Pristina, Skopje and Belgrade

Since Richard's grand plan last year, he has been keen on developing a Grand Plan II.  This evolved into a trip to the old Yugoslav countries of Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia.  After many discussions on the route and methods of travel it turned into a plane, train and automobile excursion.

First stop was Pristina in Kosovo, the emerging capital of this newest European country.  We flew on our local Slovenian airline - Adria Air, which unlike the joys of the budget airlines, still had the extras like food and beer thrown in.  Pristina airport was even more like a 'shed in a field' than our ubiquitous airport in Ljubljana.  But it was very efficient - lots of people on passport control and we were through and got our luggage in a very short time.  First impressions of Pristina were that it "isn't quite finished yet".  The skyline is a mass of half-built edifices and the roads don't really have edges they just slide into the mud. 

They haven't quite developed the concept of car parks yet, which results in the locals parking any which way, mainly on the pavements.  The city is very polluted and everyone smokes (and takes no notice of the no-smoking signs in the bars!).  This said, I liked it.  There was a rawness and energy about the place.  It feels like it is determined to succeed no matter what anyone says or does.  There are no tourists, which is always nice, and the prices are excellent. We stayed in a superb hotel called Hotel Prima, in a rather dingy backstreet, but the hotel was beautifully kitted out with every extra and we had a wonderful cooked breakfast.  The owner and his wife couldn't do enough for us and I would definitely recommend it.



Renaissance restaurant

We also had an excellent dinner at a restaurant called Renaissance, which looked like a shack in an unmarked alley and with no sign above the door (we had to ask a local to point it out to us!).  It was the best meal I've had since the superb ravioli in Vienna.  For the all in sum of 15 euros, we had wine and water, a huge mezze starter with about 8 different dishes and top-notch bread, followed by a crisp, fresh salad, and then two main dishes made up of the most tender, gorgeous veal and a chicken dish in an exceptional sauce.  There was no menu or choice, as they buy the ingredients fresh each day but I have rarely tasted such an exquisite meal.  This restaurant is a reason to visit Pristina all by it's self.

Pristina hasn't quite got the hang of sights to see, there are a few old mosques that you can take pictures of, a pedestrianised main street which was beautifully lit at night, and a main square that they are in the process of tarting up.  But it is an interesting place to have a wander round, and there are plenty of bars to rest your weary feet.  One interesting fact we noticed was that everywhere was flying the Albanian flag - frequently more often than the Kosovan flag, we usually saw two Albanian flags to every one of the Kosovan flag.

The next day we took the bus to Skopje in Macedonia (train travel is not recommended in these countries - dreadfully slow and the buses are much better, faster and cheaper).  The bus trip was only 2 hours and went very smoothly.   

Skopje, although it suffered a terrible earthquake in 1963, immediately struck us as more finished and better off.  That said, there is a huge amount of building and decorating going on in the city centre itself.  They are reconstructing the huge edifices that were there before the earthquake, they are very beautiful and it will look lovely when it is finished.  However, a thought did occur to me that in a poor country with high unemployment the money might have been spent differently. The reconstructed centre will attract tourists and it is already able to cope with them as there were nice bars along the river front, more sights to see (although the fortress was closed to visitors), and an interesting bazaar which is still similar to how it was in Ottoman times.  They also adhere to the no-smoking in bars and restaurants which made our visit more pleasant! 

Turkish baths in bazaar

We stayed at the Iguana hostel, a short walk from the bus station and only 10-15 mins from the main square.  It was nice, but it wasn't very busy so they hadn't turned the central heating on.  They gave us a little electric heater for our room but it was extremely cold in the bathroom and the corridors.  I would recommend it as a place to stay for the warmer weather - they were very friendly, it was newly decorated and nicely done - but not much fun in February.  We also found another nice restaurant for dinner - the Beerhouse, in a 15th century medieval inn in the old bazaar.  It took a while to find, but the dinner was nearly as good as in Pristina, although with a menu and a very helpful waiter.

Next stop was Belgrade in Serbia.  Again we took the bus - only 6.5 hours compared with 10 hours on the train.  The trip was very good, straight roads with very little traffic, I even managed to read.  We stopped twice for breaks to stretch our legs, and were early into Belgrade.  The weather was snowy and cold and we struggled with the public transport system.  They have introduced a new BusPlus ticket, which you buy at kiosks and can load up to 10 trips at time.  They told us one ticket can be used for two passengers but we never managed to get the little machines on the bus to take for two.  Luckily, no inspectors got on to tell us off.  We had paid for the tickets, just couldn't get the validating machine to work! 

I wasn't very keen on Belgrade, the appalling weather didn't help but there seemed to be an undercurrent to the city that I didn't like.  The women all dress up like Barbies, long hair, overdone make-up, jewellery, size zero, tight jeans and high boots even if they are only driving the trams!  I felt frumpy and fat next to them.  Belgraders all smoke, and smoking is allowed in all the bars and restaurants - they have the 'no smoking' sign everywhere but without the line through it!  The food wasn't great - grilled meat and not very exciting, a disappointment after Pristina and Skopje.  Also, the young men frequently looked like football hooligans and everyone looked a bit miserable.



Richard on the tank



We visited Marshall Tito's grave and the old museum next to it.  Saw the Kalemegdan citadel, where Richard had fun with all the military machinery.  Visited Princess Ljubica's house, where the Ottoman stuff was interesting but the rest wasn't.  We found a nice Irish pub called the Drunken Duck where we spent a good evening getting drunk, and the slice of pizza we ate on the way back was the nicest food we'd had in Serbia.  We got the train back to Bled, 11 hours!  Not a nice trip, but it was a straight-through train so less hassle than changing buses.



Overall, a very interesting trip to three very different cities.  I would definitely recommend Skopje as the best place for a visit at the moment, it has a nice feel to it, good prices, and a lovely city centre (once they finish marbleising every surface!).  Pristina is a bit out of the ordinary, and is up and coming, maybe give it a couple of years.

Konigssee

As it is snowing outside I thought I would update you on what we did last week.

A few years ago we went to Ruhpolding, Germany for a holiday and whilst there we went over to Innsbruck for the day in order for me to have a go on the Olympic bobsled track at Igls. However, this was only the summerbob which ran on wheels and ever since then I have wanted to have a go in a real bobsled.  The track at Konigssee had been rebuilt in order to host the World Championships in 2011 and as it was only a couple of hours away it seemed like a great time to try out my "I have a need, a need for speed" craving.

We drove up on Tuesday morning and checked into our hotel in Schonau am Konigssee which was about a 10 minute drive from the track. The hotel seemed nice but the rest of the village was fairly quiet and most of the places that served food were closed, although we did find a place that was just about to close and had a roll and a couple of cakes left for us to scoff back in our room.

Well the time came to go to the track and I was starting to feel a little nervous. It had also started to rain quite hard but by the time we had got to the track the weather had dried so Gemma would not get wet (only cold!) whilst waiting for me to cannon down a steep hill.

I checked in for my "ride" (90 Euros) and was told to walk 500m up the hill to the start. By now I was a little more nervous as I was told I would be a co-pilot for the ride and it made me start to wonder what I would have to do if the pilot had an accident or didn't turn up, but then I thought "in for a penny, in for a pound" and how hard could it be to steer down a 1200m track at speeds of up to 120kmh whilst experiencing 5G's of force?!!!


Coming into the finish
(me at the back working the brakes)

When I got to the top there were already 3 other people there and the first 2 were given helmets and got into the bobsled with the driver and off they went. The other guy and I were then given our helmets and told to get into the bobsled, which I must say was a tight fit as my shoulders were pressing against the side of the sled. The driver, Eric Dengler is the owner of the company that runs the bobsleds, then gave a safety instruction course in German and asked if we were ready? I said "can you say that in English please and what happens if something happens to you?" He replied "basically if the bobsled tips over, hold on tight and wait for it to stop". Well that alleviated my worries about having to climb over him and steer if he had an accident!

CHAMPION!

At the finish.

It was now time for the off. The driver gave the sled a slight push to start us off and then jumped in as we picked up speed going into the first bend. The next 55-60 seconds went by and I was shaken about a bit, so much so that I thought I was a woodpecker on speed, but wow what a ride!! So much better than the summerbob.  Going through the curves between 2.5 and 5G's was amazing and there was no time for the driver to relax for as soon as you were out of one curve you were into the next. 


Checking the medal is real.

Yep I really was there and did it.

After the ride we were given our certificates and medal and I got to stand on the winners podium. It was now time to celebrate and we went over the river to a bar and had a couple of celebratory beers whilst wearing my medal! Of course, Gemma only had a non-alcoholic drink as we had to get back to the hotel.


Lake Konigssee

On arriving back we were told that dinner would be from 6.30-7pm and it would be a 3-course meal. We duly were down in the restaurant by 6.30pm and had a beer each. Other guests started to turn up and just after 7pm we were served. By this time though we were aware that although it was a 3-course meal (good value at 14 Euros each) there would be no choice and you would have what you were given or go without. It all reminded us of school dinners or going to a holiday camp/hotel. Fortunately, we both liked what was on offer and stayed for a couple more beers and some schnappes. There certainly seems to be a recurring theme on our trips!!!

Overnight there was quite a bit of snow in the region and we woke to find the car covered in 10-12cms of it. The roads however were clear and we had a smooth run down to Obersalzberg (the southern headquarters of Hitler's government) where we spent a good couple of hours at Dokumentation Obersalzberg (5.50 Euros which included an audio handset in English). I thought I knew a fair amount about the Nazis but this place gives you a much better insight into what went on both within the rise of the Socialist Party and then Nazi Germany. This place is well worth a visit and the only downside to it was that there is just so much information to take in in one visit. 

Time to head home and after stopping for a bite to eat we then encountered snow and sleet for the next 80-100kms which made driving for Gemma quite difficult, but we stayed behind a couple of lorries which cleared a path for us. Once back across the Karawanken mountain range tunnel and into Slovenia the snow had stopped which made driving for Gemma a lot more pleasant.

Overall, a crackingly good trip and whilst the bobsled run was expensive I would say it is certainly worth it as it is one of the fastest tracks in the world.

Time to decide where to go for our next trip?!!

Bye Bye Bled

My five months away went incredibly quickly and all too soon I found myself getting ready to go home. After a great trip to Zurich including fun creating chocolates we were back in Bled for 3 days before I had to leave. I was lucky that the weather was good - sunny and bright and not too chilly. We made the most of my last few days including a trip back to Bohinj. Lake Bohinj was beautiful in autumn and spectacular in the snow. Gemma and I went up the cable car to Vogel as I was keen to see what it looked like up there in the snow. Very different!



October 2012

January 2013

Sunday brought another lovely sunny day so when I finished (got bored with) packing it was time for one last walk around the lake into Bled. Also, time for a few last pictures to add to the 1300 or so I have already taken during this trip. Well, the mountains are beautiful with snow on them.

Of course at the end of any good walk is a little refreshment and we made the most of the local hostelries and local beer during my last weekend!

All too quickly it was time to say goodbye....................... until the next time??

Skiing





This entry is a little out of sink with the other blog entries but I thought I would still write something about my skiing experience! I started looking into where I could ski at the beginning of December and discovered my choices were vast. I decided some lessons would be a good idea as I had never been before (except on a dry slope for an hour when I was about 10!). A local agency organise a ski school so I contacted them. However, as Gemma said in the Fun in the snow blog; snowfall in Bled has been slightly erratic over the last few months and there was not enough snow to ski in December. Finally after Christmas there was a bit more snow so it was time!



Me with one of the other participants!

I joined a couple of girls who had never skiied before either and we headed up to Pokljuka. My first impressions were - ouch those boots hurt but I guess I will get used to them! After a warm up and some words of encouragement from our instructor it was time to go up the nursery slope on the baby drag lift! Luckily that wasn't too tricky. We all wobbily made our way down the slope in the snowplough position. I was getting the hang of it and enjoyed the feeling of careering down the hill (admittedly at very slow speed) but my muscles were not so happy! I was using muscles I don't think I ever have before and found it quite painful after a while. We progressed a bit doing some turns down the hill before I'd had enough and stopped for tea! Alpine tea - not good - very sweet!! I'm happy to report that I didn't fall over as much as my colleagues in the group although when I did it gave my legs a rest!!

Proof that I was there on skis!!  

I gave Gemma and Richard a laugh that afternoon and for a few days after as I was hobbling around in some pain! However, I was not put off and after a few days I arranged another lesson. This time it was an individual lesson, which has pros and cons! We went to a different slope in Pokljuka this time and the drag lift was slightly different. Lets just say I had 'fun' getting off at the top!! I got better at turns and got the hang of snowplough corners and parallel skis in between. Felt I was improving but it's hard work.

Overall I'm glad I tried skiing and will probably go again in the future once I've trained my legs a bit!! For the time being I prefer sledging I think!

Zurich & chocolate

When searching for a previous trip I came across a web page that said the Lindt chocolate factory in Zurich did a "Chocolate Creation" course. Now, as some of you may know, I am quite partial to chocolate and so our next trip was decided upon.

We booked the overnight direct train from Lesce Bled to Zurich, which left at 21.36 and arrived into Zurich at 09.20 the next morning. As I was having to sleep with the girls(!) we were hoping that no one else would be in our 6-berth compartment but this was not to be as the only other person to get on at Lesce Bled with us was some random bloke who was to share our compartment for the next 12 hours.

We arrived, without mishap or being stabbed overnight by the strange bloke, into Zurich and found our hotel straight away. They were good enough to let us leave our bags for a few hours, as we were too early to check in, and so it was off to breakfast. We found a nice little cafe where Gemma and Vicki had a drink to warm themselves up and I had a beer at 09.50, much to the chagrin of Gemma!!

After this we had a look around the town and found the Sprungli chocolate shop, which all I can say is that the chocolates looked tempting but the prices were high. It is the only shop where I have seen credit card machines in front of the display cabinets.

We then went to visit the museum that Gemma wanted to go to, but on finding it she decided that 25 Swiss Francs for each of us to go in was too expensive, especially as she was the only one who wanted to go in. So we decided to go for lunch and found a great bar/cafe which served paninis and beer! It was then off to the lake for a trip on one of the boats around part of the lake (8.40 Swiss Francs for 90 mins). This was a good way to see the lake and the surrounding area as it was a clear day.

By this time, we were feeling in need of refreshment and found a bar near to our hotel which served good priced beer and had a friendly atmosphere and was full of locals. We were going to go back to this bar for dinner but then found another place just a few doors along where we had a good meal and more beer!

We had now been in Zurich for nearly 10 hours and had not tried any chocolate, so it was off to the shop where there was a big selection of Lindt chocolates. We brought a bit and took it back to the hotel where we nibbled through it in the lounge for an hour.

The following day we got up a little later than planned and after breakfast and dropping off our bags at the station we went by trolley bus to an indoor market where we found lots of stalls with very tempting produce. There was also a stall selling English cheeses and beers. Needless to say Gemma and Vicki tried one thing and I tried the other. We stayed here so long that we even stayed for lunch, with more beer!!

Now it was time for the main reason for our trip to Zurich, so we headed off to Kilchberg and easily found the Lindt factory. We were a bit early (or was it planned that way?!) so had to visit the Lindt shop that was on site. After about 30 minutes of looking around we went to the check out and realised that even though I had been restricted on what I could buy it was still near to 50 Swiss Francs. Ouch!

We were still early for the event, so we sat down in reception where they had bowls and bowls full of the new Lindt caramel chocolates to which I had a couple and then a couple more. Afterall, it would have been rude not to!

3 chocolaterias
 

Our names were called and off we trooped to be kitted out with our jackets, aprons and hats and then we were shown into the "classroom", where on our table there were 2 big vats full of chocolate. We were then shown how to fill the chocolate balls that were in trays in front of us with liquid chocolate that contained traces of champagne. After these were filled, anything that was left we were allowed to pour directly into our mouths. The taste was sublime.

Next up it was creating pralines and we got to cover these with our own designs. The instructor for our table said that mine were excellant and the designs were superb. There was me thinking that Gemma was the artistic one of the pair of us!



Mmmm, tasty!

Our chocolate balls were now ready for the final piece of decoration, this involved us rolling the balls in our gloved hands in liquid chocolate and then dipped into icing sugar. This was a good bit of fun as I managed to cover Vicki in sugar by throwing the balls into the icing sugar bowl.

We packaged up our chocolates into boxes and then it was time to say goodbye and to get back to the train station for our overnight trip back to Lesce Bled. Needless to say we managed to get another beer, oh and something for dinner, before our train.

Some of our creations

We thought it was cozy on the train up but the way back was even more crowded as when we got to our compartment there were 2 middle-aged women with a big suitcase each already there. They looked a bit miffed that we were going to be in the compartment with them but hey ho. We made our beds and then went to one of the other carriages where we could sit and have our dinner. The old ladies still seemed to be a bit miffed when we went back at about 10.30pm but think they had accepted the fact that we would be there throughout the night. It was a tad interesting getting undressed in front of them although I was glad to note that they didn't undress as that might have given me nightmares!!!



Vicki's pralines

Overall, a good trip and if anyone is planning a trip to Zurich we would definitely recommend the Chocolate Creation experience, the city is quite expensive but if you go to the right places you can get good food and drink at reasonable prices.

Gemma's pralines

My creative creations as approved by our instructor