INTO SLOVENIA

Leaving Zagreb, we travelled east to a National Park and Čigoč – a village where every house was reputed to have a stork’s nest on the roof.  Unfortunately, there were not many to be seen this year.  Many of the traditional wooden houses were built without chimneys, the smoke exiting via the attic where meat and fish were being smoked.  The restaurant/camp site where we stayed did have a stork’s nest where eggs were being incubated by devoted parents-to-be.

The near-by bird sanctuary had very little to see, the main wild-life being very hungry mosquitoes!!

The next few days were spent criss-crossing the Croatia/Slovenia border.  We spent a couple of nights at a spa in Lendava, Slovenia where we were able to swim in the Olympic-size pool and relax in the thermal pools of warm water containing naturally occurring paraffin!! (apparently very good for the skin).  Back in Croatia we visited an old village at Kumrovec, which is now a museum showing how people lived and worked until recent times and where General Tito, first post-war President of Yugoslavia was born.  

As at Čigoč the houses were built of wood, often with attached barns…

…but people would have had only a bedroom of their own, the cooking being done in communal kitchens.

The necessary trades were carried out in a variety of workshops. 

Slovenia is a land about the size of Wales, mostly covered in dense mixed forest, gentle hills, sparkling clear green rivers, castles, pretty villages and pastureland with small traditional farms.  The towns often have pleasant but unremarkable old centres and spreading residential and commercial areas – almost all spotlessly clean.  A number of towns were bombed heavily during World War 2 destroying much of their history.  Among them was Novo Mesto where little remains of the old town…

…but it is where the Adria Factory is situated.

We had arranged to visit the factory and were treated like VIPs being greeted and showed round by the Director in charge of Adria UK.  We had a very interesting tour and were given several replacement parts, free of charge, as well as “goody bags” containing hold-alls, tee shirts, head tubes and baseball caps!

Near Novo Mesto is “Base 20” – the headquarters of the local resistance group during WW2.  High on a hillside, in dense forest, in natural depressions formed by the surface collapsing into some of the many caves in the limestone, were built wooden huts for dormitories, kitchen, storage, a printing press, hospital, meeting rooms and much more.  The base was never discovered by the Germans.

Passing through several other villages and small towns we arrived at Ljubljana, Capital of Slovenia.

What remains of the Old Town straddles the river and has been nicely preserved and restored.  We had a delicious fish lunch in a little restaurant below the colonnades alongside the river.

We wandered up to the castle…

…and round the Old Town where we found an exhibition of woodwork in the Town Hall, including these wonderful wooden bicycles.

One of the bridges was guarded by four ferocious dragons.

From Ljubljana we headed for the Alps and spent three nights at Lake Bled.

This small delightful lake has an island with a church on it and is overlooked by a castle perched on a high cliff.  Nearby is the Vintgar Gorge…

…where we spent a most enjoyable day walking along the wooden walkways first built in 1893.

We had a splendid view of the waterfall at the lower end before returning to our starting point by another route round the mountain.

WATERMILLS AND THE WELL OF LIFE!

Our journey was taking us roughly parallel to the coast but several miles inland as we headed towards Zagreb, close to the Slovenian border.  We travelled up a lovely road across hills covered with forest and through pretty little villages.  The most interesting and unusual one was Rastoke, just outside of a slightly larger town called Slunj at the junction of the Slunčica and Korana rivers.

Rastoke was begun more than three hundred years ago when this area of pools, rapids and waterfalls formed from travertine (calcium carbonate dissolved in rains higher in the lime-stone mountains and re-deposited here) was chosen for a collection of water mills for grinding flour, clothes washing and flax-stamping. 

The mills, built out over the natural waterfalls, were connected by wooden gangways.

The water rushes under the buildings...

...and cascades out into the lower river...

 driving horizontal waterwheels like those we saw at Krka.

As we travelled we passed many war-damaged houses and even the occasional deserted village.  There were also frequent memorials to those who died in what they call here “The Homelands War” in the 1990s. This one on a lonely hillside out in the country was, perhaps, the most unusual and moving with its figures seeming to emerge from (or return into) the limestone.

We stayed at a lovely site at Belaviči – a village outside of the industrial town of Karlovac.  The lanes around the site gave us an enjoyable cycle ride and the next day we were able to take the train into Croatia’s capital city, Zagreb.  Although a typical city with sprawling suburbs, the centre of Zagreb is rather pleasant if not spectacular.  There is a fine railway station…

…and some interesting sculptures.  This is “The Well of Life”, one of several by local sculptor Ivan Meštrović.  Dating from 1912, it shows people, at various stages of life, trying to scoop water from the bowl.

We recognised much more of the northern European influence in the architecture than in other towns and cities in Croatia.  Many buildings were of the "beginning of the 20^th century" style, similar to those we had seen in cities from Berlin to Talin, with facades decorated with sculptures of muscular men and stately women.  The Cathedral, however, was unusual…

… not so much in its relatively simple design but because it is surrounded by well-preserved defensive walls built from 1512-21 when the threat from the Muslim Ottoman Empire was at its height.  Inside part of the wall are buildings like those of that period.

In a square surrounded by Government buildings is another interesting church – St Mark’s – with its colourful roof tiles depicting the coat of arms of the old Kingdom of Croatia, Slovenia and Dalmatia and that of the City of Zagreb. 

With its many restaurants spilling out into the streets, the large open air market, crowds of University students and pleasant parks, the centre of Zagreb is a vibrant and interesting place.

DUBROVNIK

Travelling to Dubrovnik presented us with a bit of a problem.  The direct route would take us through about 9km of Bosnia – a country not covered by our motor insurance!  We decided that the risk was not worth it even for such a short distance.  The alternative was to catch a ferry over to Pelješac (pronounced Pel-ye-shats) a long thin peninsular attached to the mainland at its southern end.  It only cost about £35 each way and we were very glad we decided to do it.  

The crossing was hazy but the views still lovely and the mountainous peninsular was worth seeing.  We travelled up and down a good but winding road through a great wine producing area, past little coastal villages, crossing from side to side of the mountains.

At the southern end is Ston – once an important fortified town.  In fact the fortifications crossed the peninsular, no doubt defending it from the encroaching armies of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. 

Ston’s other claims to fame are its oyster and mussel farms and the salt pans where mineral-rich sea salt is still produced.

Dubrovnik is amazing (I’m running out of descriptive words for this wonderful country!)  Built on a hillside, its ancient walled centre occupies a small headland sticking out into the Adriatic.

Its massive walls have survived many attacks – most recently in 1991-5 when, during the Balkan War it was seen as a powerful symbol of Croatian independence and was heavily bombed and shelled.  The siege lasted nearly seven months and although many buildings were badly damaged, most by fire, the walls were never breached and the city was liberated by the Croatian Army.

 Now, after having rebuilt the roofs, refurbished internally and carried out little more than cosmetic surgery on the outside it it very difficult to see signs of the terrible damage which is recorded, along with details of the men who died defending the city, in a small, low-key memorial room off the main square.

The old monuments were sand-bagged and survived including Onofrio’s Large Fountain of 1444 in which visitors were required to wash themselves before being admitted to the city.

Like many of the towns we have seen, Dubrovnik has lovely churches and fine palaces but none of them are spectacular.  The main street, rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of 1667, with its outwardly unadorned town houses (now mostly containing tourist shops, ice-cream parlours and restaurants) still display a civic commitment to purity and order.  There are no garish shop fronts anywhere in the city and all window frames and doors are painted the same shade of green!

On the return journey up the Pelješac peninsular we had another night right by the sea before catching the ferry back to the mainland and stopping, for the last time by the sea, at Omiš.   Omiš, at the seaward end of a deep gorge, was a bit too touristy for us but very popular with climbers, most of the routes starting from the main car-park in the town!  We drove up the gorge which was very pretty with lots of wild flowers, but not as spectacular as we had hoped.  We turned north on a very good main road along which we passed some strange ancient tomb-stones…

…and a ship!

We wondered if a captain was so much in love with his ship that he had his retirement home built to look like it.

A WATERY WONDERLAND

Travelling south down the stunning Croatian coast we were delighted by the turquoise sea, the islands that keep this part of the Adriatic calm most of the time, the towering limestone crags and the pretty villages.  The (mostly) very good road surfaces made driving a pleasure but the Croatian drivers coming round bends on the wrong side of the road were very scary and one of them hit our wing mirror smashing the plastic housing but fortunately our “Mirror Guards” prevented the glass from breaking. The driver did not stop!

We spent a day walking up the gorge of the Paklenica National Park.  It is very popular with rock climbers having many bolted routes and the possibility of climbing new routes with permission.  The views were superb.

On the way we passed the remains of ancient villages and a water mill. 

The curiously shaped roof is called the helmet.  We followed the stream up as far as the mountain hut but the climb up to any of the surrounding peaks would have been long and arduous especially in such heat.

By complete contrast the Krka National Park is set in a deep gorge cut through a high rocky limestone plain.  As you approach it, it is invisible until the road starts descending steeply into the gorge.  We decided to go on a minibus tour organised by the site owner and as a result were able to see the best parts starting with the complex of lakes and islands at Skradinski Buk. 

The islands are connected by wooden walk-ways and the lakes separated from each other by waterfalls and rapids.

It is all incredibly beautiful.

In some of the restored buildings you can see a working watermill grinding flour, a forge and traditional crafts like spinning and weaving.

Our tour took us to more waterfalls…

…and the island monastery of Visovac.

 We were provided with an excellent lunch of traditional cold meats, cheese and bread washed down by a couple of glasses of local wine.

Finally we were able to visit the Orthodox monastery at Carigradska Draga. 

The frescoes on the walls were wonderful but not old…

…and we saw the catacombs where the first Christians worshipped and many were buried – their bones still lying on a stone shelf.

The whole area was fascinating including the many houses partially destroyed during the Balkan War and the new villages built to house survivors and refugees from Bosnia.

We were heading towards Dubrovnic and en route stopped at two more lovely little coastal towns, each with its well preserved old town.  In the first of them – Sibenik – there was a fountain with lots of colourful, live turtles swimming in the water and basking in the sun... 

...and in the peaceful old town, the Cathedral had a frieze of carved faces round the walls said to be sculptures of all those local people who didn’t contribute towards the cost of the building!

The second town –Trogir – was built on an island just off shore.  Once again we were camped right by the sea on a second island and just a short walk from the bridge over to the old town, now a very popular destination for tourists and sailors (this really is the sea and not a river)...

...and guarded on its seaward side by an old fort.

Like many of these coastal towns, Trogir was delightful but had few unusual or dramatic features.