Piran

The coast line is puny in Slovenia. There are only a few towns along the way and we picked Piran because it comes highly recommended. 120 Km from Ljubljana is the very small coastal town, a jewel among Slovenian towns. Founded by the Romans, it is today still a lovely place. Compare it to Venice without the canals, some people say. A wonderful, large Piazza, coffee tables, lively folks from all over the globe come and visit. Children play their games on this plaza, like in ancient times, only now they use roller skates or small bicycles or high tech bouncing balls. Yet they still play catch or tag, just like always. Carol and I sat, had our coffee and watched. Only local car traffic is allowed inside the town. Enough history abounds to stay here for weeks if you want to study deeply. Carol and I spend 3 days in this lovely place. The sun shines, the temperature is around 27 degrees C. and while it has tourists, it does not feel too touristy. All or most of the houses are very old. One could believe that life is very good walking the ancient streets. Wash hangs out the window on lines hung by the owners; the streets are a mere 4 or 5 feet wide. The shadows of the 3 or 4 storied buildings give shade in the hot summer and protection from the fierce winds off the Adriatic Sea in the winter. Boats anchor peacefully; a few scooters add the needed noise to make sure everybody is awake. The town lives a peaceful life today and lives off tourist Euros. In years past it was under the protection of the City of Venice, Italy. Its main product was the sea salt harvested in the Salinas, now a tourist attraction and part of the living history museum. The streets are steeply carved into the hills with some ruins of a former castle on top. Old city walls have been partially restored just so you can experience the size of its former glory. A lighthouse marks the spit of land this town stands on. Locals swam in the ocean near a pebbly beach where divers got dressed to search for archeological treasures or ecological curiosity.
All foreign traffic is stopped at large parking lots before the actual town limit begins but motorcycles are exempt from this ruling. We arrived and immediately found a small hotel, a 5 minute walk away from the center of town that served us well. “Miracolo di Mare”, a B&B, has all we need. (www.miracolodimare.si) Good internet which could get us on line to post all of these reports, a sufficient breakfast, quiet location and a room with new air-conditioning were all provided. We paid Euro 60/night for 2; there was no leeway for bargaining. Our bikes are parked in the alley in front of the B&B. We are having a fine time. The restaurants are plentiful and first class. Fish is the main dish on every menu and the personnel speak English fluently. We lucked out. We could not have asked for a better place if we tried. Carol and I visited spots by walking up and down the narrow laneways; we felt safe and enjoyed ourselves being among the locals. Piran is a 3 Star on my list of places to visit. Nothing is in the extreme; it is a great, quiet, enjoyable seaside port. Piran is small, old and elegant and the dilapidated housing is just part of the charm of this place. Come and see for yourself.

Lipica and the Lipizzaner Horses

Along the way to the coast we had the choice to see the famous Škocjan Caves or visit a Stud Farm for the world famous Lipizzaner horses. We did make a stop and even walked to the first lookout of the cave system that makes up the Škocjan Caves but finally opted out in favor of the farm where Lipizzaner horses are bred and trained.
This one of a kind horse, pictured in many of the paintings depicting royalty in the last several centuries is a grand story. The roots of this horse are in Arabia. With the invasion of Spain by the Moors, this horse came to be in Europe. I am not sure how old the roots are in Arabia but Wikipedia only tells the story of the breed of this horse. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipizzaner). The famous picture of Napoleon in Battle shows him sitting on a Lipizzaner. These horses were fearless; trained to obey and to even be heroic. Without noticeable commands, by just feeling the pressure points, the horse knows how to respond to his rider. Mostly trained to transport royalty on their escapades, this horse did serve in many battles. The footing of the horse is very exact and strong. Each step taught to the horse serves as a help in battle. Walking sideways, cantering, even jumping up with all four legs in the air at one time, are tactics used by the battle rider to exploit the nature of the horse.
Jumping like that would give the rider room to maneuver in a crowded battle formation. Walking sideways would sidestep a frontal assault by another horseman. The Lipizzaner is a very strong horse. It learns relatively quickly and it does look elegant. The visit to the stables of Lipica was a treat. There are only 2 stud farms I know of; the other is Piber, near Graz, Austria. This breed of horse, there are only about 3000 horses worldwide, brings one back to an era of ‘horse’ power, when life was not as hectic, when distances were calculated in the days it took for a horse to carry you to your destination. The place in Lipica, even though it is very modern, evokes nostalgia for simpler times. One has to love horses to see my point of view I guess. Yes, my bike has horse power, gets me to places I could not get to otherwise, but I just visited a place where it all started; one horse power at the time.
We had a great time walking through the barns, recounting the days of yesteryear. The farm is located on a huge piece of property. Well organized, with painted white fences, this is a prime example of a heritage Slovenia can be, and is, very proud of.
We loved this place! (Sorry about not visiting the cave system, but we cannot do it all.)

Ljubljana via Vršič Pass

Here is a quote from a travel writer: “ Vršič Pass: the drive of your life “.
“50 numbered hairpin curves, most with cobble stone corners; 25 KM long. Experience Intense and beautiful vistas, staggering rocky formations and excellent views!” (I only looked at the road; I did not see the views). We got a workout early in the morning after we left Bled. The pass summit is only 1411 meters but what a ride! We were totally awake riding this section. I knew ahead of time about this stretch so I mounted my camera to the bike to take a video but… the camera shook loose. I had to stop on the pass to just take it off and push it into my pocket. A helmet camera would do a better job anyway but I gave it a try using the video setting on my old and trusted Canon. No way to take other pictures while riding. We stopped at the summit to prove to ourselves for later years to come that we made it to the top of this pass. This is amazing road work.
I read that many people died building this road; 300 Russian prisoners of war alone died in an avalanche near turn 21. There is a chapel built to honor the dead at turn 8 but I never saw it. Thousands more died during the construction of the road. All the people are buried in a nearby cemetery. Even after we were off the pass, the road continued in very curvy, ideal motorcycle style for many miles. We passed the towns of Bovec, Tolmin, Škofja Loka to end up in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. The whole of our travels that day were on excellent and challenging roads, made for motorcycles. Go as fast as you want to go, just slow down in the dispersed towns to 50KM per hour. The road is yours. We rode moderately but we were passed by local riders who rode past us as if they had stolen something.
We intended to stay for 2 days in Ljubljana, the dragon city. Jason the Argonaut supposedly slew a dragon here. Ljubljana is a former swamp area. Lovingly the inhabitants often refer to themselves as ‘frogs’ stemming from this former swampy neighborhood. We felt the cold, wet weather and the last few days of riding in our bones. I don’t believe it was the wetness that made us feel that way. We were worn out. Today, Ljubljana is a very large, very cosmopolitan city with all the modernity the new age has to offer. The way into town was easy. In the center of town is the old city and one has to just follow the signs for city center to land near the river, in the heart of Ljubljana. Finding a hotel was a different story. When we arrived it started to rain. We were so close to finding a hotel; we did not put on our rain suits. Well, I did not, Carol’s suit is a ‘Stich and supposedly waterproof. I asked young people in a café if they knew of an inexpensive hotel, motel or hostel for a few nights. Their English was excellent yet their directions were for the birds. We found the “City Hotel’ but all my crying did not help, Euro 98 for one night incl. breakfast. I passed. Back on the bike, back into the rain. I asked a taxi driver, I find those guys know a lot. Sure enough, in perfect English he explained to me that there was a hostel/hotel “Park Hotel” and after some searching we found it. The price was 40 Euro but no breakfast. Parking was in front of the hostel. Now this is a curious place. It is a hotel. But the 7th floor of this hotel is made into a hostel for young people. No shower in the room, just a sink and a toilet, basic accommodations with 2 single beds in a room. It was a basic place to stay, cheap enough to be affordable for students, for example. Well, Carol and I are students of life, so we set off, after we moved in (we could only get a one night stay) and visited the downtown, old city area. We found graffiti all over the walls of the historic area. There were pierced everything people walking about. I saw hairdos from the future; colored hair in any shade of purple, pink and what not. We had entered the twilight zone. I am glad the Park Hotel only had room for us for one night. We walked around, had dinner in a small place that served typical Balkan faire and left the next morning. No shower, just a sponge bath and off we went to find the tiny coastline of Slovenia.

Bled

In order to go to the Slovenian town of Bled, famous for its idyllic setting, we had to get back to Austria for a little bit. The town of Bled comes highly recommended by every guide book. One cannot go to Slovenia and not go to Bled. We needed a rest anyway from the cold and from riding every day so we thought about staying 2 nights. Entering Austria was as difficult as leaving Austria. Little did we know that Austria would not let us go in or out without going over some tricky roads! The passes we had to take to get in or out of Austria were not that high, Paulitsch Sattel at 1338 meters, Schaida Sattel at 1069 meters and Kleiner Loibl Pass at 720 meters, but all had their own tricks up their sleeves. Having passed our baptism last year in Italy we managed each pass just fine, albeit it was hard work getting through all the hairpin curves, the narrow roads, the sometimes scary drop offs. We got a great workout, our arms hurt, and our necks pained us from looking up and way over through each hairpin curve. Some passes were so isolated that I thought about what I might have to do to get help, just in case. We were just the 2 of us riding the tricky roads. No time to take pictures, just hang on, do the right thing, get past this dangerous section, then get ready for the next twisty. One by one, we managed yet I can tell you these not so high passes were surprisingly difficult. We entered Slovenia again and again I had to get used to the names. How to you pronounce “Trižič “?
Once we arrived in Bled we were determined to be in the center of town. We saw a sign on a nice looking hotel, room with breakfast, double occupancy for 50 Euro a night. Great! We could not park or even stop in front of this hotel and had to find the back alley first. Once there we got off the bike and… the hotel was closed. Nice looking place but closed. I guess you can put any price on a place if you are closed. I tried the hotel next door but there the price for a room was 120 Euros per night. Even crying a little only brought it down to 96 Euros. I passed. The young man behind the reception of the open 3 star hotel heard me cry so loudly and had pity on me and told me about an apartment nearby that rented on a daily basis so we checked there. We got the room for 40 Euros without breakfast. Parking was in front of the door, we had a kitchen and while there were 52 steps up to our room (Carol counted them) and the place was old, run by an older lady that needed extra income, it was just fine. The apartment had the best location in town, too. A supermarket one street over gave us what we needed for food. We were ready to explore the place.
One of the things to do here is to walk around the lake. About a 2 hour walk. We passed. We have seen lakes before. Another thing to do is a boat trip, one guy rowing you and others to a small Island near the center of the lake for 12 Euro per person. The Island had a few trees and was so small it only had a small Chapel in the center and nothing else. We passed on that one, too. I am not that fond of Churches, Cathedrals and/or Chapels. That leaves the main Church of St. Martin and the castle, high on the cliff to explore.
The first day we walked up to St. Martin and it was nice enough, yet, like I said, I am not keen in visiting one church after another. I went just to get some walking in after all the riding we did. Through a well laid out park along the edge of the lake we meandered, always uphill, to this church. Yet it was open, Carol took some pictures and now it was time to return to our loft and rest for the night.
The next morning, the weather was wonderful and mild; we looked at each other and the castle from below. We decided to take a taxi up and walk down. It was a good choice. Even after arriving at the castle by car, we still had a steep hike for the last few hundred yards. The old bones start to creak and the lungs wheeze after walking like that. The castle contained a small museum and showed an exhibit of the local history. This well done display gave us an insight back to the beginning of Bled but I would like to add something here.
Slovenia has always been a country of turmoil. It is said that the Greek Argonauts under Jason travelled through the land and founded cities such as Ljubjana (Laibach). Some ancient finds give proof of this, depending how one looks at things. In Bled, it is shown that men occupied Slovenia during the Ice age. Slovenia has a history that is very diverse and difficult to study and to remember. While the Romans definitely founded towns such as Ljubjiana (Emona in Latin), Ptuj (Poetovia), Celje (Celia), the history of Slovenia started with local tribes such as the Celts and the Illyrians. Attila the Hun ran across the land in the 5th Century, burning everything in his path. A lot of written documents were lost during Attila’s carnage. The Roman settlers retreated to the coastline during Attila’s attack and founded the cities of Trieste (now in Italy) and the towns of Piran (Piranum) and Koper (Capris). The coast remained a Roman/Italian strong hold for centuries and the port cities served Italian city states, such as Venice, as safe harbors. The inland of Slovenia remained purely agricultural and is even today, a very hilly, very lush, very productive agricultural area.
After Attila the Hun left this region (Attila could never find a way to cross the Alps to attack Vienna) the devastated area he left behind in the 6th Century, was occupied by Slavic tribes coming from the East. These tribes brought along their superstitious beliefs and agriculture and founded an area known then as Karantania. Not long after this formation of a Slavic ‘State’ the new Christians from the North, the Germanic Frankish tribes forced Christianity onto the new Slavic settlers. In the 14th Century the house of Habsburg (Austria) took over for the Franks. The ‘Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nations’ (Holy Roman Reich of German Nations) took over. Vienna, as headquarter of this Reich, ruled for the longest time. The Balkan countries were along the route of the Holy Crusades (the many takeover attempts of the Catholic Church to take back Palestine from the new religion, Islam). A tide of warfare ebbed back and forth through this region between the Christians from the North and the Muslims, especially the Turks, from the South. These back and forth battles made for a difficult life. The coastline towns searched for alliances and found protection from the City States in Italy, like Venice for example. The inland was unprotected and, like a ping pong ball, frequently changed hands. Napoleon in the 18th Century occupied Slovenia, too. After the Peace Treaty in 1812 in Vienna, the area reverted back to the Holy Roman Reich of German Nations. Vienna was in charge again. The Elite, spell Royalty, promoted the German culture. The peasantry however, spell farmers and workers, were the people of Slavic descent.
This back and forth went on and on. The history of Slovenia is difficult. The museum in Bled could only give the smallest picture of its history yet did a fairly good job. After World War 1 Austria lost Slovenia, After World War 2 Russia or the Eastern Block took over and Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. Yet here we are today, Slovenia is now, since 1991, independent and doing a great job being part of the EU.
Not that I learned all this at the museum in Bled but it is essential to understand when visiting this great county.
The town of Bled is indeed a good illustration of what Slovenia is today. Clean, sophisticated, industrious and very educated, the town is worth a visit.
If only…… we had to walk down from the castle and it is a long walk. Not only is the way long but dangerously precarious, following a path established by mountain goats, it seems. We were glad to be back near the edge of the lake and in the sophisticated surroundings of modern society. The area in and around Bled is good for young people. Hiking, canoeing, parasailing, bungee jumping, white water rafting, etc. are the main activities. It is nice to watch the young do it, but why jump out of a perfectly good airplane to skydive? I am getting old!