BOVEC - SLOVENIA

It's already too late in the year to go across the Vrsic pass which made me quite ill last time so I was pleased when the apartment owner confirmed that a road did go through from Bohinj to Bovec without back-tracking. What neither the owner nor the GPS indicated was the kind of road it was. We left Bohinj elated with the beautiful views but were soon faced with 127km of hair-pin turns, blind corners and sheer drops only feet from the road edge. The scenery may have been beautiful if I hadn't been terrified. By the time we got  to Bovec we had shaken nerves and I had a sore foot from where I had applied the imaginary brake on the passenger side.


Of course Bovec  - Oscar's parents home town - proved worth the trip there. We stayed at Stare Kovac again with owners Veno and Nada who were so friendly that each time we saw them we had to stop for a shot of Borovnice (strong blueberry spirit). Mum and Dad pleased to see Veno's car - a Navara just like the beast. Not much was happening in Bovec of course, Mum and Dad set out to walk to the end of  town one day and returned quite soon after they left - they didn't really need to take the day pack! We caught up with Max's cousin Palmira and her husband Franz who Ruby really took to - she couldn't understand him so must have thought he was babbling, she returned the babble and the two of them giggled away together until they were nearly crying. The next day Ruby spotted Palmira up in the choir loft at church and blew her kisses.

Oscar saw his cousin Jani a few times including when Jani found us having dinner at a restaurant on the outskirts of town to return Ruby's hat- they really don't need mobiles in Bovec, everyone knows anyone can be found at any time. The rain started before we left - that and the blocked toilet signalled time to move on. We stopped in Graz, Austria on the way home and had just a touch of snow along the way.

BLED & BONHINJ - SLOVENIA

Not far out of Ljubljana we caught sight of the mountains and headed towards Lake Bled. It was just as beautiful as I remembered, our apartment is up on a hill with a balcony overlooking the lake. We made the compulsory stop for a krem schnit - doesn't sound pleasant I know, but actually like a vanilla slice with more cream.

At the church beside the lake the organist was rehearsing so we stopped and listened for a while; we were in no rush to be anywhere as is the norm here. The 11thC castle here is high above the lake and we almost considered not bothering as we feel a little 'castled-out' but were glad we did. The views over the lake were superb, if a little scary for those who don't like heights, and the information about the castle and surrounding area tastefully displayed. Oscar knew there had been a Kenda who was a land owner in Bled in the past but at the castle we discovered he had actually owned the castle at some point in the 19thC. I wonder if we can claim some kind of inheritance here??

Bled castle

Lake Bled from the castle courtyard

From Bled we drove to Lake Bonhinj, a larger lake with less development along its shores. The autumn leaves set a beautiful backdrop to the water here, my photos don't really show how lovely the colours were.



 


 



Ruby and friends.



LJUBLJANA - SLOVENIA

We set off to 'old country', Slovenia - Oscar very excited. The drive was 450km on freeway all the way, with only one stop at a roadhouse which we left quickly when a tour group descended on the place as if they hadn't eaten for days and as if this was the only place you could buy souvenirs.  By the time we made it into the centre of Ljubljana we were so hungry we had a  late lunch at 4.30pm at a Mexican restaurant - we would have eaten more local cuisine but could find only Mexican or McDonalds serving meals at this time. The next day we walked around the castle perched just above the old town. More interesting was the market oustide the castle selling local produce (and bureks which seem very popular here).

AQUA PARK

Swimming and thermal bathing is big here - we found a great aqua park 25km out of Bratislava. It would be fantastic in Summer - lots of outdoor pools and slides. Indoors were a couple of pools including a hot one with seating around the edge equipped with jets. You could swim from an indoor pool to an outside one where the water temperature was still warm enough to send steam from the surface. There was one water slide which ended inside. I was surprised when Ruby agreed to go down it with Oscar and even more surprised when she wanted to do it by herself. Sorry the photos aren't clear - the camera lense steamed up.

 

OLOMOUC

We all drove to Olomouc - in Moravia, Czech Republic, about two hours from here. Autumn is well advanced here with the leaves coloured and beginning to fall. Olomouc is a beautiful small city with a lovely Old Town centre, as nice as any we've seen but on a smaller scale with fewer tourists - this might change in the next few years. We liked the astronomical clock in the town square, the pious saints who came out on the hour had been  replaced in the 1950s with pious workers instead thanks to the Communist Party. The buildings were incredibly well preserved and interesting. We came across St Michael's -a 13thC church with beautiful frescoes and architecture. We were the only ones there and I climbed the bell tower to find the four huge working bells ,and downstairs to the orginal chapel hewn in the rock. Unlike Prague, there was no charge to get in, simply a note on the wall asking us to turn the light off as we left. Once again we had the daily menu at a restaurant which consists of a soup and main course for less than $5 AUD. Since then we have learnt from Miro (whose house we're staying in) that it is legislated in Slovakia (and I'm guessing probably Czech) that employers provide all empoyees with a hot lunch, providing vouchers for such. Consequently, restaurants offer these daily set menus to attract business. we're making the most of it!
From Olomouc, Mum and Dad travelled to Prague and Cesky Krumov and we headed back to Bratislava. We are thinking of you all, hoping you're all well.

PIESTANY

Piestany is a Slovak town in an area known for its thermal spas, about an hour's drive from Bratislava. The outskirts of town are the typical ugly communist-built apartment blocks, but the small town centre was really pretty. Another sunny day, the temperatures are low teens but it feels so much warmer with bright sun and no wind. The thermal spas claim to cure everything, Oscar thought he might lose 15 years and I thought I might get my legs stretched to the length of the average Slovak women, but alas, most of the centres were not taking bookings the day we visited.

"Thermal spas..who cares? look what I found at a Piestany cafe."

BUDAPEST

We set off to Budapest with Mum and Dad for a few days. It's only a 2 hour drive from Bratislava with the real difficulty proving not getting there but squeezing down the alleyways and into car-parks. The apartment we'd booked was on the Pest side - I didn't even know they were two spearate cities, Buda and Pest. Ruby was terribly excited just to have her own hotel bed - wonder how long that will be a novelty! Once again we needed a new currency - so much for the Euro, so far we've had to get Malaysian Ringgit (understandable), Euro, Czech Crown, Polish Zloty and now Hungarian Forint.

Our first afternoon in Budapest was spent wandering around Pest - into the magnificent St Stephens where we saw the relic of St Stephen's mumified hand. For approx $2 you could make it light up.....bit strange really. On our second morning we visited one of the oldest baths at Gellert for a soak in the thermal waters. After much difficulty finding the door, then understanding the electronic system to unlock the changerooms, we hit the pools. There were pools of different temperatures ranging from air temperature to 38 degrees. It was especially lovely in the area with an obvious Turkish influence (the Ottomans were just one of the groups who ransacked then rebuilt Buda). Getting out of the baths was quite a comedy of errors as we  jammed the exit gate with Ruby's pram then Oscar was sent all the way back to the changeroom from the exit to unlock the changeroom door. A hearty lunch of goulash and beer at the central market calmed us again and reinvigorated us for a walk along the Daunbe.

The next day we visited the Castle up on Buda - lots of tourists - but beautiful buildings. The booklets claim this area has been rebuilt completely at least three times - not sure about this, some of the buildings seem older than WWII - I'll have to google it. A shame  they allowed Hilton to build an ugly 70s hotel amidst the castle buildings.

Ruby was disappointed that the princess at this castle was also asleep, although she was pleased to get a Budapest snow dome to replace the Krakow one which met an unfortunate end on the kitchen tiles last week.

KRAKOW

As you can see I'm catching up on a few days all at once. We drove to Krakow and after our experience crossing into the Czech Republic were so careful after getting the tollway sticker only to discover we didn't need one. Thanks to the GPS which has been invaluable we went straight to our hotel on the edge of the Old Town. The square here is huge - approx 200m each side. Krakow is a stunning city. We had three days there but could have filled many more. Rebecca and I went to Auschwitz which was in many ways not what we really expected, i didn't realise the main camp was actually within a town, i thought it would be out in the forest a little way. We had one women in our group at Auschwitz who continued to take photos of everything - even inside the gas chamber, despite the signs and directions from the guide...really rude and odd given the sombre tone of the place. A sobering experience but memorable and thought-provoking.


Oscar and Ruby wandered Old Town and found a huge park with four different playgrounds within. We discovered pirogi (Polish dumplings) - Ruby loved them and ate 10 each night. It was quite cool in Krakow and it's not even winter which apparently can get down to minus 25 degrees. The outdoor cafes in Krakow and the other places we've been to, have blankets on the chairs for patrons - we thought this was funny in Bratislava but we made use of them in Krakow. The drive home was almost 5 hours, a long stretch but lucky for us Mum and Dad were here with dinner ready for us when we arrived. That night Mum, Dad, Rebecca and I went to the opera, Nabucco in the beautiful old Opera House in Bratislava.

Chopin's piano....well sort of.

Term 4 has started, hope you're all enjoying it.

"go straight to the pirogi shop up here on the left:

MAMMA & DADDA ARRIVE

VIENNA

Rebecca and I spent  a day last week in Vienna, cramming in as many museums, attractions and pastries as we could. Of course we had to have the obligatory Wienner Schnitzel before heading back to Bratislava. After studying the film "The third man" in Literature this year, Rebecca was keen to see the Ferris Wheel and other sites featured in the film. Lunch was at Central Cafe - the favourite spot in the past for Sigmund Freud, Trotsky and Beethoven (not together obviously). We'll head back to Vienna at least once more  - it's only an hour away so is perfect for day trips.