A circuit of Slovenia

I discovered when I turned up at the Sixt office to rent a car that I could have got it a bit cheaper if I had made an Internet booking first. Oh well. Normally I refuse to do transactions at an Internet terminal, however the computers at Celica were running Fedora Linux and I would have trusted them not to have any malware. (Note from the future: These days I would carry my own netbook, running Linux of course.)

The plan was to head for the town of Kranjska Gora in the far northwest, skirting Triglav National Park, decline to enter Italy or Austria by accident, enter Triglav NP, head south ascending to the tonguetwisting Vršič pass in the Julian Alps, come down the other side of the pass, following the Soča river, and return to Ljubljana from the west.

I wanted to have a look at the town of Kranj, but couldn't find any parking for more than a few minutes so I pressed on to Brdo Castle. This was a nobleman's mansion when the region was called Carniola. It was the summer residence of Tito during his reign. When I visited, workmen were putting in more renovations, and it seemed to be a kind of luxury conference centre and retreat. No nostalgia for the Yugoslav days. (Note from the future: Slovenia hosted many EU meetings here when it had the chairmanship in the first half of 2008, perhaps that was the reason for the work.)

Speaking of Carniola, the eponymous bee is liked by beekeepers for its gentle nature. A Slovenian tradition is to paint the front of the wooden bee hives with rustic scenes, punchlines from sacred and profane tales, jokes, or whatever took the fancy of the folk artists.

The gatekeeper let me wander the grounds for a nominal fee. Perhaps they don't get many visitors and are not out to make heaps from the fees. There is a lot of flowing water and there are waterfowl in the ponds.

It's very beautiful and serene here. I could understand why Tito liked it.

I stopped at Lake Bled for lunch. Although I took a few pictures here, I was planning to come back later to stay a couple of days so I will describe it later. As I neared Kranjska Gora, road signs indicated that I could enter southern Austria or northern Italy if I wished. Since I was already in the EU, I could have done those, but I stuck to my plan. Here's the road begins its ascent to Vršič through thick woods.

At about the 1100m mark, in a small clearing there is a poignant reminder of a century-old war. During WWI, this mountain range was a battle front between Austria and Italy. Over three hundred Russian prisoners of war pressed by the Austrians into clearing snow on the road to allow matériel to be transported to the Soča front, and some of their captors, died in an avalanche. Thousands more died from the appalling conditions of captivity during those years. A couple of years afterwards, surviving PoWs constructed this lovely wooden chapel as a memorial to their fallen colleagues. It's actually quite low, I seem to remember noting that I would have to stoop to enter, were it open, which it is not. I felt sad for all those men dying in a foreign land and never returning home. Of course, their home country would soon undergo an upheaval. I wondered if any PoWs survived the war then stayed behind in the Balkans. Perhaps it's documented in some book of war history.

As I ascended, the vegetation opened up, giving me vistas of the Julian Alps, rather bare of snow in summer.

Finally at 1611m I was at Vršič pass. I walked around and took in the scenery. While I was strolling around I saw a cyclist that I had passed in ascent labouring up the slope. He reached the sign and threw up his arms in a victory gesture. I shouted congratulations to him.

Besides myself, the cyclists, some hikers and some other tourists with cars, there was a flock of sheep grazing there.

There is a kiosk of sorts selling souvenirs and refreshments. On the car radio I could receive Slovenian, Austrian and Italian stations. This part of the Balkans is the meeting point of the Slavic, Teutonic, and Mediterranean.

Then down the other side I went. The road runs alongside the Soča River which is popular for whitewater sports. The route is winding, but scenic. At one point I saw a sign indicating that I was 25km from Ajdovščina. That was Irena's home town. I briefly considered the idea of dropping in, but decided against it. It didn't seem polite to arrive without warning; there no guarantee that she was still living there and it was late in the day and I didn't want to drive outside of daylight hours.

By evening I was back in Ljubljana. I had a bit of trouble finding the vehicle entrance to the hostel compound as it's large and included some artists' quarters. I would park the car outside the hostel and return it in the morning.

I dined in the hostel that evening. The course consisted of sausages and potatoes. Rather middle European, but quite tasty actually.