Julian Alps and the Soca Front
Today in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Wow have we ever had a busy 2 days since leaving Lake Bled. We have managed to travel to 4 countries during that time including Slovenia, Austria, Italy and Croatia. The drive through the Julian Alps starts about an hour outside of Lake Bled in Kranjska Gora, a ski resort town. Rather than following Rick Steves primitive map in his guide book, I entered the town's name in google maps and the shortest way was through Austria passing through the 8 km long Karawanks tunnel. Of course we didn't realize we had entered Austria until our data plans on our phones went dead and we noticed Agipe gas stations which I hadn't previously seen in the Balkans. Fortunately Andrew who was navigating was able to remember the way and we successfully made it back into Slovenia. The Julian alps are known for their spectacular scenery and also becaus during WW1 this area represented the Soca Front where Italy and the Austrian Hungarians fought trench warfare but on the tops of mountains in horrendous conditions. There are still evidence of fortifications dotting the landscape and the road. The road itself had been built by Russian POWs during WW1 to supply the front. A Russain Orthodox chapel marked one of the early switchbacks to commemorate the several hundred Russains who had died from avalanches, exposure or illness building the road. Our route took us up 24 switch backs to the Vrsic pass at about 1300 metres. The little MG SUV really had to strain to make it up all of the switchbacks. We stopped at a few lookout spots along the way to admire the spectacular views. At the top there were further ruins of a ancient gondola tower used during WW1 and some pill boxes that we wandered around as well as heading up to some overlooks into the surrounding valley. We then headed down the 26 switch backs down to the Soca River for which the battlefront was named. We visited Kluze fortress, an Italian fortress on the west side of the river aand an open air museum where they had refurbished some trenches and bunkers and caves to look as they had during the war. Just down the road there was a massive Austrian cemetary containing thousands of buried Austrian soldiers. We finished our day in Kobarid. Kobarid's claim to fame was that Ernest Hemingway while working as an ambulance driver for the red cross supporting the Italian army had been wounded here and subsequently went on to write about it in a Farewell to Arms. They had a very good museum depicting the Soca Front and demonstrating just how brutal the warfare was. Essentially after Italy invaded in 1915 the battlefield remained static for 2 years until October 24 when the Germans supported the Austrians and used phosgene gas for which the Italian's gasmasks did not work and were able to push the Italians all the way back into Italy and finishing the Soca Battle. After another pizzeria and pasta supper we walked up to a large Mausoleum over looking the town where the bodies of all the killed Italian soldiers had been buried. It was very touching.Read more
Lake Bled
May 3 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Yesterday we headed off to \lake bled where we have now stayed 2 nights. Lake bled was billed as one day perhaps 1/2 day by Rick Steves so I thought we could spell out the day by stopping in two towns on the way to visit these museums which Steves had given 2stars. The first town we stopped at was Kropa known for centuries of iron working. It was about 1/2 way between Ljubljana and Lake Bled. It took us off the main highway into a pre-mountainous area and was it ever pretty. It was a holiday Saturday and there were tons of cyclists out biking the steep hills. Kropa was an incredibly pretty little as all of these towns are with Bavarian-like buildings and Hapsburg churches with the interesting Austrian style spires present on all of these churches. It felt very Austrian/Swiss. There was a stream running through the middle of town. Kropa's claim to fame was that it was the supplier of wrought iron nails to much of Europe for hundreds of years. We went to the Kropa iron works museum and it was a little lame but they did have an interesting collection of hob nails. Hobnails were a nail used historically on hiking boots to give them better traction. The head of the nail sticks out from the boot. Now the really interesting thing about hob nails for pathologists is that this term is applied to describe malignant cells in a clear cell carcinoma of the ovary. After Kropa we drove farther up hill to a town Jamnik that has a church set out on a peninsula looking down at the rest of the valley. We ate our lunch at the valley and looked down on the surrounding valley. Our next two star museum after the Jamnik church was Radovljica known for having a famous bee museum. Yes bees. Slovenia is known for Carniolan Bee and for many developments that let to the present day field of apiculture. Short of having live beens it is difficult to have an exciting static display about bees. There was a lot about the history of apiculture and the scientists who had led to the developments but it was alittle boring. the town itself was very beautiful and the museum was housed in the town hall where they were having a piano concerto festival so for mmuch of our time in the museum and wandering around town we were accompanied by piano playing.
We headed onto Lake Bled. the closer we got, the worse the traffic became. We arrived about mid afternoon and after checking into our Air BnB we headed down to the lake. The principal things to do at Lake Bled are to wander around the lake admiring the surrounding mountains and forests and the island in the middle of the lake that has a very picturesque church located on the small island. The second thing to do is to take a boat out to the lake. We got inn a line to take an electric boat out to the lake but by the time it showed up there were innumerable people waiting and we couldn't get on. Getting on the boats was not very organized and it seemed that we could wait all afternoon and never get on the boat. We walked around the lake admiring everything and taking endless photos of the island and the little church. It was extremely beautiful. and extremely touristy. It reminded me of Lake Louise in the summer and the ironic thing was that it supposedly is busier here in the summer. Andrew insisted that we walk up to an overlook overlooking the lake for even better views. I was starting to flag but Andrew is quite the taskmaster so up we headed. It was nice as we avoided the tourists and of course had even better views of the lake. After returning to the lake we hit a park with beach access and tried to go for a swim but it was freezing cold. The lake is fed from alpine waters so obviously this time of year it was very cold. We did cool off in the park with a cool breeze blowing off the water before finishing our loop of the lake. It took us about 3 hours as the lake loop is about 6 km. We went out again for supper as of course all of the grocery stores are still closed to Pizzeria Rustica where Andrew enjoyed a pizza and I had a pasta with Bolognese sauce and a salad. We were both quite tired so called it an early night.
Today our second day in Lake Bled we decided to head to Lake Bohinj. Lake Bohinj is billed as a smaller less touristy Lake Bled. I think anywhere maybe even Las Vegas would be less touristy then Lake Bled. When I have been in Lake Louise in the summer, I always try to do some hikes away from Lake Louise and I find they are often just as scenic and almost as beautiful. My initial plan was to drive to Bohinjsko jezero a small town by the lake and hike a gorge to a waterfall. It was supposedly a 3-4 hour hike but we made very good time getting up to the waterfall in1 hour and 20 minutes. What is great about hiking in Slovenia is that there are restaurants along many of the hiking routes. We stopped at one by the waterfall and had a drink and decided what we should do. I wanted to return to the car but Andrew had noticed a second trail which had an elevation of approximately 600 metres that commanded beautiful views of the lake and from which hang gliders embark. I think Andrew has forgotten that I am much older and frail then him but he was able to talk me into doing the hike. Was it ever steep as the climb was over 3km. Just as we made it to the top, a hang glider took off. Thankfully there was a restaurant at the top which after going to the look out we stopped to sit and buy a lunch of sausage, saurkraut and some type of starch perhaps cornflour that tasted a little unusual. It took us an hour to the top. I though it was pretty hard however we did meet one fellow carrying a child and a couple who had walked their Chihuahua dog up the steep path. We chatted with the couple who were locals and they told us that the lookout was a common place for couples to come and get engaged. Curiously when we were coming up the mountain a couple was coming down and Andrew though that the woman was admiring her ring. By the time we made it back to the car we were exhausted. We gave up on visiting the rest of Lake Bohinj as we expected to incur parking problems. We stopped for some groceries at a very expensive small store which was probably the only store open in Slovenia today and headed back to out apartment to chill out. I think Andrew was even more tired than I was.Read more
Ljubljana
April 30 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
We had a late start to our morning as we didn't want to leave Zagreb in rush hour. We were away by 10. It was my turn to drive the car and Andrew's turn to navigate. It was a cool but sunny day. Our first destination was Samobor about 45 minutes outside of Zagreb just before the Slovenian border. It was a small pretty town which Rick Steves recommended as a pleasant place to stop. The town was very pretty with a large yellow church overlooking the square. The time is known for it's Kremsnita cream cake. We walked around town a little and checked out the memorial to soldiers lost in their civil war against Serbia. There were quite a few names. Perhaps 20 which is quite a lot for a small town. We stopped and ate a cream cake in the square. I couldn't quite figure out how they had made it as there was a thin layer of pastry crust on both the bottom and top of a pudding middle. It was very nice.
We drove onto Ljubljana on a beautiful highway with a speed limit of 130kmh. Interestingly the trucks could only go at 100 kmph . I did about 115 but the danger was that if you went out into the inside lane to pass a truck someone going 150kmph would run into you. No collisions. Before we knew it we were in Ljubljana. As soon as we came into Ljubljana we had a good feel. It seemed more prosperous than Zagreb. No snarled traffic. Lots of bicycle paths.
We were to Ljubljana in a very good time. As such we headed down to Preseren Square named after a 19 century nationalist Slovenian poet France Preseren. They don't name their streets after sports heroes here unlike in Edmonton. We admired the three bridges designed by Joze Pletnik Ljubljana's famous architect. The buildings in downtown Ljubljana are all Art Nouveau which I just love. The statue to Preseren was very controversial when it was first displayed in the 19th century as behind and above the writer is his muse a half clad woman. The monks of the Franciscan pink church across the square were insulted by the naked woman and lobbied to have it removed. As a compromise the city would cover the statue at night.
We walked along the river taking in the beautiful market before ending up at the dragon bridge. Dragons are big in Slovania and Llubjana as supposedly Jason of the Argonauts and Golden Fleece slew a dragon here. The dragon bridge is guarderd by 4 dragons. We took a funicular up to the castle which afforded us great views of the city. We walked through squares with beautiful fountains visited the Ntl library also designed by Plecnik, visited the French revolutionary square with an obelisk also designed by Plecnik. We admired the beautiful copper doors on the Cathedral designed for the visit of John Paul the second. It was coming onto 5:30 and we were just exhausted.
For supper we were to meet one of the followers of my travel blog. Actually I think his father and 2 uncles- the Aycock brothers who I met in the UK while hiking the C2C trail 2 years ago are principally my followers. When Sebastian's father realized that I was going to Ljubljana he connected us with Sebastian who generously agreed to join us for supper. We went out to a traditional Slovenian restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed listening to Sebastian's stories of life as an ex-pat living in Slovenia. Sebastian's hobby is writing a blog about the Ljubljana professional hockey team so it was interesting to hear of all his experiences in the Slovenian hockey world. Who would have thought that Llubjana was an outpost for Canada's favorite sport. We walked around a little with Seb after supper but needed to tap out as by then with all the walking and sightseeing we were just exhausted.
Today is May 1 which is celebrated as a national holiday here in Slovenia. They just don't celebrate May 1 as a holiday but also May 2 and May 3. It is a Slovenia national holiday all weekend and as such all stores businesses and many museums are closed. Restaurants and some bakeries are open. I really hadn't counted on this and was hoping to do a grocery shop today. Andrew seemed pleasantly amused that we will be eating out so much this weekend. I had booked us tickets for a tour of Jozef Plecnik's eccentric collection of houses he had as a compound. Jozef was a bachelor who lived an austere life shunning publicity and visitors. A genius but a very odd genius. He had designed the house and the majority of furniture in his house himself. Supposedly all of the furniture had been designed to be uncomfortable as he wanted to encourage people to not visit him. The tour was very enjoyable and gave us some great insights into Ljubljana's favorite son. We again rented bikes for the day and cycled for around 3 hours initially downtown but then to and around Tivoli park and then to unsuccessfully find the Canadian consulate. Very bike friendly city. Andrew lost the chain from his bike and had difficulty getting it back on the chain because of the chain guard but finally prevailed. His hands were covered in grease.
We chilled out for a while before heading off to a close by Vietnamese restaurant for supper. I need some variety from the meat kabobs that is the traditional Slovenian meal. Pad Thai for supper.Read more
Rainy Day in Zagreb
April 29 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Rick Steves book states that Zagreb is probably good for one full day, and he is probably correct. Andrew spent the day reminding me of this statement. It didn't help that it was a rainy day. Despite the light rain, we decided to rent bicycles and do our own tour of Zagreb. We biked south of town to the river valley and biked along the river. The Sara river valley is very large treeless river valley with huge berms of land on either side as it is probably prone to flooding. We cycled along the river before returning to the city and cycling up into the hills and villages above the city to an old railway tunnel where we ate our lunches before a wonderful downhill run back into town. Some of their bike lanes in downtown Zagreb were dedicated lanes but some of the bike paths on the sides of the roads were shared with pedestrians and had also been co-opted for parking so it felt like sidewalk biking. The traffic congestion is pretty bad here in Zagreb and taking the buses is a rather slow way of getting around town. I am a little surprised that they have not put more money into their bicycle paths but like everywhere else the bikes are competing against cars for space and the cars always seem to win.
After we returned the bikes we had a hot drink at a McDonald's and wandered around in the rain a little more before visiting a wonderful Botanical garden. Andrew is rather obsessed with Cold war tunnels so we went and found some that were open to the public and used as short cuts beneath the upper town.
We bused back to the airport to pick up our rental car for 6 pm from Alamo. I never like picking up rental cars. Croats seem to have quite an abrupt way of dealing with people which the sales agent demonstrated. He put on a very hard sell for taking out additional insurance stating that North American cards don't cover car insurance in the Balkans.. It was almost like a curse. I declined. We have a nice MG small SUV. It was lacking the trunk cover which I didn't like as one can't hide your luggage. After checking out the car I insisted on a cover and the agent did go the added distance to find a cover from another vehicle that didn't quite fit but will suffice. Andrew drove back to our apartment on a ring road in quite heavy rain and we called it a day.Read more
The Flight of the Wailing Babies
April 27 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Andrew and I have arrived safely in Zagreb Croatia. The flights Edmonton , Calgary Amsterdam and Zagreb were pretty uneventful. I didn't sleep on the transatlantic flight. It left Calgary at 3 and arrived Amsterdam at midnight. They turned the lights off after the meal around 6:30. I wasn't terribly tired but tried to sleep but didn't have much success. At times several of the babies started wailing at once. It was a little comical. By ten they turned the lights back on to feed us a breakfast. After the layover in Amsterdam we continued on to Croatia on Croatia Airlines with a co-chair with Air Canada which was a little crazy. I think Andrew and I were the only Canadians on the flight and we were with Westjet.
We arrived in Zagreb at their brand new terminal. Crazily we disembarked on the runway and were taken by bus to the main terminal. Interestingly two European Typhoon airplanes taxied by us on the runway before taking off. Very impressive. The Canadian government should buy some of them rather than the F35s.
The main glitch occurred after we landed when we realized the esim I had downloaded on my phone wasn't working. Without data, one is lost. Navigation and our bus payment was all on the phone. Andrew downloaded an esim card at the terminal. After getting on the bus and paying with the Zagreb bus app he also lost his data as his esim hadn't connected but at the bus stop we had still been connected to wifi from the airport. We only realized this when we transferred to another bus and realized we were without data. Fortunately Andrew got his card working after several minutes and all was well.
Today we were away by nine to do Rick Steves walking tour of downtown Zagreb. I always enjoy doing his self guided hikes. We wandered around learning about the history of Zagreb. The difference between lower town and upper town and Grdec vs Kaptol the two founding towns that grew into Zagreb. Some of the buildings in Zagreb including the cathedral remain damaged from a severe series of earthquakes in 2020. Everything was pleasant and clean. We met an American wearing a Canadian pin on his coat. Andrew asked him where he lived and he said Rhode Island. It turned out he had lived in Calgary for 30 years and after retiring returned to the US. My favorite 2 sites for the day were the Museum of Naive art and the Mestrovic Atelier. The naive art movement referred to a group of untrained peasant artists starting in 1930 who painted very eye-catching paintings. Ivan Mestrovic was one of Croatia 's famous sculptures. I am sure that I have seen his work before. The collection was very large and we had a very enthusiastic docent give us a tour. After lunch and finishing the circular hike we headed out to Mirogoj cemetery referred to by Rick Steves as one of Europes finest cemeteries. It didn't touch the cemeteries in Buenos Aires but had some impressive gravesites and Mausoleums. By then it was pushing at 3 pm and I was flagging a little. Andrew wanted to keep going but we were running out of things to do and I was tired. I think I may have problems keeping up to Andrew as normally my trips are a little more leisurely. We made it back downtown fairly quickly. Our second bus got stuck in rush hour traffic which seems painfully slow. We eventually just got off and walked about 30 minutes home.Read more
And we are off
April 26 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ -5 °C
Andrew and I are just chilling at our gate at YEG airport waiting for our Westjet flight to Calgary Edmonton has had a mild late spring snowstorm so it is nice to be escaping for warmer climated. After a 3 hour layover we catch a KLM flight to Amsterdam. We arrive at 8 am Amsterdam flight which will be midnight Alberta time. I am not looking forward to the jetlag. After another 3 hour layover we fly Croatian airlines to Zagreb. We will spend 3 days in Zagreb before picking up a car and driving to Ljubljan which is the capital of Slovenia. After 2 days we will drive through the alps separating Slovenia from Italy staying a night in Kobarid. Kobarid is where Ernest Hemingway lived and was wounded in WW1 when working as an ambulance attendant. From Kobarid we will drive to the Asteria peninsula stopping in Skocjan caves. The Asteria peninsula is known for Roman ruins in Pula and the beautiful Mediterranean. Once we have had our fill of the Romans we will drive and spend a night in the Platvice Ntl park which in central Croatia known for it's beautiful cascading waterfalls. We will continue South following the coast to Zadar and Split. We will drop the car off in Split before ferrying out to Korcula which is on a Mediterranean island. From Korcula we will ferry back to Dubrovnik a spectacular walled coastal city. We leave Croatia on May 17 busing to Mostar and then Sarajevo. After our 5 days in Bosnia Hertzogovi we fly to Milan Italy on Ryanair before training it to Bologna and Modena for 5 nights where we will visit the Pagani, Ferrari and Lamborghini car factories and one cheese factory. We fly home on May 28th. This is one of the more complicated trips I have planned with planes trains and autmobiles. Normally I travel much slower than this so I will see how I enjoy this faster paced itinerary.
I will be travelling with my middle son Andrew. Andrew is 21 and has just finished his fourth and last year of engineering school at the University of Alberta. The photo of Andrew and I used for the cover was obviously taken a few years ago when we were both younger. Please keep checking in with the blog as I hope to publish every few days.Please leave your comments. The more people who follow motivates me to blog more.Read more
