Champion golfer(!) and international events in Bled

In our last week here in Bled and we have had a super time.

Start of one of the races

However, there has been time for me to do a few more things before we leave. Starting with the 54th 1st May Rowing Regetta which was held from the 21-22 April (I know, go figure that one out!). It was quite a low key event with mainly rowers from Bled, Ljubljana, Maribor, Koper and a few others taking part. Prelims in the morning were followed by finals in the afternoon. Needless to say we did not get up in time for the prelims.

We managed to make it in time for the finals on the Saturday and we saw the start of a few races but as it was a nice, sunny day we decided to forego a bit of racing and went to the local wine bar instead where we sampled a (quite) few of the local wines, which were excellent especially the sparkling wine and a local red (Teran).

Gemma enjoying the rowing!

For those who know me, for me to like a red wine is quite unusual as I usually prefer white wines but Teran is well worth a go if you ever get the chance to try some. According to the owner only 20% of people like Teran when they try it so I thought it would be good for me as some say I am unusual as well!

Unfortunately, by the time we finished the wine the rowing was over. Whoops!!

During the past week Bled has played host to the European Taekwon-do ITF Championships. I was tempted to volunteer to help at the event but decided against it as it would be quite soon before we left Bled and I wanted to enjoy the time with Gemma before our return.


Paris Carbonari

I went to the Sports Hall for the events on the Friday where I managed to speak to a couple of people who gave me some tips on how the scoring worked which was useful but still didn't explain some of it, especially how you get points for kicking your opponent in the head!! After watching some of the Welsh and Scottish teams get a bit of a kicking (literally!) I noticed that one of the two English competitors were just about to "have a go" so I went over to watch her in the individual sparring junior 16-17 female under 52kg category. Paris Carbonari managed to get through to the semi-finals but unfortunately came up against a more experienced person from Russia and lost out on a place in the final, but still managed to get a bronze medal. Congratulations to Paris.

For the past couple of weeks the mini-golf course in Bled has been open and Gemma & I have played a round(!) or two there. The first round we were both a bit rusty but OK. Second round we were both terrible but by the third time we went we were both getting the hang of the course. We think it helped that we had both had a couple of beers beforehand.

Gemma scored a 44, which is considered well for the course and I scored a 42, which is considered par for the course and so I was very pleased especially as I had scored a 4 on two of the holes.

Gemma did get the better of me though in that she recorded 2 holes in one whereas I only managed 1. I had the last laugh on this though as it meant that Gemma got to pay for the beers.

Now it is time to start the packing for the return journey, although a couple more rounds of mini-golf will probably be had as well as a couple more beers!!

Bizeljsko, Ptuj and Rogaska Slatina

As our final month approached we had some hard decisions to make about what to do with the little time (and money) we had left.  We had visited all the nearby countries and seen a huge chunk of what we had hoped to achieve, so this left us with either places further afield, like Poland or Berlin, or to see some more of Slovenia.  Since we had been busy travelling and some of the train trips had been a bit tortuous we decided to do some research and then plan some overnight trips to different bits of Slovenia.  We realised with all the travelling that we hadn't fully explored the country we were based in.

First off was Bizeljsko.  Slovenia is a perfect place for vines and produces a lot of wine.  We had tried more than a few from the local supermarket but thought it would be fun to visit some vineyards and do some wine tasting.  There are areas in Slovenia where they have "wine roads", where there are mile after mile of vineyards and you can stay on Tourist farms that produce their own wine.  One such area is around a village called Bizeljsko.  A lot of Slovenia is made of limestone - that's why there are so many caves, but this region is made of flint and sand.  The locals have dug Repnica, which are small caves in the sand, held together because it is damp, and these produce perfect conditions for the storage of wine.  We found a tourist farm to stay in from a local website www.turizemzidanicah.si, and organised a wine tasting with them and another local vineyard within walking distance.  Unfortunately, the first date we booked we had a bad snow storm, and although all the snow ploughs were out and the roads just about passable, I decided I didn't fancy the two hour trip and we postponed until later in the week. 



Vineyard at Pudvoi



It was still a little snowy when we walked over the hill to Vina Graben, and the nice man who did the tour and tasting thought we were a little mad!  He gave us an interesting talk about the history of wine making in the area and showed us his Repnica.  Then, finally we were on to the tasting.  The wine was excellent, and we must have tried about 10 different types (they produce over 200 different wines).  He kept refilling our glasses, and we finished off with some cognac and a herbal spirit thing.  Needless to say we were a bit more wobbly walking back over the hill!

After an hour's break we were on to the second wine tasting at the Tourist farm Pudvoi.  We got to see their Repnica too, but got onto the wine a bit quicker.  The wine wasn't as good quality as Vina Graben, but still very drinkable and we had an interesting chat with our host .  The stay at Pudvoi included dinner and, of course, we had a bottle of their Laski Rizling with the meal.  A very happy evening was had.

The next trip was to an ancient market town in the east of Slovenia, Ptuj.  This is listed as one of the must see places in Slovenia.  The snow had gone by now, but spring hadn't quite made an appearance.  Ptuj is quaint old town with lots of medival townhouses and beautiful buildings and dominanted by it's castle.  We went at the weekend, which turned out to be a bad idea as this part of Slovenia still has afternoon closing on Saturdays and nothing open on Sundays.  Although the architecture was lovely, the place struck me as a bit sad as it no longer has the life and energy that it must have had in it's medival heyday. 



Ptuj with castle

We stayed in the very nice Silak B&B in a 300 year old house near to the river - just be careful avoiding the beams!  Then we spent a wet afternoon exploring the town and trying the local restaurants and bars.  The next morning we visited the castle which had an extensive collection of old stuff, and a quite interesting exhibition on the medival Lords of Ptuj.  I think Ptuj would be better in the summer as there weren't many visitors when we went and there is a good thermal spa and swimming complex just over the river.  It would be a good area for cycling too, as it was fairly flat, had good cycle paths and there are vineyards nearby for tastings!

The most recent of the trips took us to Rogaska Slatina for our anniversary.  It is one of many Spa towns in Slovenia, the magnesium-rich spring was discovered in the sixteenth century and it is full of gorgeous looking hotels in the Austro-Hungarian empire style.  The Grand Hotel Rogaska was particularly impressive.  We didn't stay in any of the expensive-looking hotels but found a small apartment (Apartment Pak) to the south of town, only 10 mins walk away from the main square.  We did try the "curative" waters, meant to be particularly good for gastrointestinal complaints!  It tasted pretty horrid, and the magnesium content is so high it fizzes as it comes out the tap. We tried the local swimming complex rather than the medical centre herbal baths, though.   Other highlights in the area include the crystal glass factory, where we picked up a souvenir, and the Rogatec Open Air Museum, where we got to see the inside of houses and other Slovenian buildings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

It has been interesting to visit other areas of Slovenia, but I still think Bled is the prettiest and the best. 

Spring arriving in Bled

Watching winter sports is easier than participating

It's been a while since the last posting so I thought it was time to update on a couple of things that I've been up to.

After my "heroics" at cross country skiing I decided that it might be easier to watch winter sports rather than participating in them. Thus for a couple of weeks after my efforts I watched the final races of the biathlon World Cup events on TV as well as venturing out to watch some new and interesting sports as well as watching some old favourites in the local area.

Preparing the slalom course
at Kranjska Gora

It started off with a trip to Kranjska Gora to see the penultimate race in the mens slalom World Cup. It was a bit of an early start but I got there about 20 minutes before the start whilst Gemma parked the car. The racing was really good and as it only cost 10 Euros to get in I thought it was well worth it, although Gemma wasn't as keen as me as the day was cold and rainy.

Ivica Kostelic from Croatia won the event but it was mainly due to the French skier, Alexis Pinturault, failing to finish the 2nd run whilst having a comfortable time advantage. Unfortunately the only British skier, David Rydding, failed to finish the 1st run although he did win the overall Europa Cup slalom title the following day.

Gemma watching the Alpen Cup
at Pokljuka on a warm, sunny day

It was also the final weekend of the Alpen Cup, which is the third tier of biathlon (not a breakfast cereal) and is mainly for up and coming biathletes. There was some good racing although I felt sorry for one of the biathletes who missed all of her targets and had to do 10 penalty laps which turned a 6km race into a 7.5km event for her.

An added bonus on the day was that as it was bright and sunny day and I even got Gemma to come along and watch quite a bit of the event.

The BIG hill at Planica

Towards the end of March there was the Ski Flying Final held at Planica, which was an event I had been longing to see ever since we arrived in Slovenia. Ski Flying is a version of ski jumping but whereas ski jumping usually sees people jumping around 95-130 meters ski flying involves the people jumping between 160-240 meters.

I managed to get to see the team event whereby 4 people from each national team make 2 jumps each and the team with the best overall points total wins. On the day I was there 35-40,000 people were there and the majority of them went home happy, as well as slightly drunk!, as Slovenia won the event.

Ice Stock Sport
 European Championships

It was then time for something a bit different and that came in the form of Bled hosting the European IceStocksport Championships. This is a game played across the width of an ice rink (about 30 meters) where players "push" a "stone" across the rink and try to place their "stone" as close to the centre as possible and on other occasions knock targets out of a designated area. It was a bit like watching a cross between curling, bowls and skittles.

What was interesting was to see that not only were the "normal" winter sports countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland taking part but also teams from Brazil, Israel, Guatamala and Kenya.

Watching the skill involved in this sport was a good way to spend the afternoon and I think it could be something that catches on in the UK as it is relatively cheap to buy the "stone" and targets.

I know how this person feels

Just before Easter we went back to the Ice Hall to see the Triglav Trophy. This is a competition held annually in Bled for ice skating. Previous participants had gone on to win Olympic medals.

The competition was of a high standard and I think we may have seen at least one if not two future World and Olympic champions. These being the junior mens winner Alexander Petrov and Taichi Honda from Japan who was the runner-up in the same event. The Brits did quite well in the event coming 3rd and 4th but were quite a way off from winning.

My pharmacist says that I am still not allowed to do anything sporty due to my dodgy knee and so this weekend I am off to watch the 54th Bled Rowing regatta and then a couple of days later the Taekwon-Do European Championships which are being held in Bled. Should be fun as there are usually beer tents at these events and they do say "if you can't join them, then have a beer instead!"

Winter Olympic hopeful!

After trying out the bobsleigh track at Konigsee and having previously done the shooting element of biathlon I thought it was time to try out another winter sport. So, after not having been on an artificial ski slope for over 20 years and not having been on real snow since I was in school, which was slightly longer than 20 years, I decided to have a go at cross country skiing. This is a sport in itself but also forms the ski element of one of my favourite spectator sports which is biathlon.

I found the number for a local instructor and agreed to meet him (Rok) at the public cross country course in Bohinjska Bistrica in the early afternoon for a one hour lesson (20 Euros). For the price I got an hour of instruction plus use of the poles and skis, which proved handy as well as problematic. The only thing I had to do was get some cross country ski boots and these I managed to hire for 3 Euros for the afternoon.

How to let someone else
put your skis on for you

On arriving at the public course I noticed that there was a group of school kids on a trip and I was a little dubious about them watching me "perform" but fortunately they left just before Rok arrived.



Warm-up with neck rolls

First off was putting the skis on, now this sounds simple enough but you have to "clip" your boots in at the front and not the back whilst standing on a ski that wasn't even as wide as my foot.

Now it was time for the warm-up which involved waving my arms around and doing "neck rolls". It was now time for the skiing!

Listening very carefully as the
instructor shall say this only once

I started off in the classic style tracks, which are basically tram tracks only a lot closer together. This meant pushing with the poles and "bending ze knees" whilst keeping your weight forward. Needless to say it was not long before I fell over (7 minutes into the lesson and 5.5 of those were putting on the skis and doing the warm-up!). I got a bit better and then we went back to the start where Rok said to put the poles down and we would now do freestyle skiing without poles. This meant putting the skis in a V-shape and pushing the ski on one leg whilst gliding with the other ski/leg. This was more tricky than I thought as normally when you start to slip on snow/ice you try and steady yourself, where here you had to let the slide happen. Needless to say I wasn't great although I did manage to do a couple of metres in one go before falling over.

Bend ze knees, well slightly!

I then tried doing freestyle skiing with poles as well but this only made me have to concentrate on more than one thing at a time and being a bloke this was not easy to do, if not nearly impossible. Thus more falling over ensued. By this time Gemma was getting concerned for my knee but I was determined to carry on.

I think Rok was getting a bit miffed by now with my ineptitude but he was being paid to watch me make an arse of myself, so he was getting good value for money. He asked if I wanted to try doing a "lap" of the course to which I agreed but only if I could use the classic tracks rather than doing freestyle skiing to which he agreed, but I think that was only because he didn't want to still be out there at 8pm that evening with my freestyling "skills".

Whoops, there go my
Winter Olympic dreams!

Let's just say that this lap was not my finest hour, nor could it ever be considered a "lap of honour" and trying to "climb up" the small slopes generally ended with me going backwards down the slopes rather than "climbing" them. However, I got there in the end with my skis still on and then it was the fun part which involved going downhill. Rok tried to get me to snow plough down but I wasn't having any of that as I wanted to experience going "fast" down the classic style tracks which I did with great skill until it came to the bend whereby my skis decided to go straight ahead instead of turning. Hence another fall!!

All in all it was fun to try it out and I have a more profound respect for the people who do cross country skiing and biathlon at all levels as travelling on skis that are so narrow and light whilst going uphill and then downhill at great speeds takes a lot of skill, fitness and courage.

In view of the above, it is with regret that I will be withdrawing my application to be a competitor for the British Winter Olympic team in Sochi 2014.

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??