Adventures with Julia

 

October 23, 2017

We laid in bed a bit longer than usual this morning and chatted about the trip, going home and what to expect when we return.  It is definitely time even though we have enjoyed every bit of our experience.

However, let me focus on the last day in Slovenia first.  The sky had cleared and the fog was gone, but the air was still cold.  Our plan was to leave the Vila Istra at 10am and be early for our 11am meeting with Mateja in Ljubljana.  About a minute after leaving the hotel, the road made a right turn and we could see the mountains behind Bled covered in the first snow of winter.  It took our breath away and Mark stopped so I could take some photos.  The elevation at Lake Bled is only 1500 feet, but the mountains nearby are over 9000.   The snow-dusted mountain range followed us as we drove east and was still visible when we entered Ljubljana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met Mateja and our driver, Luca; dropped the car we had been self-driving and started our last city tour.   Luca let us off at the Old Town square for a walking tour.  I was almost instantly sorry I did not have more clothing.  Anyway, Mateja told us all about the buildings in and around the square.  At the far end of the square is the Academia Philharmonicorun built in 1701.  One of its most famous performers was Gustav Mahler who worked there for two years.

Also fronting the square was a several centuries old Catholic school and monastery that had been remodeled in the Art Nouveau style in the early 1900’s.  If you look closely you will see a group of young students in front of the building.  When these ancient buildings are remodeled they have a whole new life and energy to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is the University building dating from 1902, but established as Ljubljana University in 1919.  45,000 students attend, studying in different faculties all over the city.   For a town of only 280,000, that is a sizable student body.  Near the University is the Library, which was designed by architect, Joze Plecnik (1872-1957), who was born and raised in Ljubljana and made major contributions to the appearance and function of the city.  In this case he designed the bronze entrance to be plain and the interior walls to be black marble, so those entering the building would make students aware that they start with DARKness and study books to come out enLIGHTened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around the corner is St Nickolas Cathedral, built between 1701 and 1706 by Italians in Baroque style to resemble a Latin cross.  Inside is a distinctive Bishop’s chair and a side chapel designed by Joze Plecnik in the 50’s.   I could see that the frescoes and statues were in excellent condition, but have run out of energy and desire to look closely.  The main entrance has very impressive bronze doors that were made in 1996, in honor of Pope JPII’s visit to Slovenia.  I cannot remember all the details Mateja talked about, except that the bust of JPII is at the top.  Another pair of bronze doors at the side entrance was also impressive and included the heads of six Ljubljana bishops looking down at the dead Jesus.  In the upper right corner is a delicately carved freeze of the Virgin Mother and baby Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much of the city has been remodeled over the years and no longer looks old.  City Hall, for instance, was built in 1480, remodeled in1718 and again in1928.  The popular style at the turn of the century was art nouveau and many buildings, including City Hall, reflect that look.  Standing near City Hall is the Fountain of the Three Rivers, created by the famous Italian sculptor, Francesco Robba in the late 18^th century.

 

 

 

 

Joze Plecnik, was and actually still is, a really important figure in Ljubljana, as you may have already noticed.  In addition to the above works, he helped transform Ljubljana into a pedestrian friendly city.  He designed bridges and the waterfront to make access across the River Ljubljana easier and walking along the river a pleasant experience.  He had willow trees planted along the river banks to connect people to the water and nature. Although he practiced in Vienna, Belgrade, and Prague, Plecnik loved Ljubljana and lived and worked there until his death in 1957.

At one point I got so cold, I insisted we stop in a warm place for a hot tea.  We did and I think we all felt better for the warmth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After walking all over the Old City, we took a funicular to Ljubljana Castle at the top of the hill.  It was the most contemporary old castle I have ever seen.  It has been so completely redone in modern concrete and steel that I had to look hard for the old castle.  Now I am sorry I did not take photos of the new, as well as the old structure.  The place is perfect for weddings, parties, musical events, anything you want.  Wish we had such a facility in Grass Valley.  Anyway, we walked up over a hundred carved steel steps to get to the top of the clock tower to see the city below and the nationally famous Julian Mountains in the distance.  We got a few photos and climbed back down the circular stairway to the ground level of the castle, where Luca had driven to pick us up.  The funicular, it turns out, is for fun rather than necessity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In just a few minutes we were back in town and said good bye to Mateja.   Luca took us to the airport where we said good bye to him.  Finally, we were really done sightseeing and headed home.

Ljubljana to Vienna for 2 hours there, then on to Heathrow for an overnight stay in a countryside place called Coworth Park.  It was very quiet and we slept well.  Then in the afternoon we departed Heathrow for SFO.

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Mark wrote some of his thoughts during the last few days. Hear they are……

It’s been a long 7 weeks with, perhaps, too heavy of a schedule.   We have had a great time, seen many wonderful places and met some great people but almost every day we have had a full day of sightseeing on our schedule. We wanted to do everything in every one of our destinations but at the same time we had to fight our own plan to get time off to relax and just to “be” as I like to say.

Julia and I have joked all of these years that we were saving our European travel until we were old and our nurse could push a wheelchair through the streets of Europe and until then we were going to “do” the hard places. I’m not willing to be old yet but I have seen the error of our thinking. There is no way my nurse could push my wheelchair over the miles of cobblestone streets, through the narrow passageways and up the hills we have climbed these many weeks.

I  enjoyed  this foray into European travel.  One benefit I never thought about before was being able to drink the water.   I can’t recall the last time on a trip that we weren’t worried about opening our mouths in the shower and accidentally drinking some water.   Drinking from the tap has always been out of the question.  We were always challenged trying to stockpile enough bottled water to get us through the night.

While driving ourselves has presented some challenges and a few coarse verbal exchanges between us, all in all I have really enjoyed driving here. While we have not seen a road wider than two lanes in each direction, I believe Julia commented earlier about how these drivers do not camp out in the passing lane and you better not either unless you want the car behind you to put his hood ornament’s brand into your trunk lid.

So while I thoroughly enjoy the benefits of first world travel here in Europe, I look forward to our next trip back to the hard places where you have to be careful in the shower and you can’t drive faster than 5 mph because the road probably won’t allow it.

The important thing to remember whether you want first world experiences or want to spend some time in the less developed world, get off your butt and get going. There is not a better education available anywhere than the knowledge you will gain by leaving home and meeting new and exciting world neighbors.

Travel safe. 🌎🌍🌏re

 

Julia’s thoughts and reniniscenses.

I really like Marks comments and can only add a few things.

The roads throughout our travels were better than I expected, some considerably better than our roads.   There are many more and much longer tunnels and bridges.  Many elevated roads have no water under them.  They are there to make travel time shorter and easier.  It concerns me that our infrastructure is not being kept up or improved.

We hit the jack pot when it comes to beds.  Only our last place, the Vila Istra Hotel, had a bed that was too soft.  Everywhere we had a firm, king bed and three pillows each.  That sure made sleeping easier even when we had 2 or 3 one night stands.  I am sure that sleeping well helped us carry on with a positive attitude.  Our only problem was when one of us was sick.  After we passed that hurdle we were fine.

As for guides and drivers, they were almost all really good.  Everyone spoke good English, thankfully, and we had lots of fun and laughter with several of them. The things we did not like are not worth remembering.

The food.  Now there is a topic.  We each had our share of really bad meals, most meals were just ok, and a few, too few, were wonderfully memorable.  Obviously, our Michelin dinner at Monte was way over the top.  I had a few really excellent fish dinners in Croatia and a few other good meals I can no longer recall.  Thankfully, fine dining was not our objective.

We have already been asked which place we liked best and what was our favorite experience.   What can we say?  We enjoyed each place while we were there for the unique place that it is.  Neither of us is inclined to have favorites.  We will probably not return to any of these countries, although there are still things I would like to have seen in several of them including the Czech Repubic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia.   Croatia holds the most appeal to me for several reasons. – small, colorful villages, many beaches on the Adriatic Sea, great seafood and a mostly Catholic population.  However, as Mark says, it is not on the way to anywhere.  I would happily have swam in Croatia’s Adriatic Sea coast on a warm sunny day.  It was too cold to go swimming anywhere.  The highest the temperature got was 76 degrees and that was when we were not near water.

Did I learn anything new?  Yes.    Plan ahead better for the weather.  I thought I packed ok, but was way off the mark.  Too many light tops and not enough warm ones.  Pack less.  I do a little better each trip, but still need to improve in that department.

I learned a lot of European history and was fascinated by the similarities and the differences in each country’s experience.  I fear I  will not remember much of it for long.   Thank goodness for the blog.

I do not want to do another 7-week dog and pony show.  If we go for a long time, I want to plan on seeing fewer places and experiencing them in greater depth.  If we want to breeze through a few places, keep it to 4 weeks or less.

We definitely liked our Michelin experience.  Will start researching where they are located and try to book one far enough in advance to get a reservation.  We lucked out in Rovinj because it was the end of the season.

Mark and I got along fine.  Even while traveling, we had to handle business concerns.  Not easy when your mind is not on work.  And, of course we worried about friends caught in the fire areas as well as the hurricanes and flooding in eastern states and Puerto Rico.   Even our guides worried with us.

Attending Mass at the Mother of Peace pilgrimage site, Medjugorje, was a special treat.  I did not know much about the place and wish I had scheduled more time to experience the people and activities there.

I thank the Lord for a safe and fun experience for both of us and pray for all of you too.

Happy travels, however you go,

Julia