Days 82-83-84-85 Slovenia - Caves, lakes, castles, Oh My!

Today is Thursday, September 4 is day 85, and if all goes as planned, we will be out and about exploring this afternoon, but this morning we are hunkered down in the kitchenette of our Airbnb taking care of needed business (laundry, email, photo editing, blogs, trip planning for Turkey, etc.).

Tomorrow, September 5 - our five year anniversary of our Sail Away from San Francisco,  we are on our way via train to Vienna.  I've been waiting over 40 years to see the famous Lipizzan stallions perform in Vienna.  When Russ and I lived in Germany in the early 70's, many of our military friends had gone to Vienna and raved about the show.  We never made it at that time to Vienna, so now we will be on our way and have already purchased tickets for Sunday's performance.

Let's back track to Days 82-84.

Monday , Day 82 - Rain in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Slovenia feels and looks like our memories of Austria.  Alpine houses,

flower boxes filled with geraniums, small village towns with narrow winding streets, tall mountains, waterfalls and rushing rivers, beautiful lakes, castles built in seemingly impossible places, ski areas waiting for snow, green farm fields surrounded by forests.


Everything is green because it rains here quite a bit.  

Our first day here, we spent most of it in old town Ljubljana, walking the wet and rainy streets, taking refuge under cover for bowls of hot soup and waiting for the rain to stop.  Eventually it did, but the skies were gray and the sun didn't peak out once.

We took the rail train to the old castle and had a good look around.  Unlike many castles that have been restored to look old, The castle here has left windows into historical parts of the castle, but by and large it has been modernized into a venue that supports performance, arts, fairs, weddings, etc. so that it can be self-supporting and residents of the community as well as tourists can enjoy the ambiance on top of the mountain where it presides over the city.

Attached above one of the castles arches a family of swallows was having lunch on the fly.

Watched for quite awhile and the last little guy on the right rarely got fed.  The pecking order goes from left to right.

We met up with our AirBnB hosts Milenko and Anna after our tour and had some great Thai food. They are a lovely couple who now live in Italy, and help Milinko's mother rent out the rooms in her three story alpine home.  Slovenia is such a small country, that an hour's drive from the capital city in any direction takes you into another country.  We are staying in one place for the week and drive to almost anywhere in 45 minutes to see what we are interested in and to see most of the country.

Tuesday Day 83 - More Rain - Good day for Caving

Tomorrow looks like the best day to visit Bled Lake (the sun is supposed to peak out for a couple of hours), but today is a rainy day and a good day to travel southwest to Postojna to the limestone caves.
These caves are a popular tourist attraction and have been since the 1800's.

We boarded a small cave train for the first two kilometers of our excursion.  Today's trains are electric, but earlier trains were not.  The beautiful formations were covered in soot from the past and we were growing more and more disappointed with the condition of the cave's interior, but once we reached the walking part of our tour, our disappointment turned to wonder.  We walked a kilometer under ground and then rode the train back out.

The train ride was fun.  It was like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland zipping through the tunnels many of which had been barely cut away so that our heads were not ripped off.

You definitely had to keep your hands and arms inside the open cars, and just to be on the safe side we both moved our heads to the middle where the ceiling was generally a little higher.

The cave system here is over 21 kilometers long with three different levels.  Much of level one has collapsed.  The third level is where the river runs wild now.  Our tour was on the second level.  The cave ceilings on level two are 30-70 meters high depending on where one is standing.  There is such a huge distance between the stalactites and stalagmites that the dripping mineral filled water splats on top shaping the bottom formations more like hoodoos than pointed spires.

Can you see the chicken in the upper left

Postojna is a very wet cave of over 3,000,000 years old and still growing, and is incredibly decorated with pure white limestone and rust and amber dripping from iron and other minerals through which the water seeps.  There are examples of chambers that are all white, others that are warm reds and pinks, some side by side columns are completely different in color.

Soda straws and spaghetti hang from the ceilings.

These formations grow 1 centimeter every 1000 years.  Some of these fragile hangings are 20,000 years old and less than a foot long.

Flow stone, and translucent curtains ooze from the walls.  

We just couldn't help but say wow! at every turn.  It was massively stunning.

Look closely to see the people in the lower left quadrant (red shirts) for relevance of size and scale.

After our cave explorations, we drove to the Predjama Castle, initially built and added onto since the 1200's.   This castle is built into the mouth and side of a large cave.

Not built for comfort or beauty, the castle was built for defense against intruders with an escape route through the caves above and below.

It served it's purpose well withstanding sieges up to one year and a day until the then current owner and robber knight Erazem was killed by a well aimed rock ball thrown by a catapult while using the privy in 1484.  It has changed ownership and gone through many reconstructions and additions since then.

Wednesday, Day 84 - Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj

According to the weather forecast, between 10 and 2:00 today, we might see some sun.  So we head out to Lake Bled.  Wish we had had full sun to capture the blue green characteristics of the clear alpine lake, but we were happy to see glimmers of sunlight as we took the 6 kilometer walk around the lake, snapping photos of castles

 and churches,

casting off the rain gear, sipping lattes and eating the famous Lake Bled Cream Cake.

The birds are not shy.  One must eat quickly or the birds will eat it all.

Fall is definitely in the air.  First of the leaves are turning yellow and fluttering to the ground, and ivies are turning crimson.

From Lake Bled we drove to Lake Bohinj where we visited an ancient chapel with worn but still prominent frescos.

This lake looks like it is meant to be a summer camp for families and kids, and a fun place to be with kayak and bike rentals, established tenting areas, ropes courses, and hiking trails.  Speaking of bikes, this one looked fun, but I don't think the guy was too happy to have his photo taken....or is that a peace sign?

Our drive home to Ljubljana was via a one lane twisting backroad through a countryside of forests, green hills, dales, little churches and Alpine villages. We saw some hay stacking racks we had never seen before.   Russ jumped outside of the car once just to capture the Sound of Music Moment.  Absolutely lovely.

So that brings us back to today, Thursday, September 4, Day 85.  The laundry is now hung out to dry in the garage (no dryer here and still drizzly).    We will see how that goes, and hope by this evening it is dry enough to pack our bags for our early morning departure tomorrow. The blog is almost done, breakfast has been eaten,  photos still need some editing and uploading, but it looks like maybe we'll have some exploration time in the afternoon.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Days 81-82, Goodbye Croatia, Hello Slovenia

August 30-31, 2014 - Saturday, Day 81

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After our final breakfast, address swapping, and heartfelt goodbyes, the reluctant-to-leave passengers disembarked from the Adriatic Queen by 9:30.  We had packed a small overnight bag for our one night stay in an AirBnB in Split, and then dropped off the rolling backpacks in a locker at the bus station for pickup the following day.

Once we were luggage free we walked into the old town and palace of Split, visiting sites, sipping lattes in the palace square, catching up on the Internet, decompressing from our wonderful trip.  Later in the day, we checked into our Airbnb room within a 10 minute walk from old town, bus station and swimming beach.  Once we checked in, we went to the beach for a last swim in the Adriatic.  I think I was the only woman on the beach in a one piece bathing suit. Regardless of age and size, women were wearing two piece, skimpy suits.  Doesn't leave much for the imagination.  Some things really should just be covered up.

After all the food we consumed in the last week, we were content with cups of soup, crackers, and fresh tomatoes in our room before lights out.

Sunday, Day 82

After or DIY breakfast of yogurt and granola in our room, we headed out for the bus station, picked up our baggage, and boarded the express shuttle bus to the airport.  Compared to yesterday, when the bus station was absolutely packed from all of the Saturday disembarkments, today was relatively calm and quiet.  The airport on the other hand was quite busy.  All the tanned families, old people and young people alike were sadly heading home.

While we waited for our Air Serbiia flight with one layover in Belgrade, we ate lunch.  Later when we were in Belgrade, Serbia we ate dinner before boarding our flight to Ljubljana, Slovenia.  We are currently in route to Slovenia, same plane, same crew we had flying into Belgrade.  By the time we land, pickup our rental car and get to our  AirBnb it will most likely be 9:30 p.m.  

It's been a long day.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's in Slovenia

Days 76-80, Dubrovnik back to Split

80 Days About the World

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I guess we've been having too much fun to write.  Between walking through the picturesque narrow cobbled streets in old towns of Dubrovnick, Trstenik, Korkula, and Hvar (where we are tonight) in the island of Croatia, we have been eating too well, drinking Croatian wines, basking in the sun, playing cards, reading books, making new friends with Italians, Slovakians, Croats, New Zealanders, South Africans, and Aussies, and swimming the better part of the day in  beautiful bays with crystal clear blue-green waters.

Tonight we sat along the quay and found great amusement in watching all the charter boats jockeying for position and then tying on to a shared buoy, backing into a tight space then tying stern lines to shore.  Glad we weren't involved.  It all looked like an accident waiting to happen, especially when the "sailors" backed in unprepared and threw out gobs of line tangled like spaghetti, to plop in the water.  The end result is a giant raft up along the shore and a spider web of lines crisscrosed and tied all over one another.  Tomorrow morning will most likely be even more amusing...but not our problem, heheh!

We head bacsk to Split tomorrow, before we split for Slovenia on Sunday.  Always loved the story 80 Days Around the World.  Guess it will take us a lot longer, but Friday, is 80 Days....about the World and having fun.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's in beautiful Croatia.

Day 74-75, Sunday and Monday, Croatian Islands

August 24-25, Adriatic Queen


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Our first night, Saturday night, was quiet as we slept in our stateroom on the Adriatic Queen in the port city of Makarska.  The evening thunder and lightening storm passed, but now the air was humid and warm.

We were awakened by the sound of the engine leaving port.  How nice it was to sleep in and let someone else ready the boat and take her out of the harbor.  On our way to the island of  where we spent most of the day and evening hiking and swimming in the national park Mljet, we took our first swim in the Adriatic in  Kanaj off the island of Korkula The water was cool getting in, but once in it felt refreshing.  The salty content made us quite bouyant.  I could float legs down with head and shoulders above the water and not even dog paddle.  Russ who is quite the sinker, sank only to the top of his without moving any other part.  Needless to say, it was a very nice and relaxing way to spend an hour.

Shortly after our lunch on board, we rafted up in the port of  Pomena, on the Island of  Mljet.  There must have been 20 other boats our size rafted up in two lanes against the the short dock with fantail aft decks facing one another.  It was going to be quitie the party tonight.  Happy hours on our boat are 9:30-11:30.  Looked though as if we were in the sedate raft up of newer boats with more amenities, and the ones across from our stern were vintage boats for the under 30's singles crowd. Our captain is president of the yacht cruising boat association.  Not sure what the responsibilities and headaches of this office, but it apppears there might be a benefit of his ship being the first to drop anchor in bays and some close priority to the dock so that guests only have a no or just a few yachts to traipse across as we disembark and embark.

We disembarked, bought ourselves a National Park ticket, and spent the rest of the day hiking, sightseeing (old monastrary and Roman ruins ) and swimming in a saltwater lake on the island of Mjet.  The water in the lake was even saltier than the sea, clear, warm, and shades of blue-geen and aqua.  Russ gave it the sink test, and almost his whole head was out of the water.

We had had such a filling lunch on the yacht that we found a restaurant on the way back to the boat where we just ordered and shared a greek salad and tomatoes, mozerella, and basil salads, red wine, and saved room for double scoop gelatos after dinner.  By 9:00 in the evening our boat was reverberating from the music and base eminating from the big kid boats across from us.  Each had their own music and psychedelic light show going on trying to out do one another.  The cacophony of sound on our side was loud and discordanant.  There are times when it's nice to be more mature and can gracefully say good night and block out the sounds in our stateroom.  Good night kids, have fun.

Monday, Day 75

We departed this morning for Dubrovnik.  We arrived here around 1:00 while still eating a sea bass lunch.  We did have a gorgeous swim stop in a bay Lubdu (sp).  Incredibly clear water.  Didn't even need snorkles to see the fish swimming under us.  Russ and I swam 200 meters to shore and then back another 200 meters.  Have to work off those ice creams somehow.

This afternoon, we have walked through the old town of Dubrovnik and are now sipping lemonade in an outdooe cafe.  We are acheduled to take a guided waking tour i half an hour.  Having a wonderful time, meeting some great people along the way.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Day 73 - Saturday, August 23, 2014 - The Adriatic Queen

Day 73 - Saturday and the Adriatic Queen

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After we dropped the rental car off at the airport, we took an an express bus to the Split harbor, where we boarded a motor sailing yacht with 14 staterooms, two aft fantail shaded decks, and sun deck on the bow, dining saloon and bar.  There is a crew of 8 to take care of our needs.

As I finish off this blog post, we have had a wonderful lunch and met many of the international travelers from New Zealand, France, Italy, and South Africa.  There is no wifi on board, so I will post on a shore excursion somewhere.  The sun is out, the mountains, are high, the sea is blue, the air is fresh, and we are once again sailing...kind of...no sails up yet, but WhooHoo! 

Just docked for the night in Makarska.  A fierce, thunder, lightening and rainstorm is passing over right now as we sit in a bar drinking local draft beer.  Cheers

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs on the Adriatic Queen in Makarska, Croatia

Day 71-72, August 21-22 Ancient Sea City of Trogir, Croatia

Day 71 -  Thursday, Entering Trogir

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!

We left the Plitvice House mid-morning after our magnificent hike through Plitvice National Park the day before.  Today was primarily a travel daay through the mountains sothwestward toward the sea and our destination of Trogir.

Trogir is a lovely old city, dating back to 300 BC, inhabited by Greeks, Romans, and numerous others.  The port today is a tourist destination and charter yacht pickup and drop off port.  The old city courtyards become a conglomerate of festive outdoor restaurants in the evenings.  The fruitt market, seafood markets, bakeries, super market, ice cream, and souvenier shops selling bething suits, sun hats, and coverups do a lively business.  Even the churches looked buy with people chanting as they approached the alter for communion.  We have not seen any mosques here, mostly Orthodox and Roman Catholic.

We spent two nights here in an AirBnB, a nice room with comfortable bed overlooking the marina and the city across the river.  Once we parked the car, and that was quite tricky, we walked everywhere.  When we first arrived, we searched for our accommodation address, having made arrangements with our host to seek out the business below the rooms and have, the propietor call him at his work.  He would then come to greet us and show us where to park and our rooms.

The traffic wa slow, bumper to bumper, and the maps we have for the area are sketchy.  We could see on the IPad whee our physical location is, but often it placed us a bit off the road.  Also the maps when layered down will show a road, but not give a true indication of the width for a car, verses a motor bike.  Our first pass of the accommodation indicated no parking across from the rooms, but possibly a space on the oppposite of the road directly under the rooms which would require us to approach from the oppposite direction.

We wound our way slowly up the hill and made a left turn at the top on a street that looked like it had some descending backgroads that would take us to the back of our accommodation.  We made a turn down one of the roads.  Good idea but the street became narrower and narrower. We had to pull in the sideview mirrors to squeak through one section, hoping it would widen up to the main road, but no, it got even narrower.  At this point, motormikes and pencil thin people could not squeak past us. 

There had been a tight turn around space where another small road had interscted about 30 meters back, but it meant backing up and doing a tight three point turn.  So we backed up ever so slowly as locals scratched their heads in amazement of the lunatics who would try to drive a car down the road. As soon as the street was wide enough for me to open the door, I got out to help direct Russ's backward and forward movement, stopping him frequently to direct motor bkes and pedestrians.  At one point Russ was an eyelash from scraping the side off of the car on an old brick wall where jagged pieces protruded.

We finally made it back to the top and and tuned back down the main road from the direction we had originally come.  Now we were half a kilometer from the guesthouse moving 1 car length every minute or so.  There was no guarantee that we would find parking when we got there so I got out and walked down the road, knocking on stopped cars as I squeezed between them and the stone walls on the passenger side.  I just wanted to alert them I was there so I din't wind up getting squished if they needed to move closer to the wall for a truck coming up the road.

It took me about 10 minutes to make my way to the proprietor's shop below the room we were renting.  The lady called the owner.  He said he would be there in about 15 minutes and that we should just pull up on the sidewalk in front of the store until he arrived.  It took Russ another 15 minutes to return to the accommodation where I waved him up on the sidewalk.  Really?  I could see the question on his face.

Our host arrived at the same time.  He helped unload our bags and took them upstairs, then offered to ride in the car to a designated parking place.  He recognized the AVIS car and it turnee out he works at the AVIS office at the airport where we will be ultimately return the car.  He offered to drive the car through the crazy traffic and streets much to Russ's joy,  Kaija did a three point turn on the sidewalk to turn the car completely around, drove backup the main road, and down one of the roads we had not previously taken to a quiet, safe little place to park.  Phew!  Glad Russ didn't have to do that!  We were exhausted.

We rested up a bit then walked through the old city, having  great sea bass and veal dinner.  Got some nice evening photos and realized we would have to get up early the following morning to get uncluttered street shots before the herds of other tourists jammed the narrow city alleys.

Day 72 - Friday, Hanging out in Trogir

Had a great day, doing much of nothing.  We were in and out of our room many times during the day to enjoy respite in air conditioning and the humid warm air of Trogir.  We did get up early for some photos, again for shopping, ATM, later a walk through the marinas, and a fourth time back into the city for ice creams.  We leave in the morning for Split.  

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Trogir, Croatia