Wednesday 29 July 2009

Varaždin

Wednesday 29 July: Enjoyable train ride north to Varaždin with museum housed in picturesque castle, fine baroque town architecture and quality accommodation in Studentski Dom, too good for students, spatious en-suite room with free internet, cable TV, and fridge. Day out by bus to fairy-tale like Trakošćan Castle high above relaxing lakeside trail, with original furnishings and nudes by untravelled painter, Europa looking the most charming of the four continents.
Saturday 1 August
: Train eastward again and overnight stopover in Osijek. Then cross-border bus, through war ravaged Vukovar under repair but with guns still in place ranged north over the Danube, eastward to Serbia and Belgrade.
Croatia summary:
Water: Drinkable.

Drinks: Wine - drinkable, just. Beer - dark Velebitsko a treat. Tea - wide selection of delicious fruit and herb teas. Weak English tea is available but if strong is your cuppa, bring your own. Coffee good in bars and restaurants but awful at hotel breakfasts.
Toilets: Upright, clean and free at stations, shopping centres, places to visit, large stores etc (M=Male, Ž=female and most have graphic).
Currency:
Kuna (currently £1 = 8KN).
Language: Croatians in the tourist trade speak a little English. č is pronounced ch as in church, š is pronounced sh as in shower, ž is pronounced sh as in sure and j is pronounced ye as in yes. Dobber Dan is hi/hello/good day, Wahla (as in the French 'there you are' when presenting something) is thank you, prosim is please and no problem is just that.
TICs: Helpful if you ask with free local town maps and guides. Will book accommodation for you.
Accommodation: Bed only
is the norm.
Food: Good variety of local and international dishes and, of course, pizza.
Supermarkets: Konzum mostly but many others like Kerum, Diona ond edge of town Spar, Lidl or Mercator.
Transport: Trains are comfortable and cheaper than equally reliable buses. Return tickets are 20% cheaper than two singles.

Medical: Health Centres, in most towns, will treat visitors. All EU members including Croatians pay 20% of the fee upfront.

Monday 27 July 2009

Zagreb

Thursday 24 July: Local train to Zidani Most for the International Express across the border to Zagreb and so from the Euro zone into the Croatian Kuna. Pleasant capital city with trams, a great square, well-tended gardens, fountains and sparrows, sculptures, museums, cafes and more ATMs than you can shake a stick at. Cathedral, tiled church and stone gate shrine where believers worship an icon said to have survived the burning of the original wooden gate. Outdoor entertainment in the evening, beers with unusual names, like Ozujsko or even tastier dark Velebitsko, and bars with even more unusual names like Route 66 just south of the station and others. Mimara musuem has fine art collection and enjoyable battered squid at Mimice fish and chip shop which looks unchanged since the Soviet era.
Modern slick blue tram
(12th mode of transport) to bus station for day trip to Samabor with cascading trout-filled stream spanned by covered wooden bridges. Zagreb photos.

Wednesday 22 July 2009

Eastern Slovenia

Sunday 19 July: Bus to Lubijana then train to historic town of Ptuj (pronounced pit-two-ee, like a bird call) on the river Drava with hill-top castle once owned by the Leslie family of Aberdeenshire. Local wine mostly very drinkable Halzone whites and some reds. Tuesday 21: train day return to Sempeter Roman necropolis and Celije Castle, the largest fortress in Slovenia. Pictures under Ptuj.
Slovenia summary:
Or an introduction, depends which way you look at it:
Water: Drinkable throughout the country.

Drinks: Wine - good local reds, Teran, Refosk, Merlot and Malvazija white, most from the Karst south particularly Vipava Valley and also Halzone whites from the east. Beer - Lasko Zlatorog with the mountain goat logo is good. Tea - wide selection of delicious fruit and herb teas. If English tea is your bag, bring your own. Coffee good in bars and restaurants but awful at hotel breakfasts.
Toilets: Upright, clean and free at stations, shopping centres, places to visit, large stores etc (M=Male, Ž=female but most have graphic).
Currency:
Euro (currently £1 = €1.12).
Language: Most Slovenians speak English. č is pronounced ch as in church, š is pronounced sh as in shower ž is pronounced sh as in sure and j is pronounced ye as in yes. Dobber Dan is hi/hello/good day, Wahla (as in the French 'there you are' when presenting something) is thank you, prosim is please and no problem is just that.
TICs: Helpful and enthuiastic with free local town maps, most with free or cheap internet access. Will book accommodation for you.
Accommodation: Bed with
breakfast (bread, cheese, ham, preserves, fruit tea) is the norm.
Food: Good variety of local and international dishes
and, of course, pizza.
Supermarkets: Everywhere, Mercator mostly but also large Spar and Aldi on outskirts of town.
Transport: Trains are comfortable and cheaper than equally reliable buses. Return tickets are the same price as two singles. Access train timetables
and bus timetables online.
Medical: Health Centres, in most towns, will treat visitors.

Sunday 19 July 2009

Julian Alps

Thursday July 9: From Lujbiana, bus north to Penzion Bledec hidden behind Bled Medieval castle perched above the emerald lake with it's idyllic island church. Four mile run around the lake and back to the penzion - magical. Lake Bled photos.
From there, one hour bus hop to Ribcev Laz for Lake Bohinj and Triglav National Park. Bought Geodetski institut Slovenije 1:25,000 scale map of Triglav, showing graded footpaths (easy, rather difficult, very difficult) and numbered routes, good but
expensive at €10.50.
Wednesday 13: From Savica village (653m) nine hour hike, mostly up, over limestone pavements, past glacial lakes (kidney shaped Jezero v Ledvicah is a great picnic spot) and mountain huts, over Hribarice Plateau snowfields to dormitory bed at basic Dom Planika hut (2,410m). Planned to stay in the hut at Dolic Pass (2,151m) but it was crushed by an avalanche in March. Thursday: Early 6:00 am start for a further two-hour scramble and steep climb to Triglav summit (2,864m). Same route as when the peak, Slovenia's highest, was first conquered in 1888. Spectular and satisfying but not for the faint-hearted as the approach is along a rugged knife-edged ridge, several lives are claimed each year. Then eight-hour downward climb and trek to Savica, via Dolic Pass, for bus back to Lake Bohinj and well-earned hot dinner of pizza with chilled Refosk red. Felt pretty good, it seems my training, three years of coast-path walking and three months of running, was wothwhile. Photos of Lake Bohinj and Triglav. Also the little ski resort of
Kranski Gora for a couple of days less strenuious walking.

Monday 13 July 2009

Ljubljana

Saturday 4th July: train to Slovenia's capital, Ljubljana and Hostel Celica formerly the city's military prison. I stayed in cell 119 designed, in part, by London sculptor Antony Gormley famed for his Angel of the North in Gateshead. Ljubljana is a small (easy to walk everywhere in the centre) attractive city with a cultured almost provincial feel about it, a bit like Stratford-on-Avon with national institutions, sparrows and Tivoli Gardens. Unfortunately, like most European cities it suffers from graffiti, though some of it is better than others. Pictures of Ljubljana.