Slovenia - a new country

Thunder and lightening - not so very frightening. We left Silea this morning as the heavens opened. There has been widespread rain storms across Europe for the past week, but Italy has been dry - until sometime late last night - and the rain continues today. We are headed east for a quick drive through Slovenia en-route to the Zagreb Airport in Croatia to collect Donna who is joining us for an all too short two weeks. We could have driven directly from here, but as her plane lands at 11:40 am that would have necessitated a very early start - something we are not good at presently!

The trip totally off the highways will take more than 5 hours so we decided to begin on the motorway as far as Trieste and the border and then to re-programme Kate and see how long it will take on the back roads from there. And so that is what we do. An hour after leaving on the motorway, we are happy to leave it as we get a poor view of the world through which we are travelling thanks to the high (and no doubt effective) double guard rails. We are also travelling again with our regular companions on the roads - the convoys of trucks bearing Eastern Europe plates - gues on a Satuday most of them are headed home for the weekend. After all it is not very far from here to Slovenia, or Croatia, or Hungary, or Romania where the majority of them are from, although it is a little further to Russia (we pass a few from there as well!)

West of Silea towards Trieste, Italy is flat and open. There are varied lots of crops intersperced with small groves of birch and ash trees. I think that these are used in the furniture trade. Around Trieste, the road begins to become less well engineered. I guess this close to the border the authorities think that they dont need to maintain standards. When we cross the border with its former infrastructure just a few kilometres away at Sežana, then the standard of the road really falls away.

Now, I just LOVE the Slovenia tourism marketing tag - I feel love, Slovenia. How clever is that! Again we cross a border and cross landscapes. Gone are the flat open plains of eastern Italy and hello again to hilly landscapes. For most part the road wends its way through narrow valleys alongside fast slowing rivers. We go up into the forests and for a minute hold our hearts in our throats as the car tyres slip on the carpet of wet fallen autumn leaves as we come down a steep turn. But just for a moment - god, how would it be to go over a ravine in a country where we are still grappling with the hello's and thank you's?

We reach Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, travelling arond the outskirts. There are lots of new buildings going up - very modern in design, bright and cheerful in well laid out streets where the roundabout rules. This is nice to see. Of course, we also pass lots of older areas complete with historic civic and ecclesiastical buildings - thats Town Halls and Churches to those who don't understand.

Back into the countryside though, things are different. We are now really on the back back roads and are twisting through small villages where the houses meet the street. Buildings are surprisingly large - stand alone dwellings with space for good size flower and vegetable gardens around them. We see hay drying on tile covered racks, and ears of corn hanging to dry as well as the last of masses dahlia plantings.

We drive over one 'mountain' and down into a long narrow valley into Trbovlje that lies by the river Sava. The area is known for its rich deposits of coal and there is a large coal mine as well as three power plants. One features the Trbovlje Chimney - reputedly the Europe's tallest chimney (360 m). It is also known for its co-incineration plant, built in Trbovlje's cement factory. Smoke and steam billow in to the air and if the chemical stains streaking down the side of the tall tower are any indication, then the plant's scrubbers are not too efficient. It seems so incogruous with the ladsacpe in which it sits, any with the twittering of the birds that we hear.

Its not long before we climb out of this valley and turn into the hills again to reach Laško, driving through a covered bridge that crosses the Sava River which we cross again as we are coming in to town. The landscape is filled with small villages complete with domed steeples on Orthodox or Catholic churches - very eastern Europe for the country that is at its most western point! And as we pull in to the street where the hotel is sited, Michael spies a steam engine that he feels the need to check out a little later!

We are staying at the Hotel Hum in Laško tonight. As we are checking in I remarked to the young clerk that it was chilly up here in the mountains. "Mountains?!" he quissically commented! "Ah", says Michael, "when everything is flat in Australia, these we call mountains!" Still not sure if he knew what to make of us. Hotel Hum is very central and literally just off the highway. Our room overlooks the highway and the adjacent river, but with the windows fully closed you can't hear any of the noise thankfully. Laško is located on the Savinja River almost in the centre of Slovenia.

Funnily enough, my friend Kaye has today emailed me a list of the 'top tens'. Amongst them was the Top Ten Best European Cities to Visit. And we have been to nine of them! It's amazing what can be crammed into just a few months, and each of these cities are as exciting as they are diverse. In retrospect, it's not the buildings or the archaeological relics which defines a city - it is its people. In our ten months of travel, we can confidently agree we haven't had one bad experience with the locals.

We went down to dinner tonight and joined only one other couple eating. They are German!! We take a seat in a restaurant that must be busy at some times - it is set for 60 people. We are handed a slip of paper with todays offerings (menu!) We can choose between Beef soup or vegetable soup, then Minced beef with rice, Turkey in cream sauce or vegetarian dish. Doesn't sound much, but the food was really good.

Michael had the Goveja juha z rezanci (beef soup with noodles) while I had the Vegetarijanska juha (Vegetarian soup).
This was followed by Mleto meso obrezovalec s sirom postrežejo s paradižnika riž (Minced beef topped with cheese served with tomato rice) while I had the Turčija v smetanovi omaki s testeninami, crepes in papriko (Turkey in cream sauce with pasta, crepes and peppers). I also had a lovely glass of Slovenian white wine. There were no prices on the slip of paper and so I did assume that it was a set price. We weren't however expecting this price! All of €20.50 for the lot!!! The glass of very drinkable wine was €1.40 out of that too! Bargain.

It was Mum's birthday yesterday but she wasn't answering when we phoned to give her our greetings. I manage to get on to her tonight with Skype and we talk for over an hour! Michael is thrilled - the telly is broadcasting two channels in English (sub-titled in Slovenian), one playing movies and as I finish up for the night he is enthralled in Dracula 2000 with Christopher Plummer and Jeri Ryan - a classic and a looker in a timeless story - yep, he's hooked! An earlier night as we must be off earlier in the morning to get to Zagreb in time to meet Donna's flight. Lahko noč (goodnight)!

A short return to Venice

Thats right folks - no blog for yesterday! Spent much of it catching up on the blogs from the last two weeks. And you will all be pleased to know that we are up to date - well, we only have today's to go! Michael washed. And cooked a lovely roast for dinner along with potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and leeks! Whoo hoo - veges!! And all in one small frying pan and one saucepan! Amazing how resourceful you can be when you must be.

But neither of us slept very well last night - well, actually hardly at all. We have come to the realisation that the Year on the Road is coming to a near end. Our dollars are almost done. Ironic that we are now getting the best exchange rate for the whole year, just as we are planning our return. The disappointment is that we will not get to Turkey or Greece on this trip. And we have not seen as much of Eastern Europe as we had hoped we might have. BUT, we have had the most fantastic time, met some wonderful people, seen sights to delight and despair, and learned to really appreciate all that we previously took for granted!

The nights are getting longer, with the darkness holding on, reluctant to give in so easily to the rising sun, and the mornings are much much cooler now (down to as low as 7°C) making much harder to pull the bones from the bed. So after a later than planned start, we headed back into Venice. A ten minute drive puts us at the rail station where a 25 minute trip puts us on the Grande Canal in Venice. The train ticket was a miserly €2.35 for a single trip - not bad huh!

The trains run ever half hour except for the 'interval' between 12 and 1 pm (presumably when they do lunch!). We had arrived just after noon, and so had to wait until 12:50 for the next train. Oh well, such is the lot of the Carkagai!

On arrival at the Venice San Lucia station, which incidently, once you are on the island is only known by the local name of Ferrovia, we made our way across the plaza to the Canal in front of us. Another queue for tickets then! €16 for a 12hour ticket was by far the cheapest option. Our plan is to get back over to the island of Murano to have a look at some of the glass factories. Now, there are two ways to get to Murano - the all stops line 41 or 42 or the much faster DM (Direzione Murano) service. As we are waiting for the waterbus, we see one one of the boats that regularly ply the waters delivering transport to the various hotels. We sit out the arrival and departure of both a 41 and then a 42 before the DM arrives. It takes about 20 minutes to get there going out past San Marco into the Bay.

The day is still dull, but it is beautiful out here on the water. The fishing nets are all deployed, leaving their securing poles standing high and dry out of the water looking like a forest of bare timber. We alight at the first of the Murano stops and head away from the crush of people here to where we saw the factories as we were leaving last time. Just in time to see the last two demonstrations of the day at two of the factories. You gotta remember that it is no longer the tourist season, and everyone seems to be taking life a little slower now!

I'm a little disappointed, as I was hoping to see someone working with the millefiori. But we couldn't find anyone doing it and have to be content to watch then hand blow and then make Murano Glass vases, plates and even a horse! Huh, be content? These artisans are amazing and make it all look so effortless. We are told that an apprenticeship to become a master glass worker on Murano is 15 to 20 years - gosh, for many people that is much of their working life! Many still pass their trade from father to son. Once the demonstrations are over you are invited in to have a look at the factory shops. If only I had an unlimited budget :( I could have bought so many beautiful things, but it is still expensive - even at the factory outlets.

We walk through the back streets of Murano that are now totally devoid of tourists, stopping to check the diection to Il Centro with a local who doesn't even let us finishing ask the question before he points the way - guess they are used to foreigners wandering about their town!! The alleys are quiet and all around us we hear the muffled voices of lives inside the walls we pass. The street names are quite evocative too!

Back out on the main canal, we cross over to the other side on another of the arched bridges that are found at regular intervals right throughout Venice and head for Murano Faro ferry stop. We are now headed for Burano - a smaller island still right across the other side of the bay. Now, Burano is known for two things - lace making (which is becoming a dying tradition here) and coloured houses. Traditionally, all the fishermen painted their houses the same colour as their boats so they could see their home when fishing. Not sure how much of that is fact and how much fiction.

The water bus system of transport thoughout Venice is amazing. The ferries are regular, crowded and are seldom at a jetty for more than 2-3 minutes which means that you must be ready to jump off or on. It takes us just over half an hour to reach Burano. Sure, the houses are a myriad of bright colours that sit next to one another, competing for domination of the eye. But I really don't think that they could have been seen for too far out in the bay - the island and its canals and streets curve, limiting any view. But they are colourful and on this still quite grey afternoon, they are bright and welcoming.

There is a line up of people waiting for the return trip to Venice from Burano. A quick check of the timetable tells us that this is an hourly service only with the next ferry leaving in about 5 minutes. It would have been lovely to spend some time wandering, but we need to get back so I can do a little more shopping and so we can have a look at the Bridge of Sighs before we leave Venice for yet another time. So we just join the end of the queue.

Out trip back is 1¼ hours long and takes us right around the other side of the bay which really is like a big lagoon at this end. There are lots of marshes supporting grasses and bird life out here which demonstrates just how shallow these waters really are. Finally, we see the built environment of Venice loom once again and we enter into the complex system of canals from the other end. The jetties around San Marco are frenetically busy with craft continually pulling in and out of the various moorings at breakneck speed. I am glad to be back on dry land - just wish that it would stand still for me!

We join the masses wandering along the waterfront in the dusk light. It is amazing! And guess what? Remember all those Italians we came across in Germany? Well they are repaying them and now San Marco is filled with Germans. Even Steph is not home (she is in the US for work with Felix joining her today for a week's holiday), so I hope someone remembered to turnout the lights there too!! ha ha

We cross the multitude of bridges that span the numerous canals at this end of the city. And finally we are looking down another canal at the Bridge of Sighs. It looks a little forlorn as it is surrounded by heavy hoarding on all sides, making it appear to be just hanging, disconnected from everything. The hoarding is bright, brash and harsh and is hiding works on the two buildings that it connects. Pity, not a good look really - especially when some of that hoarding sports big advertising signage. There are lots of gondeliers pacing the waters below with their cargo of interested humans. They all hug the left wall as though not to spoil the view for those looking as we are from the bridge at the edge of the canal.

So another tick off our list. One last stop at the Rialto Bridge so I can buy a few little trinkets. Easier said than done. This is the most popular route on the water bus system and although we are at only the third stop along the route, the boats are full when they reach San Marco. The staff are only letting 10 - 12 people on at a time, much to the frustration of the rest of us left waiting. We stand in the sardine tin for almost 40 minutes before we can get on one of the ferries.

Up at the Bridge, the shops are all starting to close. It is now 7:30 pm and I suppose they too have a life to live outside the demands of the tourists. Still, I get what I need to and we head back to the jetty for our last ferry trip in Venice - back to Ferrovia (make that Venice San Lucia) Station for the trip back to the car. We get to the station with just enough time spare to get our tickets before we make a quick dash to the train that leaves in 2 minutes.

Once onboard we crash, both dozing on and off and before we know it, we are at the station at Quatro D'Altino. Its been a very full afternoon and evening and as we pull in to the driveway at Ca' Serena at 9 pm we are glad to be headed for the quiet time of the day. As I am starting this blog after having just posted the last of the tardy ones, Antony, Amanda and Bella are online on Skype and we have a nice catch up. Gotta love technology guys. Tomorrow we are off to Slovenia, staying overnight in Laško en-route to meeting Donna in Zagreb in Croatia on Sunday morning. Whoo hoo!

The hills are calling

Not sure what it is about the mountains, but they do call us. Maybe it is because we choose to live on one of the flattest continents - in a city without a single hill let alone a mountain. Today we are heading north into the Italian Alps. I want to try to find the little, well actually it was huge, church that we first saw as we made a very brief foray into Italy (so Mum could say she had been to Italy) in 2006. At that time, we had just come down the Brenner Pass from Innsbruck in Austria and found ourselves looking for the church whose bell tower we could see from high up the mountains.

There is no reason for us to hurry so Kate is taking through those back roads that Helen loved to hate! Ah yes, off the motorways. Up and over the hills and far far away. Round and round the mountain. And up it. And down them too. In this part of the world it is so easy to see how that borders are nothing more than administrative lines on a map. The landscape crosses them, the architecture crosses them and the cuisine just ignores them. We could just as easily be in Switzerland, Austria, or France that all abut this mountain range.

So we head away from Silea driving towards the north. The day is as hazy as any we have encountered to date. In fact, this is one of the things we will most remember about Italy. Our journey takes us through the outskirts of Treviso, passing through residential and commercial areas. It seems that there are quite a few historic sites here as well if the brown tourist signs are any indication. But we won't stop as it will take us 4 and a half hours to get to Brennero. Just outside town though we pass one of those 'what the?' sights! There is one of those large restaurants with an even larger carpark. It is called Gargantua and features this unusual statue encompassing the entry. Michael is delighted - he knows the story of this giant well. In fact until recently had a copy of the book of five stories written about the legendary giants Gargantua and Pantagruel! Strange what you see. And where you see it!!

And Treviso and its surrounding towns seem to be the home of the outlet malls. There are advertising hoardings littering the road that tout for business for all sorts of goods - many are for sporting goods. Turns out, this part of the world is crazy for winter and summer mountain sports. We push on behind heavy traffic until we turn off onto those smaller country roads and head up into the mountains.

This is a stunning part of the world. Just as breath-taking as the alps of France or even Switzerland. This is the land of the Dolomites and their adjacent mountains. The roads twist and turn often almost back on themselves as you weave your way higher and higher. We are again using the low gears, something we have not needed to do for the last couple of weeks. In fact, we are travelling for about an hour without getting past 3rd gear! At Feltre, there is a stunning memorial. We are not sure what to, the inscription is not very clear. It appears that it could be a memorial to a war battle and the local lives lost. And blow me down, less than a kilometre further on, there is another one - huge! This one flies the French flag.

And still we climb. We are back in the rural belt of Italy, where life is lived at a much slower pace. Its not long before the stunning vistas of the high mountains and the Dolomite ranges begin to tease us from behind the lower mountains. We are back in the Alps, although this is very definitely the sunny side - with some snow (permanent ice) only visible on the very highest of the peaks high above us. And yes, this is the stuff of postcards and National Geographic specials!

And eventually as we turn away from Brennero to return to our accommodation, we pass through the edge of Vipiteno. I am drawn to get off the road and edge into town - "Just let me check this out", I say to Michael. "Oh my God, it's it!" I exclaim. Yes, I had found the church!! Parrocchiale 'Nostra Signora della Palude' - the Parish church of Our Lady of the Swamp (Shrek anyone?) And even though it is literally just before 5 pm, the church still stands open and people are arriving to tend to the gardens in the adjacent cemetery - just like when we were here last time.

We enter the cool and now quite shaded church to have a look. I knew that it would not be the same as the sun filled sanctum that we found last time, but it was lovely just the same. In fact, it was more than lovely. Where last time we found a tired but loved place of worship, this time it is nothing short of majestic. The cracks in the masonary and the peeling plaster have been repaired. The huge pillars that support the roof that soars high in the heavens above have been given a coat of paint. And those beautiful ceiling frescoes that took our breathes away last time have been restored to their full colourful glory. Michael is particularly taken with the carved pew doors that seem to have been given a new lease of life as well. And the timber flooring at the front of the church has been replaced, as have the cracked marble flagstones that form most of the traffic areas. As we take a walk through the lovingly attended cemetery with gardens contained within every grave, we notice that the Chapel of Repose (complete today with a recently deceased) and the cloister chapel have all been restored as well. Their frescoes rival those in the church for their beauty.

And so, my aim for the day is finally met just as we are about to turn south for the trip home! I'm ecstatic! And Michael is impressed, so the long day through the beautiful country was well worth it. So now, I turn for the Autostrada del Brennero to get back to Silea in the shortest possible time. Yep, the dreaded motorway. Like the road we travelled on in the mountains across Umbria the other day, much of this motorway is raised on long bridges as it traverses across valleys through the mountains. This road however is in much better condition - as well it should be, it is the main connection Italy has with Austria and Germany.

As we travel south following the Brenner highway, we see castle after castle on almost every available ridge. Gee, this part of Italy rivals the Upper Middle Rhine in Germany with its 40+ castles. And just like in the Rhine, this is a big grape growing area. In the dtill afternnon air, we can hear this farmer ploughing long before we see him. In the dying light of the day, we pass Castel Beseno near Besenello. Sitting high on the hills above the town it is an impressive site as the last bit of sunshine hits it. Time and time again we see the clouds developing on the horizon and at this time, we can't be sure where the mountains end, and the clouds begin. And there are more castles to see as well, but the fast disappearing light and a moving car are no match even for the Nikon D70 and we can't get clear photos. (There is no way I am stopping at this point of the trip!)

As we are nearing Ca' Serena we can hardly see the beautiful big waning moon for the dirty brown haze that veils it from us. So, the haze that we left here in the Italian lowlands this morning does not have appeared to have lifted all day. Thank goodness we were 'up where the air is clean' for most of the day!

Getting away from it all

We had such a great time with Sarah and Alessandro that we have found another Agriturisimo business - Ca’ Serena is located about half way between Venice and Treviso in northern Italy. So after breakfast this morning we head out from the Plaza Hotel in Rimini for the 3:45 hour drive up here.

For the first half hour or so, we travel the roads out of the very urbanised Rimini in the middle of the weekday traffic of delivery vans, heavy trucks and suburban housewives going about their daily routine. Today there is hardly any sign of the tourists that now steer this economy - much of the infrastructure is shut up tight for the season - including rows of changing sheds that line the beach for miles.

Once we are out of the urban area, we see that the region has certainly not cut all its ties with the industry that once was its lifeblood. On every small stream that cuts across this delta of the Po River, there are fishing huts high on stilts at the waters edge with their nets on hughe booms, waiting to be dipped into the water to trap the unsuspecting fishes. The last time we saw these was near Les' farm in Bordeaux in France many months ago. Here though they are as thick as the flies that would swarm around them when the nets, filled with their catch (or maybe not) are hoisted from the pull of the waters.

At Savio we pass Italy's largest amusement park - Mirabilandia, although it too is shut up for the winter season it seems. The park has 30 hectares and a waterworld with 10 hectares. In fact the only sign of life that we see is a lone water skier in the lake adjacent.

We are travelling up the coast road - a very busy arterial road that carries lots of trucks involved in carting gravel that is dredged from the river system. This is the delta area of the mighty Po River, the longest in Italy. Again we find ourselves following roads that are on the top of levee banks or dikes. And again there are those fishing huts - obviously the river is a good provider given the multitude of them in this area.

There is much less development here - there are signs for camping areas, some little more than bare paddocks, offering no facilities whatsoever, others more like the recreational parks we find all up the East Coast back home. But there are no glitzy resort developments despite the Adriatic Sea being on their doorstop.

With the European winter season approaching, the crops are harvested and the land lies fallow. Its as though the Poplar trees that provde windbreaks have taken a sigh of relief at being relieved of their irksome duty and throw down their foliage in celebration, so the landscape takes on a wan, washed out look. But there are some winter crops flourishing - carrots and lambs tongue, a sweet, bread leafed plant that is used in salads in Europe. And more land is sheeted under plastic - ready to shield the tender young shoots of plants from the cooling earth beneath them.

Pumpkins are a huge crop here and we pass roadside stalls with every size, shape and variety imagineable. Some of the large ones will only be good for the dreaded Halloween celebrations as we see one claim, while others will still be good eating. Sarah had told us that the only thing they do with large ones is feed them to the cows and pigs. Aunty Flo could certainly have made enough pumpkin scones to feed the worlds armies with the fruit we see here!

Before we know it, we are traversing the outer suburbs of Venice on our way to Silea, 25 kms to the north. So we are back in the built up areas and residential precincts. There are all the trappings of people living together, huge garbage bins on the side of the streets, churches all spruced up, schools, new houses being built and roadworks - more roadworks.

Silea is still in the Po Delta and the are small canals with boats lined up for work or pleasure in a very rural setting. Quite obviously they also use some of the water for irrigation as well. Wonder what the salt levels are like being in the delta? And how does that effect the crops - maybe the potatoes are sold to the chip manufacturers already salted!

We arrive at Ca’ Serena after once again having to do a little exploring once Kates directions end in a field. This is a large farming concern operated by the Busato family who predominantly farm maize. They have just harvested. We have an apartment in a converted old building. This is nothing like the warm introduction of Il Sarale and Sarah and Alessandro. Rather, the two sides of the business are kept arms length apart. We get the distinct impression that we will be left totally to our own devices. For this time, that suits us just fine before another busy two weeks with Donna arriving at the end of the week.