but I'd not seen the sort of camping resort that they have in Europe. This place was massive with something like 1000 spots for camping - vans and tents as well the permanent annex sites. The place also has restaurants and bars and shops in the high season - bakers, butchers, hairdressers etc. have a look at http://www.turno.hr/en/campsite_strasko_croatia.html I can only say that we were thankful that it was not yet high season as there would have been thousands of tourists here unlike the 100 or so. After spending some time in the cool water by pebbly beaches, we headed for the old town of Novalja for a nice seafood meal. The next day we explored the island but found little apart from rocks and sheep. And large outdoor disco cum resort developments awaiting the summer throng. We came away from Pag with some very nice sheeps milk cheese called Paski Sir.

The next day we returned to Slovenia, this time by an inland route that would take us past the UNESCO site of Plitvice lakes. Its a natural heritage made up of 16 lakes which pass water from one to the other by high and shallow waterfall over an area of about 8 kms. Quite a sight. After a bit of an explore we head back up to the Croatian border through countryside that is still displaying the scars of the recent Balkan war. We pass through villages that are hardly separated but for a sign that indicates one is Croat and the other Serb. The latter is now empty with the occupants having fled the region. As we drive through the towns and villages we houses that are still marked by bullet holes, the owners not doing anything to cover up the damage from the war. Even the large town of Karlovac, close to the Croatian-Slovenian border has plenty of evidence of the war. We feel a bit of relief when we cross the border back into Slovenia. Its just so much nicer, so laid back even the customs police look relaxed as they sit around throwing down beers between inspecting nothing much in particular. Tough job that. That evening my cousin Joze recounts to us what it was like hearing the sounds of battle so close to the town of Novo Mesto in the those days.

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Photos

On top of Gorjanci
Cousin Joze, Uncle Janez and I