Day 142 – Anything to declare?
This was the day we were heading back into the EU. Meaning we had more fun and frolics in
store with border control. On the way into Croatia, the search was thorough but the guards were friendly
enough. This time it was the opposite. We were treated to the ‘bad cop’ routine. At the window we show our passports as usual. The customs officer stopped us and in an ‘I’ve already decided I don’t like the look of you’ way, asked what was in the van. We said ‘camping stuff’ as usual. ‘You park over there’ bad cop snapped with a vague hand gesture. Moving from the line we of course parked in the wrong spot. ‘Not there, I SAID THERE!’ with a wilder and even vaguer gesture. Luckily we got it right the third time. Engine switched off, we jumped out to be greeted by two burly policemen who looked similar in build and in the face to that oversized bulldog in Tom & Jerry. Then came the speech from the guard. ‘These two men are policemen, they are going to search your vehicle. If you have anything to declare …’ He was off on one. ‘… cocaine, heroin, cannabis, [prostitutes strapped to the roof, machine guns in your pockets] ...’
It sounded like a terrorists’ dream shopping list. ‘We have nothing … [I know it would be better for us to hand over the weapons of mass destruction now, instead of you finding it, but we don’t have any!]’
The search began and to our surprise bad cop, beebob and rocksteady were fairly tame in their vehicular probing. The threats kept coming ‘’we’ll get the sniffer dogs out …’ bad cop says pointing to a tiny grey hut. If there were dogs in there, someone should phone animal cruelty. The search itself was not that vigorous and besides we were clean (of illegal possessions at least!).
All this was jus to get out of Croatia, so we were understandably concerned about how tough it would be going back into the EU. We are at another bay, we have shown our passports again. Another customs officer approaches. ‘What’s in the van?’ ‘Camping stuff’ we answer fearing the worst. He opens the side door, looks in and at Toj ‘Ok, that’s fine, good bye.’ We had crossed our last boarder control until we reached the UK. We were in Slovenia and heading towards Piran.
Days 142-144 - Piran
Piran is a pretty, peaceful town at the end of the Istria Coast. With narrow streets rising steeply from the waters edge, it offer beautiful views over the Adriatic to the Italian mountain in the distance. This being said it was still raining and we were still in need of a roof over our heads. Quite often it is the smaller and quieter places that throw up the most unusual hostels. In this case the place itself was not that strange aside from the fact it was not a hostel at all, but a B&B.
It had been a long time since we had slept in our own room with oak furnishings and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Val, the assertive, efficient owner ran a tight ship. Thus our stay in Piran was a little more luxurious than we were used to. Due to the prime waterfront location of Val’s ‘hostel’ we could not park the van where we could easily keep an eye on it. Oh the trouble The Van gets in when we’re not there. As we approached to collect certain forgotten items, a shiny red envelope was flapping on the window. It was a half empty car park, in a quiet area and we had been given a parking ticket. The requested amount was 90 euros. Obviously this parking inspector wasn’t aware that the pound and the euro were practically equal in value. 90 euros – ridiculous! So on moral grounds we chose to ignore their request and kept the shiny red envelope as a souvenir.
Travelled = 3344 MilesDays 144 &145 – Koper & Postonja
Generally we were driving towards Ljubljana, however we had decided to take a look at a bit more of Slovenia on route. Koper, another coastal town was our next stop. Koper is one of those places that doesn’t care too much for tourism and tourists. To be honest, we didn’t care too much for it either. It was a fully functioning, industrial harbour. Other than this the town centre is, for want of a better word, ordinary. Locals were surprised to see us and wanted to know why we were there. In one bar the girl working even bought us a drink and apologised for what she called her ‘boring town’.
After spending our night in a commercial centre near the harbour we headed for the awesome Škocjan Caves. Due to their exceptional significance, the Škocjan Caves were entered on UNESCO’s list of natural and cultural world heritage sites in 1986. International scientific circles have thus acknowledged the importance of the Caves as one of the natural treasures of planet Earth. For more information see:
http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/eng.
On the approach, there are spectacular views of the cavern where these caves hide. The tour takes you on an adventure deep below ground. Anyone who longed to wander round the bat cave or was filled with wonder by the set of the Goonies would love this. Stairs cut into the rock, narrow bridges over an underground river, stalactites and stalagmites of all shapes and sizes. If you’re in this neck of the woods, this is well worth a visit.
After our underground experience, we drove onto the nearest town with a hostel. It is necessary to point out that our movement inland in Slovenia had reduced the temperature from about 10 degrees to -1. Thus sleeping in the van became very unappealing. For this reason Postonja was our next destination. While it did have a hostel, it little else. Outside the town there are more caves, a small castle and was surrounded by mountains. Unfortunately we were passing through so didn’t have time for these wonders. Instead we went to Tourist Information and asked about the town itself. Phil enquired ‘Is there anything to see in the town?’ ‘No’ came the stern answer from the well informed member of staff. With that we left the rather unhappy woman at the counter not really knowing what to do. Retreating from the cold we returned to the hostel. This was another strange one.
We drove down the winding driveway towards the sight of delinquent youths leaning off the windows. It turned out that part of this former Yugoslavian building was also a college. Asking the old woman at the counter, ‘Is this a youth hostel?’ ‘Yes!’ She seemed very upset when we only wanted to stay one night. Eventually however she caved and let us stay. The building was huge but empty and was decorated with school style art projects. The shared bathroom was reminiscent of a school PE changing room, in both style and odour. That night we spent was by ourselves in an empty hostel and in the morning we got told off for checking out too slowly. The woman wanted to go for lunch but it was still only 11 am.
Travelled = 3402 MilesDays 146-148 – Ljubljana
From here on we were heading to those parts of Slovenia that are more famous amongst other tourists. The county’s capital and its nearby beautiful lakes. Ljubljana was first on the list and as we had been informed by our Ron Jeremy look-a-like (who trained cheerleaders) it was indeed pretty and smaller than Zagreb. At this juncture we should note that Phil’s birthday was fast approaching. This was to be spent at Lake Bled, where his darling Miss Gemma Talbot, would be joining the party. Our time here was thus split either side of the birthday festivities.
Slovenia’s capital is relatively small, but it is also relaxed and ornate, on a winters day with the snow falling it makes for a beautiful place to walk around exciting (‘and take some photos’). Like most European capitals Ljubljana offers everything you could want in terms of places to shop, drink and eat. For us this was particularly because there was a plethora of places to get good, cheap Mexican food. Now you’re probably thinking ‘boys when in Slovenia eat Slovenian’. I, on the other hand say ‘if Mexican is on offer eat it’ and we did. It warmed us up and made us happy any how.
Like many European capitals Ljubljana’s outskirts are rundown and grubby. This of course is where we were staying, in the father and son run Aladdin Hostel. A peculiarity of this under staffed hostel was the presence of CCTV cameras everywhere and signs making you aware of them. There were also signs explaining why there was no staff and why they provided nothing for you; it was a matter of saving you money. This is quite strange as it certainly wasn’t any cheaper than other hostels we’ve stayed in.
Our big brother hostel experience was shared with a Russian clown, a Frenchman who insisted on exercising Toj’s linguistic skills and of course the Father and Son. It was one of those places where no one really spoke but everywhere you looked something strange was going on. The Russian clown would mix lentils in the room. The Father would sleep in the office. The Frenchman seemed to drift around the hostel like a ghost, always there when you opened a door or turned a corner. One of the joys of travelling off season is there is never a shortage of odd middle aged men around. Who knows why?
The other issue we had to contend with in Ljubljana was the snow. A healthy covering of white powdery snow is beautiful but not what you want when you are driving into the mountains. We were slightly concerned so our first port of advice was the hostel Father. He leaned back in his chair, laughed and said ‘this isn’t snow; you’ll be fine, the roads will be clear’. We were disconcerted by his laid back attitude so we sought a second opinion at Tourist Information. The woman at the counter laughed and said ‘this isn’t snow, the roads will be fine’. We bought our statutory snow chains anyway.
Travelled = 3437 Miles / 3553 Miles
Days 148-152 – Lake Bled and Lake Bohinja
The roads were fine and collecting the wonderful Miss Talbot along the way we arrived as a merry trio at Lake Bled. Saying it was beautiful would be stating the obvious. There was over two feet of snow on the ground (not the roads though) and a mist in the air that was rather magical. It was a bit of a winter wonderland and an excellent place to spend ones birthday. For what could be a better way to celebrate than messing around in the snow like kids.
Another feature of travelling off season is that sometimes you get a hostel pretty much to yourself (as we experienced in Postonja). This isn’t always a good thing, but this hostel had such good facilities that it was like staying in a private lodge. We took full advantage of the kitchen for four days we feasted on cooked breakfasts, roast dinners and everything in between. After having been away for five months, a few home comforts suited us down to the ground.
Our time in Bled was broken up by a day trip to the larger but less touristy Lake Bohinja. Lake Bled is beautiful (oh no it’s been said!) but Bohinja is spectacular. The magnitude of lake and mountains combined with the air of peace makes it one of those places you still can’t believe you’ve been. In places the snow was waist deep which did make for slow progress when walking around. Despite of his wellies and plastic trousers, Toj’s feet also got very cold and very wet. None of this however detracted from our awe of this place. Cold and wet is easily solved anyhow with mulled wine, a hot meal and a warm living room to yourselves. This represented the happy time and end of our days in Bled.
With Gemma, we sadly drove back towards Ljubljana airport, said farewell and then continued onward to our next country – Italy.
Travelled = 3505 Miles
