Queens of the road (23/05/2012)

That morning we joined the forces with the little red car and took off, waving to the blue building in Ljubljana and Godecs. 

bye Ljubljana!

We set up the adventurous GPS, Spel sat on the driver's seat and after the first twenty minutes of trying to adapt to the opposite side of driving and hitting the door while trying to change the gears, we were well on the way. 

"Hi, I will be your navigator. Sometimes I will think you are driving through the field while you are on the motorway ."

But we were a step ahead of the navigator.The wheel was in a hands of the one who knew about the conspiracy of the navigation satellites which choose not to update the maps when they don't feel like it.

The road sad Hello. Motorway threw some signs on us so we followed them:

This was also a day when weather served us well. So we indulged in the clear blue skies, the first notes of Devojka sa Cardas Nogama (loosely translated: "Girl with Czardas legs"- the hit of our roadtrip) and the lights of the ends of the tunnels.

lights at the end of the tunnel

Czardas Legs and clear skies

Just before the border, Slovenia reminded us that there is so much more to it than the breathtaking view of Bled, hospitality of Godec family, bars on Ljubljana rooftops and good looking profiles of taxi drivers:

"I secretly think reality exists so we can speculate about it."- Žižek. I secretly think he has another career.

In order to respect that, we stopped by the petrol station to have a coffee and celebrate the taking off on the road. 

 

Adapting to new geographies, our snacks changed labels and shapes.

Snack local.

Bears. We eat bears.

The weather served us so good that the Spel had to put another layer of glasses in order to be able to drive safely. Our style was getting better and better:

After a couple of hours through Croatia, we arrived at our first destination. Zagreb, where I was born and a town which always had a special place in my heart. Starting from above, we were ready to take all we could in a day we had there. For storm was approaching and we could not fool it forever:

"Hi, I'm your designated storm. Please don't run away for I will catch up with you. I promise."

But at the time being, we were a step ahead of it. And Zagreb spread its arms to greet us. 

The evening out in Ljubljana

It was about time for three girls to go out, properly. And so we did.

I was never in Ljubljana and Jenny thought she remembers it (more about it in the next post). Spela grew up there and she naturally took the role of our guide. Also, a happy return-er:

happy return-er being excited for coming back

We glanced at the lights playing on the water. Found a cash point and got some money out. And along the cobbled streets, trying to cheat the weather did a little bit of sightseeing (7 buildings and one really interesting graffiti).

"I protest!"

Jen and Spela on cobbled streets 

It wasn't that cold, really:

really.

But the evening called for a drink. So we let Spela take us to the wine bar:

cheers!

...where we shared the stories, most of which are not for public sharing. It is sufficient to say that I only begun to understand with what an amazing couple of women I travel with and how lucky I am to have them around. For I suspected that the landscapes of this journey will mess with maps within. As they did. But I shared that where it was supposed to be shared so back to the evening out:

After a first few glasses, we took another walk, all the way to the bar which overlooks Ljubljana. Very posh bar which overlooks Ljubljana. Us, being very stylish (as RyanAir officials failed to notice) fit right in, after passing the entrance overlooked by wise marble heads and a squeaky elevator ride. Unfortunately, as we were immersed in important life, love & universe subjects, we didn't take huge amount of photos. But there are few, with cherries in martinis and after discussing diets of English, vs Balkan growing up:

in Balkan we like glazed cherries

 Few martinis later and in the spirit of conversation, we decided to introduce Jenny to concept of burek, favorite after drink food of most of ex-Yu countries, no matter if its round or trianglish. And no, it is not 'cheesy pastry'. It is much more than that. But to know it you have to try it. So, instead of trying to explain it, we let Spela take us to her brother's favorite bakery and indulged in greasy cheesy pastry.

[no photo. we were eating.]

As the rain started, we decided to take a taxi home. The taxi driver asked to join us on the trip, which was a nice thought to play with from the back seat where I was until he showed more than a profile. Pardon my judgmental attitude. So we waved him goodbye.

It was my last night with pijama and the next day we officially started road tripping.

22/05/2012-1:Cheating the weather around Bled. Vegetarian option. Happy birthday!

The next morning, we were greeted by amazing breakfast of toasties, followed by kefir and featuring Costarican coffee maker Spela's parents brought from their latest adventure. Yes, more food.

See me here, not yet fully awake:

but with a help of Costarican coffee maker, using the coffee grinded by a tool Spela's Mum inherited from her Grandma:

and some kefir, with its own fungus:

we were ready to go (mind the pajama, i still think it rocks!)

:

our first stop of the day was Bled- lake, island and castle.

Spela's uncle is the Duke of Bled* so we had a unique opportunity to enjoy the tour, the talk and the walk among the castle. Somewhere between scenery and fresh mountain air, we learned that the wee island is the only island of Slovenia, that the boats which sail to the island are owned by a number of families, and only the members of those families are allowed to operate them. Unfortunately, we had no time for a ride, but few days later we made up for that on Plitvice. Also, Bled is famous for its rowing contests. Another little detail I remember is that the water beneath changes with a help of machines, for there is no natural flow. But it's good for the water. Which gets up to 30m deep.

As no amount of the words can do a justice to a view above the lake and wee island, here come the photos:

[the only island of Slovenia]

[family photo of Duke of Bled]

[waterslide beneath the Castle]

[roadtrippers on the Castle]

[the Castle seen from the other side of the lake]

[and again]

We decided to pay no attention to the rain (especially because that was the 26 degree day in Bristol) and pay a lot of attention to the Castle instead.

That's how we encountered the Castle poet in the winery with a peculiar working hours:

He was dressed in a robe, and climbed up the little plateu in the winery.
"Do you think Slovenia is small?"- he asked, looking us straight to the eyes with his piercing glance.
We looked at each other: "Umm...yes?"
"You are wrong"- he said- "It is VERY small. But the variety of wines we produce is directly opposite to it."
And after a story about Slovenian wines, and us buying the bottle for our hosts in Zagreb he went back to catching up with his flying friend.

Just before that, we had the present of coins for luck, all three of which were forged by the steady hand of Spela's Dad in the Castle's forgery:

So, luckier and with an extra bottle of presents, we went to have a lunch and Spela's Gran, who lives near by. She did her best to greet us into the proper Granny's cooking in her warm home:

There was a soup to start with, baked potatoes and breaded chicken. There was a green leaf tomato salad. There was a smell inviting you to taste before you even approached the dining table.

There was also the stream of worrying for Jen, who's a vegetarian and where Gran worked hard to make sure she had enough:

"Would you like some soup? It has no meat just chicken."
"No, thank you."- Jen said.
"How about some salami then?"

The concept of vegetarianism doesn't really work around these parts, as Spela and me suspected and Jen was yet to find out. The conversation above happened couple times more in every place we were.Which reminded me of my Granpa, asking me everytime I would bring my vegetarian friend around: "So what will he eat then? Grass?"

We didn't see why not:

But only after the strawberries:

Spela and Jenny picking..

strawberries

Full and happy, we drove back to Ljubljana, for it was time for birthday celebration. It was Spela's Mum birthday. So as a desert of a desert, we had a home made cheese cake. Om nom nom:

happy birthday, Valerija!

and thank you for the cake!

After which we hit Ljubljana's streets.

*not the REAL one. whatever that means. But he welcomed us in proper Duke way. So in our minds he will be and is the Duke. All hail Duke of Bled!

Day 1, part 2: the amazing hospitality of Godec family & pajama party in LJubljana

Food. Food was a big part of our trip. Forget the apples of RyanAir game, here I am talking about the best of the best of the best of Balkan cuisine, well kept secrets of the bakeries, dairy hitchikers of croatian roads, home destilled spirits, and so many and more we were so lucky to come accross. It traveled with us, through the views from Bled Castle, all the levels of Plitvice lakes, serpentines of Prokletije all the way to Nikola Tesla Airport for Jenny and me, that is Trieste for Spela.

We were well fed, yes.

But food is nothing without the hosts. Yes, it will fill you up but if it was sprinkled with love and served with the few drops of effort it will fill your soul as well.

Our souls were full most of the days.

And it all started with the welcoming...snack? no I am not calling that snack. It is an offense to Spela's parents who greeted us just by the airport with boxes of French (or, Russian, depends who do you ask) salad, mini sandwiches, local drinks Spela and me grew up with and the organic strawberries for desert we had in a car on the way to Ljubljana.

No adventure could have started better:

[amazing welcome by Spela's Dad]

[amazement by Jenny and me]

Strawberries had no time for photoshoot- they quickly dissapeared on the way to Ljubljana where, after a mini break we had a 'proper' meal:

[mind the meat.... awww, mind the meat....]

[cheese was nice as well]

Which didn't last too long, either:

[some 10 minutes after]

But the Godec's family hospitality did not finish with that. Oh no, it just started. Not only they lended us their car and GPS, extra towels, blankets and camping equipment, but they were happy to share with us tips and tricks. As experienced travelers themselves, they have seen and drove the roads we were about to roll on. So, the map of the Balkans was spread in the living room and the consultations begun:

After we had the tips, tricks and advices, we could do nothing but go to bed. In proper pajamas. I opted for Granny pajama while Jenny and Spela went for the sleeping shirts. I still think my pajama rocks. I'm still sure both of them disagree. You judge for yourself:

proper pajama vs sleeping shirt

 sleeping shirts united.

We drifted to sleep in the apartment block of Ljubljana, with a view of the Castle on the horizon. We drifted to sleep in the rooms of medals. We drifted to sleep, making sure we remember the dreams.

For we were just about to make one come true.

21/05/20120 day 1: Apples are the only fruit in the RyanAir fashion show

We found the fairie lady on Liverpool street station in London on 21st May around 1300 and Trio fantastique  boarded the train for Stanstead.

The day before I purchased some fruit for the travel: clementines which ended their travel on the very same train due to their taste (yuck!) and the apples, which followed us through the most of the trip, hidden in corners of our bags, Jenny's pockets and on the back seat of the car, where the last one was cooked on the sun of Dalmatia three days later.

The reason for the weird distribution of apples is the strict RyanAir policy of only one piece of luggage per traveler. Luckily, waist bags (such as the huge yellow one you can see on the photo) and jackets (mind the Spela's stylish outfit) do not count. So we boarded the plane dressed in at least 10 kilos more each.I also had  a weird looking tail (that is, a bottle of water purchased on the airport attached to the yellow bag which was on my back in case they decide that the 2 kilo waist bag does indeed count as piece of luggage, over which i put 8 kilo jacket to cover it).

Spela and me bought the water on Stanstead while Jenny was watching the bags with eyes wide... umm... closed:

But as all laptops were still in official bags, in RyanAir game, we still represent nothing but amateurs. (compared to Vince, for example.) Consequently, we didn't feel guilty at all. This is us, not feeling guilty- which is also the first group photo and the last photo of the week taken in United Kingdom:

The flight to Trieste took 2 hours, in the course of which I had only a slight anxiety moment during take-off, timely interrupted by Jenny's million dollar question:

"What do you think THIS means?" - THIS is in the bottom left corner of the emergency how-to. Bottom red circle.

remove your ears while the plane is about to explode? riiight.

Three gin and tonic's (also purchased on Stansted) and bumpy landing later, we were in Trieste.

G&Ts:

Bumpy landing, sliding through the clouds:

Approaching Trieste:

And voila! we were officially on the Continent!