Slovenia

I see Tine waving at me the moment I step off the train in Ljubljana. Our connetion is through mutal friends back in Ohio. Tine belives that any friend of Eric and Becky is a friend of his, and so I am fortunate to have a charasmatic guide show me around Slovenia! We drive thirty minutes to his home in Duplej village. The houses in Duplej are constructed with the expectation that they will house multiple generations. Tines house has the feel of two studio apartments stacked on top of one another with his mom, Dragi, living on the first floor and Tine on the second. Dragi gives me a room next to hers on the first floor which is furnished with a large bed, two toasty duvets and a beat-up acoustic guitar. Love it.

After a delicious dinner of goulash, potato bits called noki, beets drizzled with pumpkin oil and red wine from the Primorsa region, Tine drives us to the nearby town of Kranj. We walk around, passing a hare krishna street band and the statue of France Preseren, Slovenias national poet. Back at the house, we sip chai and play Slovenia the board game. The object of the game is to visit all the destinations on the cards you draw before the other players. The rulebook states "We wish you a pleasant journey and do not forget that it does not count so much who the winner is. It is important that you learn mroe about Slovenia through this game." Ha, so cute. As I prepare for bed, Dragi hears me blowing my nose (this is a result of a cat allergy). She urges me to knock back a shot of Domaci Brenjevece for good health. This berry concoction is 40% alcohol and produces a pleasant sort of burn in my throat.

The sky sprinkles rain as we drive to Piran the next morning but relents once we arrive. Boats involved in a regatta race by. Old women peek out from behind curtained windows. Children kick a ball in a courtyard near the coastal path. Then I see a parade! Apparently, we have caught Pirans annual Solinarski Prazink (Salt Festival) which includes elements of traditional dress, music, and dance. Teenagers dressed in red velvet coats twirl blue patterned flags as they march down the street behind the drummers. We climb up the bell tower overlooking Tartini market. Tubas play a jaunty tune while couples dance. Lastovce birds fly above remnants of a castle to my left and the orange village rooftops to my right. Tine explains the roofs are angled and sealed specifically to handle burja, the strong winds Piran encounters.

We wind down a pathwhere bouquets of herbs adorn heavy wooden doors to the rose-coloerd Berecanka building, adjacent to Tartini Square. The market is busy with merchants selling wine, jewelry, soap, food, and various trinkets. I sample dried pears, figs, and homemade bread. Yum! For lunch, we split a platter of prosciutto, crusty bread olives, and sheep cheese accompanied by refosk wine. I love the cafe culture in Europe and how you can simply meander down a street until you find a place you want to eat--no driving required!

After Piran, we stop a the Skojan Cave area. Tours of the caves have closed for the day so we like to a lovely viewpoint past bori trees and preserved village buildings. The signposts are all in Slovenian so Tine translates. I joke that he could tell me they say just about anything and I would have to take his word for it. I enjoy looking a the karst formations and the rushing Reka river below. Slovenia is so beautiful! I love how accessible diverse landscapes are in this small country.

We spend the next day at Lake Bled. A rowing competition is taking place here. Fans cheer "Shimala, shimala, dai dai!" (almost there, come on come on!) We walk around the lake, admiring Bled's fortress high atop a rock formation. Boats ferry visitors to the lake's island church. Tine laughs a how often I am so struck by the scenery that I must stop to take a photo, write in my journal, or simply star in awe at the beauty before me. The karavanke mountains are particularly stunning today with tendrils of snow falling from icy peaks against a cloudless blue sky. I see many affectionate couples, both young and old. Tine's view on public displays of affection: "Americans are too limited. They say 'get a room' to couples kissing and hugging but in Europe no one would ever say that. In America, there is more talk about relationships and less action."

I'm rockin' out to the Slovenian version of Age of Aquarious as we drive a winding road framed by thin trees with lime green leaves. We hike to astonishingly beautiful Savica waterfall. Begin with a karst that touches the sky. Follow a diagonal path downward until you meet a double waterfall that cascades into a listerine-colored pool before plunging again over speckled rocks into the curvaceous river below. We wrap up the day exploring and relaxing at Bohinj where lovely cottages surround its lake.

Tine has to work during the weekdays and drops me off in Ljubljana for two of them. This city is home to about 200,000 residents--a perfect bite size capital for the likes of me. I walk past the Dragon bridge and the open-air market where merchants sell everything from shoes, to fresh flowers, to I feel slovenia shirts. I love the whimsy of this place. I see three people dressed in strange costumes handing out flyers for an event at a children's bookstore. Later on a woman rides by on an over-sized tricycle and hands me a newspaper. And I finally see the women wearing wacky, patterned tights like Marty mentioned he saw in Prague. I want some!

A gravel path leads up to Ljubljana's castle. It is also possible to reach by funicular, but the day is such a perfect temperature I feel compelled to hike it. I visit the free art exhibit in the castle's kazemate, an area previously used as a prison. The cool, cave-like, and dimly lit atmosphere lends an eerie aura to Rafael Samer's "Revelation." Most of the sculpted wax is geometric. Positioned atop a bed of woodchips, the metallic-hued cubes make me think I have stumbled upon a cache of alien presents within a dark forest. A higher platform displays a ring of perfectly formed golden roses. In between the two, a connecting platform holds a series of black wax boxes. I can't begin to guess what it all means but that is why art is so fun. There are as many perspectives as there are people.

Tine meets up with me after work and we stroll through Tivoli Park where there is an open-air photo exhibit about Slovenia's cave exploration history. I marvel at blown up photos of strange animals, such as the olm which has no pigment or eyes and senses heat with its body. There are couples lying on blankets in the grass, overturned bikes next to them. Tine challenges me to eat horse, so we order horse burgers at a joint called Hot Horse in the middle of the park. It is a bit tougher than a typical burger but not unpleasant. Dessert is Kremsnita, a blonde tiramisu sort of concoction that Tine promises will "knock my socks out." Mmm, it sure does!

The morning I leave for Budapest, I am a bit sad. I have so enjoyed getting to know Tine, his family, and gorgeous Slovenia I already feel attached to it.