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Published: August 9th 2006
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What a view, Bled, Slovenia
What a couple of poseurs... D - Whoever said travelling was easy was just trying to sell guide books (in fact, he probably owns the Lonely Planet publishing empire). At the two month stage, I think we're both suffering travel fatigue. Italy underlined this for us. We've since visited Croatia and Slovenia, and deliberately slowed down and chilled out...
Croatia - Dubrovnik and impossible islands
So, after an overnight ferry from Bari to Dubrovnik, where a 'deck' ticket really means what it says (although, we managed to blag the alternative - vinyl reclining seats in the smokers bar!), we arrived in beautiful Dubrovnik. We had a great room in a shared apartment a 10 minute bus ride from the old town and a 5 minute walk from the beach. Perfect. Time to kick back and do things s l o w l y . . . Apart from trying to arranging our onward transport and accommodation in Hvar that is. Several people had gushed about it, and we were very keen to go. However, the combination of bi-weekly ferries from Dubrovnik (the next one three days after we'd arrived), and travel agents telling us the accommodation was overbooked, beat us. Lets just
Deck ticket, Bari to Dubrovnik
Why do we all look like refugees? say that our planned 1 day Dubrovnik/3 days Hvar became 3 days in Dubrovnik. Still, not a bad place to kick back and relax in.
D - I'm amazed that 15 years ago the medieval old town was a war zone. For almost a year, Serbia fired rockets at it and snipers picked off the locals, destroying over 50% of the town. It was never taken, and the government has made a point of rebuilding the place exactly as it was. The locals are very proud, and very friendly people. I think if you're still local after a civil war, then you've every right to be proud. There is still evidence of the war. It's recommended that you don't wander from the paths in the hills around the town (there are still landmines), some buildings still bear the scars of war (bullet marks), and the railway line hasn't yet been rebuilt, but, on this coastline with the sun shining it's very easy to take for granted that this has always been a very peaceful place. The old walled town is spectacular - although often overrun by tourists and restaurants. It is easy however, to turn a few corners and
avoid the hordes. I'm saddened to think that things might change quickly, with the rumour of budget ailines vying for access rights, the town could become swamped very quickly - I hope it manages this growth better than other places...
Three days of relaxing - eating, drinking, swimming, and sunsets. And a trip out to Lokrum Island, 3 miles from the old port with a monastery, fort (with impressive views) and nudist beach (why couldn't we find it???). That's about all we did.
Our onwards journey to Slovenia involved an 8 hour ferry ride up the coast (yes, stopping in fabled, mythical, hitherto unattainable, Hvar). We passed the time with some Aussie travellers, playing drinking games and picnicking. They got off at Hvar, bravely without accommodation, and we haven't heard from them since! Next was a 4 hour stop at Split. Split is a major transport hub, and although we only had a few hours here, we had a great 'local' meal and wine and explored the Diocletian palace - a huge Roman 'retirement home' built for emperor Diocletian, which has since been used as the substructure for the town. Streets are built in what used to be
hallways. Amazingly you turn a corner to see a hotel or bookshop perched atop or beside roman columns or arches. There is even a market in the ancient catacombs.
From Split, we had the luxury of an overnight train to Slovenia. Even though we'd heard good things about Ljubjiana (capital of Slovenia) from fellow travellers, we decided that we didn't fancy another city so we bypassed it and headed for the town of Bled, at the foot of the Julian Alps.
Croatian trains are not as frequent as many of their european conterparts, although we did get a very modern carriage, populated entirely by British travellers. This was fine, until at 3am, in the middle of a storm, rainwater started pouring from the roof on every bend. Suffice to say that Dal demanded, as is his right as a British Citizen (ha ha ha!), to be moved to another cabin. The attendant didn't believe us, until he got wet socks. He got his own back on us though - no coffee for breakfast!!
Slovenia - Beautiful, fairytale Bled
After Dubrovnik, Bled was a breath of fresh air. Literally. The day we arrived it was
raining cats and dogs, and it was about 12°, less than half the average temperature of the previous eight weeks. It was lovely. For about an hour. Then we started missing the sun...
Bled is a bit of a resort town on a beautiful lake, complete with a beautiful church located on an island and a castle high above the town on a clifftop. Very picturesque. It was a work of torture for us trying to narrow down what photos to post.
We didn´t do too much in Bled. We walked around the lake in the rain. And took photos. We walked to Vintgar gorge. And took photos. We hiked up Osojnica for the view. And took photos. We also ate alot - cheap and huge portions. Ab went without dinner for two nights because she´d eaten too much for lunch.
We found a book about good rail journeys in Europe and it recommended the route from Bled to Nova Gorica. So we did that one day. As predicted - amazing views along the Soca river - check out Dals photo from the train. Though slightly disturbing to see trees starting to turn, which reminded us that
we are into August and autumn isn´t far away.
We arrived in Nova Gorica with no idea what to expect. It turned out to be a border town with Italy. After the war it was split in two - a Slovenian part and an Italian part - with a big fat border down the middle. So we two innocents came out of the station door and found ourselves literally standing on the border, but not allowed to cross.
We pondered this during our wanders around Nova Gorica, enjoying its distinctly communist town planning. But other than a casino there wasn´t much to see. So we walked for miles to the nearest border control into Gorizia (the name of the town on the Italian side), and gave Italy another chance. The wonderful lunch we had there made it worth it.
However, with about two trains a day back to Bled, we had to rush to make our train back, and it involved something of an illegal sprint across the uncontrolled border area outside the train station. Nothing happened. It´s just one of those things legally trained people don´t relish doing...
Where to next?
We´re in the
Czech Republic now (and struggling with the keyboard and lack of English punctuation), having taken an absolutely amazing train journey from Bled to Salzburg, through the Austrian Alps - another Dal train photo on this blog to check out. Those mountains are HUGE. From here we are heading to Munich on the 9th and then mooching round the south of Germany for a while looking at more castles.
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Judy Nobilo
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Dubrovnik
Great to read about your travels. Did you realise that Dubrovnik is Ivan's family home. His fathers home is still there on the water front. Love Judy