Keeping ourselves entertained

It's been a couple of weeks since Bosnia so thought I would put a bit on about what we've been doing, and our plans for the next trip. 

We've had a lazy couple of weeks enjoying the sunshine and the heat at Bled, most days it has been over 30 degrees, and some days as high as 37.  As Richard mentioned in his post we found a bike shop in Lesce Bled that sells second-hand bikes, so got a couple for getting around and trying to get a bit of exercise.  The Slovenians tend to drive rather fast and cut us up, but most of the tourist traffic round here looks like it is completely lost so doesn't zip around too badly.  The people round here don't seem too concerned about theft, either.  Cyclists leave their bikes all over the place and don't always lock them.  No-one seems worried and presumably the theft rate must be low.  I'm still paranoid though and lock mine!

During the Olympics, Richard was glued to the TV, and I spent the time sunning by the lake and having the occasional swim to cool down.  I also started doing some painting, although only a couple of pictures so far, as when it is lovely sunny weather I feel I should go out and enjoy it.  Plenty of time when it rains later in the year to paint!  Richard has made the most of a local ice hockey tournament to see several games and have chats with the local ice hockey people.

While my mother was visiting we visited Vintgar gorge again, drove up the Vrsic pass in the alps and went to Bohinj to have a boat trip on the lake and go up the cable car to Vogel.  The cable car climbs 1000m in 4 minutes - makes the stomach lurch slightly.  The views from the top are outstanding, across to the Julian Alps and Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera so I'll have to visit again before I can post any pictures.  It looks like a nice place to start some walks from, so I'll be twisting Richard's arm to do some mountain walks.

We have been for a few walks round the nearby hills, although it is a bit hot for lots of climbing.  The bigger hills will have to wait until it cools down slightly.  We've been walking up a couple of the local hills - Ribenska Gora, Velika Osojnica, and explored the footpaths to the local villages.  Yesterday we did a 11.5km walk up to a local village that we can see from our balcony - Kupljenik.  It was hot so were forced to stop at the first village (Bohinjksa Bela) for a cooling drink - we've discovered the local Radler drink.  It is a mixture of beer and grapefruit, it sounds a bit odd, but is incredibly refreshing on a hot day and is only 2.5% so doesn't make you fuzzy-headed or dehydrated like beer can in the heat. Then we got up the hill, courtesy of a breeze and a bit of shade, and had lunch in the most beautiful spot with a fabulous, panoramic view across to Bled castle, the lake and the Karavanke mountains.

 

Bled has several festivals in the summer to keep us all entertained, and we have been enjoying them.  The first one was back in July, with a weekend of bands, beer stalls and one evening a big laser show against the cliff under the castle - quite spectacular, and the next evening they floated thousands of candles on the lake and then had a huge firework display.  It is amazing how the bangs of the fireworks echoed round the hills, it sounded like we had a minor war in the next valley over!  More recently we had an Ethno music festival for several nights and we were tempted down to watch a band called Ahab, who were english.  They were excellent and were much enjoyed with a kebab from the local take-away.  Also, we went to watch a local band after the Ice hockey tournament one night.  It is so nice to be able to enjoy the warm evenings out and about - it always gets a bit cool in England in the evenings so is never so fun.

 

That's about it for now, next week we have a few days away planned at Lake Balaton in Hungary, apparently a lovely place to visit in the summer.  I'll make sure I take my camera to give you all a few pics.  Then in September the big trips start with Venice and Rome the first one, then Munich for Oktoberfest.  Later we plan to see Vienna and Budapest before the really cold weather sets in. 



Cycling around the lake.

We have been here for a month and a half now and after watching the Olympics on TV I thought we had better try and be healthy (for once) and so we brought a couple of bicycles.

Shortly after buying the bicycles I thought I would see what it was like to cycle round the lake via the main road and some foot/cycle pathways. I think I got a bit carried away as 7 "laps" later I decided to stop, but only because it was time for lunch. Now some of you may think that 7 "laps" is not much but each "lap" is 6kms which means I did 42kms in one go which I thought wasn't too bad for a "beginner", especially as I hadn't really taken my bike out at home for the best part of a year or so.

For those who may wish to know:
a) I was not too saddle sore.
b) It took me just under 2 hours to do. This was about twice as long as it took Bradley Wiggins to take the Olympic time trial gold medal but then I wasn't really going "hard" and I was on a second hand mountain bike which is not condusive to fast times.

I then decided to do the same thing a week later only this time instead of cycling in 25 degree celsius heat I decided to do it in 30+ degree celsius heat and to do it over two legs.

First up was the morning section where I rode 4 "laps" in just about an hour and 14 minutes. I was just about to start the 5th "lap" when I saw Gemma and her mother and I was "forced" to stop for some lunch and a bit of rehydration (only squash this time!!).

The afternoon saw Gemma and her mother go off to sun themselves at the lake which gave me an opportunity to do a further 5 "laps" in about an hour and 32 minutes. I would have done a further couple of "laps" but I saw Gemma and her mother by the lake looking very hot and in need of some rehydration so I thought I should stop and assist them with this. This time it was a couple of beers!!

In all I did 9 "laps" for a total of 54kms. Again not too bad for a novice.

Made it to Mostar

We are safe and sound back from our skirmishes with Bosnian trains and the heat.  I would definitely recommend a visit to Sarajevo and Mostar but you should probably avoid getting to Bosnia by train and August is a little warm to enjoy it properly.

Starting at the beginning, we had to get the 7.30am train from Lesce Bled to Zagreb to give us a chance to see the capital of Croatia, and getting up was rather painful after a month of not having to set an alarm clock!  Dad told me when he and Mum went on their trip he threw the alarm clock into the Channel as they crossed on the ferry, unfortunately I didn't have the sense to do this (and it might have been tricky on the eurostar!), so we still had it to bleep at us at 5.30am.  It was a strange experience joining all the backpackers on the train, I feel a bit old to be a "backpacker" but apart from staying in slightly nicer places this is what we are doing!

We arrived in Zagreb before 11am, and found the hotel.  Then went for a wander around the city, it was very hot and we were forced to stop at a bar for, remarkably, a belgium beer!  Due to the joys of the Lonely planet we found an interesting bistro next to the market to have fresh fish for lunch.  The menu was all in Croatian and the waitress only spoke Croatian, so I guessed at the risotto.  It was a fabulous seafood risotto (although black!) and Richard ate it, too.  We did some of the touristy things - stuck our head inside the cathedral and went up the old tower, but probably the most interesting thing was the Museum of Broken Relationships!  Apparently gets top marks on Trip advisor. 

The next morning we had another early start to catch the train to Sarajevo.  A nine hour trip from Zagreb, and only slightly faster I think, than the Victorians travelled on the steam trains.  The train was old and decreipt, the toilet digusting and they seemed to feel the need to stop at every other hay stack on the way there - not my idea of Intercity!  The only vehicle we over took was a tractor! The worse thing is they haven't banned smoking on them yet.  The Bosnians try to be polite and not smoke in the individual compartments, which means they smoke in the corridor and unless you keep the compartment door closed (and then it is extremely hot) you have to deal with the smoke of several of them.  There is no refreshment car on their trains, so we stocked up with breakfast and lunch and plenty to drink before getting on each time.  What fun!

Sarajevo is an extremely interesting place, the old cobbled streets smell of spice, sheesh pipes and all sorts of tempting food.  The Bosnians have rebuilt so much of their city since the 1992-95 conflict but there are still obvious scars, with ruined buildings, ancient mosques lacking their decorations as there is no record of what they looked like, and many, many buildings with bullet holes and blast marks.  The old town is wonderful; old streets, shady courtyards full of cafes and bars, tiny market stalls selling the same wares they've sold for 100's of years - although the cliente are now the tourists that throng the area.   The austro-hungarian buildings in the newer section are beautiful too, elegant and colourful, with extra decorations of the red "roses" on the ground that mark the spots where innocent people were killed in the war, and their names are listed on the nearby walls.  52 in the market, 22 in a bread queue. 
Of course, although we explored the city we also found time to try the local Sarajevoski beer and for Richard to watch Bradley Wiggins win gold in the cycling.

On Thursday we were on the train again to Mostar.  The website Seat 61 said this was meant to be the most beautiful train trip in the world - better than the ride to Machu Picchu.  Unfortunately, I couldn't confirm that on the way down as one window was so badly scratched and clouded that we couldn't see anything and the other side had a traveller in an orange shirt blocking the scene!  We arrived in Mostar late morning and it was already incredibly hot. 
We walked down to the old town to see the famous rebuilt bridge and it was as beautiful as I expected.  We even got to see one of the locals jump from the bridge into the icy waters below, you can just about see it in the photo below.

 We also had a look at the Frontline, where the Bosnians and Serbs shelled each other and there are still several very damaged buildings.



2 viaducts we travelled over in the train

The next day we travelled by train back to Zagreb - and I can confirm that the section between Mostar and Sarajevo is very beautiful, I got to see out of both windows!  It switch-backs through the mountains and through dozens of tunnels, I get the feeling they don't really like to build their railways in straight lines!



The train journey ended up being 13 hours!  It was delayed...  It was hot and unpleasant but the company was good :-)

One more night in Zagreb before the short train ride back to Bled, and I was very happy to be back.  The lake looked even more beautiful than before and the view from our apartment gets better each time I look at it - and we got to sleep in!

I would definitely recommend Sarajevo and Mostar, but fly to Sarajevo, enjoy the city and it's wonderful eastern feel and then take the train to Mostar.  These beautiful places deserve visiting but you might want to avoid August as it is a little on the hot side.