Trieste: Of Tumultuous Storms and Tasty Icecream

Our next stop was in the town of Trieste, which funnily enough was over the border of Slovenia and into a geographically isolated territory of Italy. We were rather excited to hear the Italian language again and I was holding out for delicious pizza and gelato. Unfortunately the bad weather we had been expecting hit and we had to explore the city from the relative safety of our umbrellas, enjoying the brief breaks in the weather where the water was inky and still, and the clouds so dark they merged with the sea on the horizon, making it impossible to see where one began and the other ended.

One of my favourite things about the city was the architecture. In the most unexpected places we came across Roman ruins, which is unsurprising when you think the town has been Roman since around 52  BC and occupied for even longer. Still it was a surprise to round the corner of cobblestone streets and suddenly see a ruined amphitheater displayed before you! We also came across an old Roman arch which simply melded into a modern building; the juxtaposition between old and new was very striking.

The threatening storm made for a brooding and dramatic atmosphere, but we had no idea of what was to come. We camped far above Trieste in a campsite on a cliff, and it was that night that we were in the biggest storm I've ever witnessed in my life. The thunder was so loud it woke me from my sleep, unlike the usual boom of thunder this was like the sound of someone ripping a sheet only magnified by a thousand, like the sky was tearing itself apart. It was a wild night, but also beautiful to listen to (apart from the moment when I suddenly wondered if my hair-dryer was enough to make lightening hit the tent). 

In the morning, things seemed calmer, but then the torrential rain started and soon the streets were flooded. It rained. And rained. And rained. Drain pipe covers blew their lids from the water pressure below, streets turned into rivers, we saw an almost drowned rat at one point -the car in front of us stopped to let it go by as it struggled to ford the road turned river -  usually I'm not a fan of rats but its struggle was such that we were cheering it on! And it made it to the other side too!

Our plan for the morning had been to go to the Nazi Concentration Camp Risiera di San Sabba which now functioned as a museum, however it turned out to be totally flooded. Damn you rain for foiling our plans!

We settled instead for some crazy good ice-cream, which was worth the run in the pouring rain! The place had so many flavors it felt impossible to choose, I ended up picking at random what looked nice - my favourite was a creamy chocolatey fudgy flavor with thick white chocolate slabs in it. Delicious, but so sickly! We also had discovered that there were some Decathlon stores around the city and we were in desperate need of a new cooker as ours had mysteriously broken a while before.
Finally we were in luck, as we brought our broken cooker in for examination with little hope of actually getting a refund as we had lost the receipt and bought the cooker at a French Decathlon. But in typical Italian fashion they seemed fairly unfazed by this information and gave us a new one with very little trouble! Amazing service Decathlon.

Predjama castle: Cabbage leaves and cannonballs

Predjama Castle was an awe-inspiring sight, as we rounded the corner of the road in the soft drizzle with only the sound of the stream far below. Situated far above on the side of a mountain inside an impenetrable cave-mouth, sat the fortress. Complete with drawbridge, arrow-slits, murder holes and 168-cm thick walls, this would have (and did) withstand sieges in its time.

Although the entrance fee was rather expensive, it was ultimately worth it and included a very interesting audio-guide. A posh-spoken Slovenian woman sounded in our ears, describing each room in detail, often with interesting (though to be taken with a grain of salt) stories.
Here you can see the view from one of the highest points in the Castle, used so that enemies could be spotted from far away, and the bell rung to alert the occupants of such an occurrence. Nowadays it's meant to bring visitors good luck. 

The lavatory held another amusing story, along with the details that during this time people were using rather uncomfortable-sounding substitutes for toilet paper such as cabbage leaves, or worse, hay. The reason for the importance of said lavatory however, was a somewhat longer story. One of the most famous of the castles owners, a knight named Erazem Lueger. renowned in the 15th century as a robber baron (although romantically compared to Robin Hood in the audioguide) managed to raise the ire of the Holy Roman Emperor (never a good plan) resulting in a siege at this castle for a year and a day. However due to a secret passage that the enemy soldiers knew nothing about, they were able to keep well-stocked, even taunting the army by throwing fresh cherries at them (this was of course chalked up to Erazem having made a deal with the devil). 

Things came to head however when a servant betrayed Erazem (for a price of course) and told the attackers that the one weak point of the castle was the lavatory, little more than an outlying tower of the castle. Those sneaky attackers waited until the servant lit a candle in a window, letting them know Erazem was currently occupying said toilet, and fired cannonballs at him, successfully killing him, ending the siege, and giving him an even worse death than Robin Hood!

Peering down the murder-holes (this unsuspecting tourist would be a goner if the black cauldron sitting in the room had indeed been filled with boiling oil!) was a dizzying process, and trying to take a photo even more so. The heights from which the castle stood made me realize how impossible it would have been to break a siege here by any means other than underhand. Another cool factoid I learned here was that in 1986 a Jackie Chan movie was filmed here! Somewhat unsurprisingly after seeing the castle, I also learned that it was the closest he ever came to dying from one of his stunts, after leaping into a tree from a castle ledge and the branch broke, sending him plunging down and resulting in a cracked skull. Thank goodness he was alright and went on to make more epic movies!

After exploring the twisting rooms and alleyways of the castle itself (including the gruesome dungeons of course) we finally traveled up into the cave itself, where the original construction began. Destroying this part of the castle would have been near-impossible from below, making an excellent defensive position. There was almost no information on this area of the cave except that there had once been rooms built here and fire-pits, though what the rooms were used for or when they were occupied they didn't seem to know, only that it was far older than the rest of the castle, and continuously inhabited over time. I had to wonder if it dated back to prehistoric times and perhaps the Neanderthals. Clearly they need to do some more excavations and research to come up with more answers on this part of the complex!

Feeling like the King of the Castle! Overall, a very worthwhile visit. 

Lake Bled and the Soca River: Hazardous Me and the Sign of Verity

The only thing I knew about Slovenia was the fact that it had beautiful water. My hours of trawling Pinterest had revealed dozens of photos showcasing the almost unnaturally blue waters this country had to offer. As such, I was desperate to see these natural wonders for myself. As we only had two days of good weather before we knew bad weather would strike, we were unfortunately a little rushed, but in return we had absolutely stunning weather for our short time exploring the nature. The morning we left Ljubljana we stopped at a nearby hill of mysterious shrines that we had seen from a distance and wanted to explore further. It turned out to be shrines to Mary and Jesus, although what was at the top we shall never know as we didn't venture all the way (A giant Mary and Jesus perhaps?) Curiosity satisfied, we continued on our way.

Our first stop was Lake Bled, although not to see the picturesque lake but to fill our hungry stomachs. We did so by trying the regional specialty of Kremna Rezina, a giant fluffy pastry consisting of custard and cream. Although rather excellent, I have to admit I felt a tad sick after eating mine - I would suggest sharing one between two people in the future!

After our delicious snack, we parked somewhat illegally and jumped out for a view of Lake Bled. It was rather idylic with people wandering along the promenade or sitting on the grass, there was even a little pony giving rides to the children. In the distance you can just spot the island with the pilgrimage church perched on the top in shining white. 

As Lake Bled was rather built up and parking impossible, we decided to continue on to Lake Bohinj, which was the less touristy of the two lakes. Although parking was difficult we found a spot just next to the lake by this church, and were soon happily eating our picnic lunch on the shores of the Lake. Besides the rather odious smell of something rotting (I suspect the fish) it was very enjoyable.

Our next stop was at a campsite beside the Soca River, which I was rather excited about. A quick wander up the road afforded us gorgeous views of the perfectly clear, pale blue water. 

We decided to head to Vintgar gorge as there was a walk there with beautiful views of the river below. When we arrived however we were surprised to see how popular it was, with large car-parks and ticket queues! I didn't realize it would cost to simply do a nature walk (Imagine the reaction in New Zealand if they tried to do that!) but it was only 4 Euros and I ultimately decided it was well worth it. If you truly want to see the river, this is the way to do it!

The walk was actually far longer than I expected, especially as it was not a loop but a there and back again journey, filled with ogling tourists standing in the way to make it that bit longer. The wooden bridges wound their way through the gorge and gave us perfect views of the beautiful river; overall it's a trip well worth taking if you're prepared for a decent walk and an overwhelming urge to push the people standing in the way into the river. 

On our way down we followed the river for a time, occasionally driving across it or passing close enough to give us beautiful views of it in its many hues. 

Apparently I'm a hazard. Proceed with caution!

Ptuj and Ljubljana: Exploring Slovenia

After our brief foray into Hungary, we headed down into Slovenia, another new country for me! Our first stop was the town of Ptuj (amusingly pronounced pituee). We arrived in the evening and decided to have a wander around and then go back in the morning to see it properly. Usually my preference for exploring is in the evening, as the town (especially old towns) gain all of their charm that is lost during the day from the throngs of tourists. This town was the exception however, as it was dead quiet at night and some of the little alleys were actually blocked off. After coming across some strange cow bone 'art' we called it a night and decided to come back in the morning. Happily I only suffered minimal trauma from Yannick taking close up photos of giant spiders!

During the day the town seemed so much more alive, without being very touristy at all. We past locals lunching in the restaurants and enjoyed the cheerfully painted buildings -something I've noticed is popular in many parts of Eastern Europe. 

Our next stop was the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. I knew nothing about the town, so wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was wonderfully surprised. A town of wide streets, clean cobbled roads, renaissance style buildings and beautiful bridges. The town not only had a river running through it, but numerous trees growing, giving it the greenery many cities so often lack. I quickly decided that given the choice, this would be my top city to live in next. 

Unlike much of Eastern Europe, it was without the air of derelict, feeling instead very clean and spacious, whilst still being steeped in history. This was the road leading up to the castle, but it was so steep we took the cable car instead and were rewarded with a beautiful view of the city as we rode it up. 

The castle itself was heavily renovated, and as such proved none too interesting. We decided to stick to the free parts of the courtyard as we saw little point in paying for something which looked so modern. As our laziness only extended so far, we decided to walk down on the way back, taking a forested track which would have turned into a mudslide in the rain (thankfully the weather held). Navigating the backstreets back to the main center, we were soon drawn to the sound of music, where we discovered the celebration of a wedding outside the church steps. The guests, bride and groom were dancing to a single musician who stood in the center of their circle, they passed around a bottle of wine as they danced. Overall, it looked far more fun than any of the church weddings I had passed on my way back home. Clearly this is the way weddings should be held!

The architecture was one of the things in this city which left me constantly amazed and wanting to explore more. I think I saw more cool doors in this city than in any other town I have been to in Europe.

This building reminded me of something from the computer game Broken Sword, but was in fact the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, originally built in the 13th Century by the Order of Teutonic Knights. The church that can be seen here is mainly from the 1700s, however it was still important in its time. Indeed, its interior furnishings were donated by the imperial court of Vienna. The inner courtyard is now used as an outdoor theater- I would have loved to see a play in progress!

Our last stop for the day was at a cafe to charge our various electronics - however this wasn't the only purpose of our visit. Located at the Neboticnik building which is one of Ljubljana's most recognizable landmarks, a cafe is located on the thirteenth floor, with a viewing balcony. From the bottom it resembled nothing more than an office building, but a sign by the lifts indicated there was indeed a cafe at the top. We peered upwards at the never ending stairs, and then took the lift.

Upstairs, the cafe was rather posh, making me feel under-dressed. However the waiters were nice, and we were soon tucking into delicious cake slices (I found a Snickers cake!! Best thing ever). The view from the balcony was phenomenal with the entire town spread out below us. If I get the chance, this is definitely a city I will be returning to.