Ljubljana, Slovenia

A week ago we had another holiday in May here in Bavaria (yay for large numbers of Catholic holidays!) and I found myself a great deal with the Deutsche Bahn (German railway) to head down to Slovenia.Unfortunately my particular train car was NOT made by the Deutsche Bahn, rather by Slovenians, apparently before such standard features as opening windows and ventilation became available. Still, despite the long (6.5 hour) sticky train rides there and back I had a great time

To start things off the hostel was amazing: central location, clean, friendly staff, and only 2 rooms of bunks made it super intimate. I also liked how the owner didn’t try to stuff as many bunks as possible into one room. No wonder it got voted among the top 10 by hostelworld.com! If you are ever in Slovenia, check out Hotel Fluxus.

The central square in Ljublana is dedicated to their national poet Plešernen. He wrote a sonnet with 14 verses each of which begins with the last line of the previous sonnet, toasting everything from the wines of Slovenia, to the men and women, to the country itself and even world peace. Together the first lines form a 15^th sonnet and the first two verses of the original (including the toast to the Slovenian wine) are the national anthem.

Slovenia itself was fascinating, including the language. It was a little difficult trying to get my mind (and tongue) around Slavic languages, but struggling to order a coffee can definitely make you feel humble. Nothing is very intuitive (e.g. croissant = roglijček)…how do I have a hope in reading a menu?! My tour guide on a walking tour I did also claimed that Slovenian was the most romantic language in the world because of its special dual form used to speak about “us” (everyone) and “us” as in just the two of us. You can make “let’s go” painfully obvious to those around you that you are excluding them. Or I guess even more painful is when that special someone doesn’t take you up on your offer…

Sign in Slovenian. Can you see the reflection of the little girl in the window excited about the stuffed animals?

Central square as seen from the castle above the city:

Central square at night with Plešernen statue in the background:

Traditional Slovenian food is a little heavy. Check out this “Burek” made out of half a kilo of cheese and pastry.

Other pics from the city:

For whatever reason, all rubbish bins are in the shapes of frogs:

Doors of the St. Nicolas church.
On Sunday morning I enjoyed wandering around the antique market filled with communist memorabilia, old typewriter parts, irons, chandeliers and general odds and ends.

In the afternoon I made a day trip to Bled, set in the mountains with its own picture-perfect lake and a church on an island in the middle.

They seemed to have pretty strict rules in the park area surrounding the lake. No talking? (last box, 2^nd row).

I wrapped up the afternoon with an ice café and traditional local “Kremšnita” (cream cake) for dessert. As I like to quote my friend Bridget: “calories don’t count if it’s a cultural experience”.

On my last day in Ljubljana I headed to the huge Tivoli Park. There was an amazing photo exhibition going on called “Alive” highlighting some of the many strange and beautiful animal species which exist in the world.

I think this fish is toast…

This is a “leafy sea dragon”; I never knew such a fish even existed!

Mallorca, Spain

For over Easter Jeff and I looked for cheap flights somewhere and the best deal we found was to Mallorca, Spain. So we were off to España for a respite from the cold, wet weather in Munich. Although mostly sunny Spain was unfortunately also quite cold. You know how when something is too good to be true it probably is? Well 20 € a night at a hostel including breakfast is too cheap to include heating or hot water. I definitely would have paid an extra 5 € a day for a space heater, but hey, I shouldn’t complain. The tapas were muy sabrosa, the cervezas refreshing, and the scenery was gorgeous. I also enjoyed the traditional rice and seafood paella dish, although I didn’t know how to open half of my shellfish. Why don't you ever learn useful skills like that in school?

Our home base of Port de Pollença:

It was winnnnndy!

The nearby land-locked but larger and more mountainous Pollença.

Over the long weekend we saw lots of Easter processions which mostly involved people in strange hooded costumes that look like the KKK (but aren’t…this tradition is much older) and some poor people who have to carry very heavy Jesus statues. In Pollença there were even Roman soldiers guarding the cross.

They have great coffee in Spain. Mmmmm….café con leche (espresso mixed with steamed milk):

We also took a trip to a bird sanctuary where we saw tons of herons, egrets, cormorants, moorhens, purple gallinules, plovers, sandpipers, swallows and even a flying fish! Too bad I didn’t catch many of them on camera.

The last couple of days we got a rental car to access some of the more remote parts of the island. We drove out to the Cap de Formentor, the most NW tip of the island.

Another breathtaking scenic spot along the coast: Sa Calobra. Only 11 km of crazy hair-pin turns away from the highway. Nice driving Jeff!

In the winter the sea is stormier than in the idyllic tourist brochures.

The brochure at sunset:
Me attempting the same thing…gotta run:

We were in Palma, the capital of Mallorca Easter Sunday morning. Here are pictures before and after the morning service. Hallelujah!

Before

After!

Palma has weird recyling bins.

On Easter Monday all of the locals were on the road because it had actually snowed (probably happens every 5 years or something). The highway turned into a giant snow traffic jam as people abandonned their cars to start impromptu snowball fights.

They also have this strange tradition of building snowmen on their windshield.

Just a short drive away no more snow, just secluded lemon groves!

Other random pics:

Cactus graffiti

Strange phenomenon we nicknamed “Mallorca balls”. Apparently they are the waste-product of an ocean sea grass formed from dead leaves and debris. Jeff thinks they look like those grungy tennis balls you used to play street hockey with and discover the following year when the snow drifts melt.

Salzburg

Jeff came back for a visit in March and we decided to do a day-trip to Salzburg, just over the border in Austria. Salzburg (literally means Salt-castle) is the birthplace of Mozart, home of the Von Trapp family, is nestled in the Alps, and has great Stiegl beer.

We were there on the Saturday before Palm Sunday The markets were bustling as everyone bought a bouquet attached to a stick in advance for observing Palm Sunday. The bushels everywhere as parents let their kids carry them home or they leaned them up against the wall while enjoying a cup of coffee in an outdoor café on the lovely early spring day.

It was a great day to wander around, sample the markets and take in the sights.

Gardens in Mirabell Palace, apparently the “Doe-a-deer-a-female-deer” song from the Sound of Music was filmed here.

Classiest McDonald’s sign I’ve ever seen:

We also indulged ourselves with Mozart Kügeln (Mozart balls – round chocolately bits of goodness) First you see it…then you don’t

Salzburg’s skyline is dominated by the fortress Hohensalzburg up the hill (also lit up at night if you look at the first photo). There are some great views from the top.

The fortress itself was packed with exhibits detailing life in medieval times including weapons and torture apparatus. (This room reminded Jeff of the Disney movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks):

Further pics of the inside including an excessively ornate ceiling and the official symbol of an archbishop who ruled for a few decades – a turnip.

After hiking back down the hill to the city; horses getting their warm coats on at twilight. We sought out food for dinner and took the next train home.