Hello From Honeymoon land!

Greetings, howdy, Dobardan!!! We greet you from the wonderful and magical land of Slovenia. Never heard of it? Thats alright, the low numbers of tourists work out well for us. But the word is out--now the Slo has joined the EU (and is well known to be the second most forested land in Europe, its slogan is "The green piece of Europe."

Of course, I am logging on between snippets, off from Slovenia and onto Croatia, so there is little time to tell of the majesty that we have seen...the overwhelming Slovenian Alps that are so rugged and so green and so alpine it makes your head spin.

A quick overview: We started out in Ljulbjana. What a wonderful capital city. Abuzz with some 200K people, its a small and charming capital city with what must have been hundreds of lovingly tended to gardens and bridges and cut through by the striking river. Definitely got a chance to take advantage of the riverside cafe culture, stroll up to the town castle and see the old red roofed town aglow in the early evening. Two highlights: a restaurant with no menu where we got this eggplant-dill-almond dish that was to die for, and the hostel Celica. Celica is a former prison turned art gallery turned student run hostel. Twenty "cells" all designed differently. We got to try the honeymoon suite! hehe! Not at all dark and gloomy, but rather the nicest hostel either of us has ever seen.

After a quick jaunt up into Austria to go get some Western meds (they maybe in the EU but still dont get all the goods!), we stopped off in Skofja Loka--a traditional old medieval town with some of Slovenias oldest frescoes (from the 13th century) in two churches, one of which we had to go to an old womans home to pick her up to get the key.

Radovlica included a beekeeping museum (apiculture is HUGE here in Slovenia!) and some good honey, and then we were off to Bohinj and Bled--the countries two finest and biggest lakes, surrounded by the Alps. Bled has the gorgeous church on the island in the middle of the lake, but also a lot more tourists. We hopped out of the car, snapped a photo, and ran onto Bohinj (as it was the first GREAT WEATHER day and we couldnt stop). In Bohinj we quickly found some great accomodation in a private home, and hopped up on our first hike. Aint it gorgeous?

The next several days involved good hiking. The hikes all included several things:

1. They were STRAIGHT up. No such thing as a level hike.

2. They had amazing views and were in Alpine conditions. The beauty of valleys and peaks...unreal.

3. Incredible, ethereal birdsong...everywhere...sweet and at all times.

From there we headed onto the Vrsic Pass, to the other side of these Alps (still near the Austrian and Italian borders). Up and down 50 hairpin turns, with lots of history and beautiful views on the way. We stopped to picnic after a small Russian Church, honoring the Vrsic Pass, built by thousands of POWs from WWI who lived and died under horrible conditions. Thousands passed away in an avalanche. Our picnic included my favorite burek and yogurt, and a view to die for, so I was a happy camper.
Onto Trenta we pushed. Stayed in our first "tourist farm"--an ingenous idea by working farms to get tourists to stay there, cheap and with full meals, and in lovely old farms. We did many more breathtaking hikes (both by beauty and by sheer height--we climbed up 5,500 feet one day to an alpine hut) and picniced at every chance outside--continually astounded by our good luck to be in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

We couldnt decide when it was time to leave--we really didnt want to, but having already pushed back our Croatia trip we had to head down to Kobarid, another beautiful town nestled gentley in the mountains alongside the lush and light blue Soca River. Kobarid is fascintating in its gory WWI history--a town where Ernest Hemingway drove an Italian ambulance as a volunteer. The front for the war was right up there in the mountains. This tragic bit of history--thousands dead on both Austro-Hungarian and Italian side..and poor Slovenia, caught right in the middle--made

And then, for a trip finale we went east, to The Logarska Dolina. It really deserves all caps. Im going to ask you to Google Image it instead of making me post up more mountain fotos. In any case, we stayed on two different tourist farms, got some great hiking in, and lots of reading and relaxing. I just finished the God of Small Things, and am now onto The God Dellusion. Interesting reading for interesting times.

Logging off from Novo Mesto, a "big Southern City" for Slovenia, meaning tons of old windy cobblestone roads, a cafe with outdoor seating at ever turn, lots and lots of urban gardens, and a few thousand people. :) Slovenia is WHERE IT IS AT. We keep remarking how much others would love this country--cheaper than its Western counterparts, and so remarkable and untouched.

ONTO CROATIA! Where we will tackle Paklenica Ntl Park, perhaps Plivitce, and then head to the islands of Korcula and eventually Dubrovnik. May head into Bosnia and Montenegro...Keep tight and we will keep posting! And hopefully be able to upload our own photos soon.