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Destination Asie

September - December 2023
Follow us as we wend our way from Austria towards Turkey and the start of the East. Read more
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  • 72footprints
  • 10countries
  • 89days
  • 682photos
  • 19videos
  • 3.6kkilometers
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  • TravelerDestination Asie
    Day 1

    From home to Villach, Austria

    September 5, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Après des semaines de préparatifs, la difficile décision est prise -- c'est Maisie qui viendra et Freya reste à la maison, payant sa jeunesse et quelques vibrations.
    Le grand jour, 5 septembre au matin, levés à 5h30, fin prêts à 6h15, nous sommes presque réveillés à 7h15 pour charger les vélos et les accrocher dans le train à Cornavin.

    Il faut bien reconnaître qu'un tel trajet à travers Suisse et Autriche est plus long mais bien plus beau en train qu'en avion! Nous profitons à fond des paysages et d'une escale de deux heures à Salzbourg chez Mozart et les archevêques.

    Arrivée à Villach à la nuit, nous trouvons le camping, et retrouvons dans notre fourbi duvet pyjamas et brosses à dents. En route pour la Slovénie après un bon petit déjeuner -- au menu spécial, des pommes de notre récolte.    Read more

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  • TravelerDestination Asie
    2
    Day 2

    18 percent!

    September 6, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    1000m of climbing for the first day was never going to be a doddle. However, we had not reckoned on a long 18% climb whilst contending with the roar of gang after gang of motorcycles, usually passing a bit too close to our wobbles. The pass finally achieved we slipped into Slovenia and the Triglav National park with mountains well in keeping with the steepness of the roads. With great views and fewer motorbikes we made a slow climb to our refuge, rewarded with spectacular views from the window.Read more

  • TravelerDestination Asie
    13
    Day 3

    Over Vrsic

    September 7, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Une belle soirée au gîte Slovène (goulash de chevreuil) et nous voici fin prêts pour la fin de l'ascension de col de Vršič (prononcer Verchitz à cause des petits accents). Sublime dans la lumière de matin, le soleil joue dans les ombres et les brumes. Le GPS grimpe à 23%, erreur de mesure?

    La grande descente est tout aussi vertigineuse, portant les restes de la grande guerre, tunnels, téléphérique, bunkers. Il y a aussi les crêtes et gorges calcaires, le grondement des torrents.

    La Slovénie est aussi un pays touristique en plein essort, joyeux.    Read more

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  • TravelerDestination Asie
    Day 4

    Clear waters

    September 8, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    The Soca river runs from the Vrsic pass down to the Adriatic. Its beautifully clear and peppered with small gorges and potholed canyons. This morning we continue along the river, still fast but wider, and then a beautiful although artificial lake.
    At lunchtime we decide its time for a change and head up and not down the next valley. The first climb is shaded and the road clings to the hillside. The second climb is steep, straight and unexpectedly gravelly gravel so we are relieved to finally make the top. We find a delightful tiny campsite for the night, just for us and complete with chickens and a way too friendly cat.    Read more

  • TravelerDestination Asie
    Day 5

    The Karst house

    September 9, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    En route vers la Croatie nous longeons l'Italie et les grandes villes de Gorizia et Trieste, magnifiques mais compliquées à vélo. Nous traversons le Karst, région calcaire célèbre pour ses rivières et cavernes souterraines et qui a prêté son nom à des formations karstiques semblables dans le monde entier.

    Dans les jardins du chateau de Stanjel se tient une belle noce italienne. Ils ont une superbe vue sur les alentours, des toilettes magnifiques et des belles voitures. Nous passons discrètement, car nous avons bien transpiré à la montée!

    Le village comprend quelques maisons de ce dur calcaire, au toits de lauzes et gouttières taillées dans la pierre. Le conservation de l'eau de pluie est l'objet de tout un art. Une des maisons, aux fondations du XII-ème siècle, propose une petite exposition de mobilier et ustensiles anciens, qui nous rappelle Coubou. Nous admirons la râpe à carottes et la mandoline à onions et concombres.

     Une crème glacée et ça repart...    Read more

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  • TravelerDestination Asie
    Day 6

    Skocjan Karst Caves

    September 10, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The Skocjan caves are a UNESCO monument and are …. Huge. The tour took us over 3 hours: the first 1.5 hours in a guided group and deep underground; the last optional 1.5 hours was on our own. It was mind boggling that this latter part was an « option ».

    All our photos are of the optional extras as no photos are allowed on the main tour. I copied a photo of the underground bridge over the 45m deep underground canyon for you.

    We walked the whole tour, which was beautifully designed and subtly lit. As we passed through and down, one huge chamber after another, our awe grew. Yes, there were some wonderful stalagmites and stalactites and drip stones (en Français: 'des méduses'). But the sheer size of it, more than 100m high, with the river way way below, was like nothing we have ever seen.

    The caverns were so huge and so long that the Austrians were originally working on using the caves to route an underground railway line joining Vienna to Trieste. Luckily a huge flood made them see sense sooner rather than later.

    That was the morning! The afternoon saw us avoiding the heat along windy wooded mountain roads with roadside flowers and apples.    Read more

  • TravelerDestination Asie
    Day 9

    Finally into Hvratska!

    September 13, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Encore émerveillés par les caves de Skocjan, nous passons par les collines et la vallée de la Reka -- la rivière souterraine des caves karstiques, celle dont la crue a mis un point final au projet de métro Vienne-Trieste. La campagne ici est charmante, ordonnée, découpée en petits lopins: ici du maïs, ici une pâture, ici un potager agrémenté de potirons et de fleurs. Des arbres fruitiers parsèment le tout. Nous en profitons pour faire une pause hebdomadaire -- et Alice* une petite purge :~) histoire aussi de planifier la suite.

    La suite ... c'est ce nouveau pays, vous reconnaissez? Autre pays, autre histoire, autres influences. Ici le souvenir des atrocités nazies de la seconde guerre mondiale permet d'oublier les oustachis de triste mémoire. Nous arrivons par l'arrière pays de Rijeka, belle station balnéaire et grand port sur l'Adratique, et pouvons entrevoir la mer. Ces quartiers révèlent un pays encore marqué par la guerre civile récente, et en développement un peu anarchique dominé par le tourisme.

    Nous entrons maintenant dans les Alpes Dinariques....

    * Finally made it over the border (rather gingerly) after a couple of days of being holed up in bed with a stomach 🐜 :-(.    Read more

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  • TravelerDestination Asie
    Day 12

    There be Bears

    September 16, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Alain really wants to see a bear and we are in bear country. Woods, bees, honey, wilderness and more woods. Alice would like to see a bear on condition it is heading in the opposite direction. We have not seen any yet but we have found bear poo! Quite a lot of it actually. It can be recognized in this season by the large quantity of berries which the bears gobble up without chewing.

    We have spent the last 3 days pedalling up and over and through wooded mountains. Our first night we were far from civilization. After a wet afternoon, Alain asked at a small house if we could camp - so we enjoyed their orchard for the night. The dogs would keep bears at bay … (they woke us when foxes arrived).

    Then it was woods and hills and fog and Alains first spotting of bear poo as we passed close to a National park. Then a long wooded descent … you get the idea. Today yet more woods and more poo :-) and even some sunshine to bring us to the Plitvice National Park which we will explore tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerDestination Asie
    1
    Day 12

    War, war, war

    September 16, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Today we are particularly struck by just how much of the time we spend passing signs of war. This holiday we started with the cold war, then WW1 prisoners of war and then both WW1 and WW2 fronts. Our previous trip through the Vosges and then Alices continuation across the low countries was also full of the evidence of war with front line military cemeteries from both wars and forts and shrapnel and memorials to brave lieutenants. So much of it.

    Today our first ever mass grave and remnants of the 1991 Serbian Croatian war. 52 names, we ponder the 3 pairs of identical named people who died. Close by houses riddled with bullet holes.

    Now we stay with people whose lives have been displaced and reshaped by these recent happenings.

    (Added later from Bosnia). 1992-95 memorials, this time muslim themed, each with a list of soldiers and another of civilians. More bullet holes in houses, more mine warnings. Bosnia still appears to be licking its wounds. It is all so recent, it feels too close to home.    Read more

  • TravelerDestination Asie
    2
    Day 13

    Plitvice I -- lower lakes

    September 17, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    The Plitvice lakes national park is described by the guidebook as being as if Croatia had put all of its waterfalls in just one place. It seems a reasonable summary. It is spectacular with numerous lakes and even more waterfalls. New to us is the prominance of tufa, which has created the barriers between the lakes over which the water falls, in turn building more tufa. Tufa (en français 'tuf calcaire') is a calcium carbonate deposit which crystallizes out of the water, stimulated by moss and other plants, when in contact with air.

    The park is very popular, not to mention expensive: it costs as much for the day as our room for 2 nights; admittedly, there is more to see ;-) and it is a UNESCO world heritage site....    Read more

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