AS
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Karst Country
Friday dawned sunny and clear in Ljubljana and we boarded the bus for another hot day on the road. Fortunately we headed for the coast and there wasn't too much grumbling.
The road took us though the famous Karst country with its sink-holes and caverns we did not have time to explore. Then it was on to Trieste on the Adriatic - yet another Schengen experience as we whizzed through un-manned check-points in and out of Italy.
Almost next to Trieste, which is a large port having a significant ship-buildng industry, is the Slovenian port of Koper, where we spent a lot more time. Koper was developed by the Slovenians as a rival to Trieste, but is really rather small by comparison. What it does have is some beautiful buildings and squares in the Venetian style, as shown in the photos, and the University of Primorska, which we visited.
Next came Piran and Portoroz, twin coastal resorts in Slovenian Istria. They have the obligatory marinas and even casinos, which apparently in short supply in nearby Italy or Croatia. Piran is the lovelier of the two, with beautiful buildings, piazzas, churches and towers in the Venetian idiom. And the main square had a large statue of Tartini, the composer, on a plinth in the middle. Portoroz is rather more modern.
The next post has a couple of images of Piran.
AS
AS
The road took us though the famous Karst country with its sink-holes and caverns we did not have time to explore. Then it was on to Trieste on the Adriatic - yet another Schengen experience as we whizzed through un-manned check-points in and out of Italy.
Almost next to Trieste, which is a large port having a significant ship-buildng industry, is the Slovenian port of Koper, where we spent a lot more time. Koper was developed by the Slovenians as a rival to Trieste, but is really rather small by comparison. What it does have is some beautiful buildings and squares in the Venetian style, as shown in the photos, and the University of Primorska, which we visited.
Next came Piran and Portoroz, twin coastal resorts in Slovenian Istria. They have the obligatory marinas and even casinos, which apparently in short supply in nearby Italy or Croatia. Piran is the lovelier of the two, with beautiful buildings, piazzas, churches and towers in the Venetian idiom. And the main square had a large statue of Tartini, the composer, on a plinth in the middle. Portoroz is rather more modern.
The next post has a couple of images of Piran.
AS
AS
A Hot Day
On the day we paralleled the Croatian border, the temperature was about 35C, perhaps a little higher than the famous Britih heatwave of a month ago, which made hilarious headlines in Australia when Nottingham was declared a 'disaster' area after the temperature there hit a scorching 28C.
At 35C, the locals headed to resorts like the one shown and stripped to as little as possible. This facility, about 50m from the Croatian border is designed to attract people from that country, as well as itinerant Germans and Austrians looking for the Dalmatian Coast. The owners had even sighted a rare migratory POM who had come along for their chocolate treatment in which the body is entirely encased in dark chocolate! Someone was sufficently politically incorrect to ask if Barack Oabama woudl be coated in white chocolate were he to turn up. Anyway, I'll give Dot a surprise of this kind if she'll return to Slovenia one day. The resort has numerous other body treatments for the tired and ailing!
The hill in the background is in Croatia.
AS
At 35C, the locals headed to resorts like the one shown and stripped to as little as possible. This facility, about 50m from the Croatian border is designed to attract people from that country, as well as itinerant Germans and Austrians looking for the Dalmatian Coast. The owners had even sighted a rare migratory POM who had come along for their chocolate treatment in which the body is entirely encased in dark chocolate! Someone was sufficently politically incorrect to ask if Barack Oabama woudl be coated in white chocolate were he to turn up. Anyway, I'll give Dot a surprise of this kind if she'll return to Slovenia one day. The resort has numerous other body treatments for the tired and ailing!
The hill in the background is in Croatia.
AS
Schengen Agreement
One of the wonders of the European Union is the Schengen agreement, which these pages have already alluded to. Bascially, it is designed to facilitate cross border excursions or journeys to work for EU territories adjacent to non-EU member states. This picture shows another Schengen border with Slovenia in the foreground and Croatia on the other side of the river, which runs near the foot of the hill. We saw crossing points and the officials didn't seem over-taxed, although I gather that many families are split by the border. Croatia has applied for EU membership and that might occur in the next 3 years.
Max would like the water slides shown in the picture and the old railway cars. As far as I can tell the top of the water slide is in Slovenia and the end in Croatia, but that might be a fault of perspective.
AS
Max would like the water slides shown in the picture and the old railway cars. As far as I can tell the top of the water slide is in Slovenia and the end in Croatia, but that might be a fault of perspective.
AS
Pilloried
Slovenia villages are full of remnants of by-gone eras. The attached picture shows the pillory in one of the ones we visited and apparently it's still in use! In fact I was nearly pilloried myself for all the bad jokes I made about this facility!!
For the record, three of my Portuguese speaking colleagues are admiring it, possibly becauase the Slovene version is better than the one they use. Scott and Ana Maria Bicalho from Rio de Janeiro are standing either side of another Ana from Lisbon.
AS
For the record, three of my Portuguese speaking colleagues are admiring it, possibly becauase the Slovene version is better than the one they use. Scott and Ana Maria Bicalho from Rio de Janeiro are standing either side of another Ana from Lisbon.
AS
Oh Deer!
Slovenia appears full of money making ventures designed to extract cash from tourists, though some are very well done. Some farmer had the idea of importing deer on to his property and turned them into performing animals. He built a large dining / service area to provide facilities for the chalets he designed to accommodate visitors. The surrounding landscape is beautiful and relaxing and he (or rather it appears his wife) taught the deer to come when called. This strategy proved very successful as the pictures show. This venture is in the far east of Slovenia adjacent to the Croatian border.
By the way, note that one of the guest houses is named Pension Rebeka.
AS
Slowly Finding My Way
All my postings for the last two weeks have involved navigating foreign BLOG instructions. First it was Swiss German, then Slovene, and now high German as I'm finishing off a few more contributions from my sojourn in Slovenia in the terminal at Frankfurt. It's annoying that there is a 4 hour wait here. So far I don't think I've made a serious blunder, but there's always the possibility, not least because the spell-checker always uses the local language!
AS
AS
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Podcetrtek
Slovenia is full of tiny villages in picture-postcard settings with castles and religious buildings. These pictures of Podcetrtek show you what I have in mind. The village is set amidst stepp mountains and clear streams. It's worth a visit.
AS
AS
Booze, Pharmacy, and Chocolates
The Olimje Minorite Monastery was an interesting place to visit, and not just on account of extremely humorous and English-speaking friar. He had been in a monastery in Kenya for some year, I gather.
The Monastery buildings, dating from 1550, were high baroque, with an extremely ornate interior as shown in the accompanying pictures. But the inhabitants had a few 'vices', with expertise in distilling 'medicinal' schnapps (I'm trying to import a bottle with me back into Australia and will claim it as a medicine), herbal medicines and chocolate (also in my suit-case)! You wouldn't expect a bunch of respectable clerics to produce anything like common booze would you?
The pharmacy, as it was called, is the third oldest in Europe and dispensed medicines to the monks and villagers made from local ingredients. The chocolate was presumably to while away long evenings and provide the monks with anti-oxidents!
AS
Slovenian Dancing
When I was a kid I remember hearing about Slavonic Dancing, but a couple of days ago we witnessed some Slovenian dancing at Terme Olimje Podcetrtek (which is just about unpronounceable). That's close to the Croatian border.
I gather that the dance troup was hired to serenade us after lunch and that they did brilliantly with a large repertoire of what I took to be traditional dances. The picture show them in action with some of our party looking on.
AS
I gather that the dance troup was hired to serenade us after lunch and that they did brilliantly with a large repertoire of what I took to be traditional dances. The picture show them in action with some of our party looking on.
AS
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