Wanderwiles

AirBnB: Belgrade, Serbia; “Danube & Kalemegdan 1BD Apartment”

Our apartment in Belgrade was an amazing $43/night, net of all fees. Wow. I confess to being not only tempted by the price, but really curious to see just what we would get at that rate. The reviews were good; David, who’s become more and more willing to give the fruits of my bargain-hunting a try was game. I felt pretty optimistic about this booking…which isn’t to say I didn’t have a few niggling doubts on the taxi ride from the airport. But, our hostess, Vesna, had provided lots of comforting information, been super-responsive to my emails, correct about free wi-fi at the airport, and quick to respond to my WhatsApp text when we landed in Belgrade. So far, so good.

As promised, Vesna’s husband, Zoran, was waiting for us. The 1-bedroom apartment was on the 6th floor of a modern-style building some decades old. We had a security door to the lobby and an elevator. Although the area outside was not immaculately groomed (and tended to have a group of teenaged boys who hung out on the “stoop,” it was nice, in an Eastern bloc sort of way, and we never felt insecure in the neighborhood.

The apartment itself was spacious and homey (being our hosts’ former home) with a stylish living room. If anything, our hosts had left a tad too much in the way of supplies, particularly baby things, of which we had no need. I was not surprised, though, as the AirBnB description had been accurate. On the plus side, we had a lovely big living room with a large flat screen t.v., 2 balconies, and air conditioning (although the latter turned out to be only in the living room, less than ideal for nighttime coolness in the bedroom which was around the corner). I’m not sure how much of an issue this normally would be, but we arrived during an unseasonably warm spell. Still, even without a/c, it wouldn’t have been too bad with all the balcony doors open, including the one in our bedroom.

AirBnB2 — Belgrade kitchen (washer and dryer in pantry beyond)

AirBnB3 — The bed was comfy, but the room feels a bit crowded with all the baby things

AirBnB4 — More like a family bathroom than a hotel, but clean and well-equipped

In the previous post, you’ll find a photo of the big balcony we used frequently for meals and just to relax. It’s a huge plus. The apartment was quiet, too, save for the near-constant sound during the day of children laughing and playing in the nearby schools. (We had the doors open, remember.) It wasn’t a sound we minded at all.

Vesna and Zoran live nearby and they were quick with any problems we had (like when I stupidly unprogrammed the t.v.). They also kindly agreed to print for us at their office bus tickets we’d need in Montenegro and even delivered the tickets to the apartment so we wouldn’t have to interrupt our activities. Very nice people!

You can check out the apartment at: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5499461

If you’re new to AirBnB and want to give it a try on this or any other apartment, you can use my referral link which should get both of us $30 in AirBnB travel credit: http://www.airbnb.com/c/tcuthrell Let me know if you have any questions.

Beer Post: Belgrade

Beer Post #3 is Miners Pub in Belgrade…where I’m sad to say we sipped the worst beer either of us have ever tasted! Imagine green olive juice poured into your beer and you’ll get an idea of the absolute wretchedness that was Tron. When we refuse to finish a beer, you know it’s bad!

Happily, Miners Pub itself was a neat place with lots of other good craft beers both on tap and in bottles. Miners is decorated–y0u guessed it–with a mining theme and is located in a cellar below street level. It’s bigger than it initially appears, too, with several rooms set up for darts and foosball as well as beer drinking. Miners Pub is located at: Rige od Fere 16, Beograd 11158, Serbia. Their phone is:+381 11 4068290.

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Belgrade Highlights

20160406_105946 — The Sava River viewed from Kalmegdan Fortress with modern western Belgrade in the background

Our first day in Belgrade was a little hit-and-miss, but we soon found our groove and had fun exploring this city of contrasts. There’s so much history in Belgrade and it’s been layered on, partially destroyed, rebuilt according to the tastes of the rulers of the day. I found the remnants of the Ottoman Empire particularly fascinating and an early stop was at the 19th century residence of Princess Ljubica. Not what we might think of now as a palace or chateau, the residence is relatively modest. It hasn’t been restored to an exact replica of when the ruling Serbian Obrenović family lived there (1831-1842), but rather has rooms furnished with objects belonging to the Obrenovićs and other wealthy Serbian families which reflect the changing/Westernizing of tastes of the period. The blending of east and west and the effects of moderization and trade is fascinating to see. I particularly enjoyed the portraits and displays of clothing reflecting a clear, but waning, Ottoman influence. For less than $2 apiece (200 dinar), the princess’ residence is more than worth it. The bargain prices in Belgrade are a treat!

DSCF1337 — Residence of Princess Ljubica

DSCF1314 — Inside the residence of Princess Ljubica

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We explored the small religious museum adjacent to the monastery next door to the residence (some nice items, but nothing that inclined us to linger) and I enjoyed a quick circuit of the beautiful Saborna Crkva Sv. Arhangela Mihaila (Church of St. Michael the Archangel). David, unfortunately, couldn’t go in because he was wearing shorts. This was an unplanned stop or he would have been better prepared. Churches in Eastern Europe are often more strict about dress codes than in Western Europe (where proper dress is still appreciated, if not required).

20160405_143726ret — Tower of Saborna Crkva Sv. Arhangela Mihaila viewed from the Princess Ljubica residence with the monastery in the foreground

DSCF1342crop — Serbian Orthodox deacon with the tower of Saborna Crkva Sv. Arhangela Mihaila visible behind him

The top tourist destination is the Kalmegdan Fortress which sits between Kalmegdan Park and the Sava River. We spent a pleasant afternoon exploring the ruins and taking in the views from the fortress walls.

20160405_152355 — Kalmegdan Fortress viewed from Kalmegdan Park

20160406_112150 — Inside the Kalmegdan Fortress walls–another lovely park

The Military Museum attached to Kalmegdan Fortress on the park side is also worth a visit. Exhibits span medieval times to the present. The more recent exhibits were particularly interesting to us. Among other items were an American pilot’s jacket recovered when he was shot down and a piece of a NATO plane. Descriptions of “NATO aggressors” failed to acknowledge any bad acts on the part of Serbia and made it sound as if NATO planes dropped bombs on Serbian civilians entirely out of the blue and for no reason whatsover. While there are undoubtedly at least two accounts of nearly every war, it bothered us to see a class of school children visiting the museum and learning such a one-sided view of history. We saw similar, if sometimes opposite, tellings elsewhere in the Balkans and it seems to me that failing to acknowledge the full picture of the events surrounding hostilities only encourages the perpetuation of grudges and grievances.

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Another day, we explored the Sava riverfront beneath the looming defensive walls of Kalmegdan Fortress.

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We took refuge from the heat and enjoyed a delicious seafood stew, fried perch, and a local beer on the open-air deck of a riverfront boat restaurant named Vodenica.

20160405_155149ret — Enjoying lunch and a beer at Vodenica

20160405_155811 — Fresh local fish soup–very spicy, house-made bread, and fried perch

20160405_162752 — Vodenica, a casual little boat restaurant on the Sava serving really fresh fish

As fascinating as anything we saw, was simply wandering the streets of Belgrade, trying to read the Cyrillic signs, talking with (and asking directions from) those people we came across who spoke English. People were uniformly friendly and helpful and several expressed surprise to learn we were Americans and sincere curiosity as to what we thought of their city. (On hearing us speak English, everyone assumed we were English.) All expressed pleasure at our enjoyment of our time in Belgrade. When I commented on that to our hostess, Vesna, she said it was unusual to find Americans in Belgrade wandering on their own. As she explained it, the only Americans they usually saw were “big groups of old people” from Danube River cruise ships. She said the groups just follow a guide so people don’t really interact with them.

20160405_174502 — Street art like this was common near our apartment. Someone is quite an artist!

20160405_174945ret — Belgrade is such a mixed bag. I was dying to try this ever-busy dive near our apartment, but never worked up the nerve. It seemed to be mostly a male hang-out.

Our last sight-seeing must-see was the still-under-construction St. Sava Cathedral. To get there, we opted to give the local trolley system a try. Mystified by the system we enlisted the aid of a waitress at a local café we’d come to enjoy. Despite her instructions, we tried to board in the wrong place (just across the street from the boarding area), but were kindly allowed on board by an off-duty driver (no doubt frustrated by our failure to comprehend when he tried to point us in the right direction). When he finished with his break, the driver drove us the twenty yards to the trolley stop to pick up the others who were waiting where they should. Oh well, we got first pick of seats right up front…which was a good thing since the trolley soon filled to standing-room only as we made our way down the boulevard to our destination.

20160406_142758 — On the Belgrade trolley. At bargain at less than $1.50 (150 dinar).

The trolley let us off just across the street from St. Sava at a bustling, major trolley stop. The sheer size of the cathedral is stunning and we marveled at the approach. Having read about a dress code, I watched to see what would happen to 3 young people: 2 men in racerback tank tops and a young woman in miniskirt and tank top. Sure enough, they were turned away.

20160406_144806 — The massive and unfinished St. Sava Cathedral (Hram Svetog Save)

The inside of the cathedral is still under construction and very simple at this point although lapis and malachite columns already in place give a glimpse of future opulence.

20160406_150024 — Inside St. Sava Cathedral, a work in progress

After the cathedral, we visited the small St. Sava Church just beside it. It’s a beautiful little gem and we tried to imagine the huge cathedral decorated in like style.

DSCF1456 — Interior of the beautiful little St. Sava Church next to St. Sava Cathedral

All in all, we enjoyed Belgrade and were glad we added this relatively short stop to our Balkan exploration. We were also satisfied with the time we had there and looking forward to our next, much-anticipated stop, Montenegro.

April 4-7, 2016

Arriving in Belgrade, Serbia

David and I were both curious about Belgrade and I had my nose pressed to the window as we landed at Nikola Tesla Airport. We flew in over a sprawling metroplex constrained by the Danube River to the north and bisected by its tributary, the Sava River. More familiar looking structures gave way to massive, uniform blocks of high-rise housing as we neared touchdown.

20160404_110916 — Belgrade, Serbia, with the Danube in the distance and the Sava forking in the foreground

20160404_111021 — Huge housing blocks as we approach Nikola Tesla Airport

Nikola Tesla Airport felt enormous after little Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport. It was modern and bustling…with working free wi-fi! While we waited for our luggage, I texted with our AirBnB hostess, Vesna, via WhatsApp (invaluable for travel, expecially since nearly every AirBnB host I’ve dealt with has an account) and she promised her husband would be waiting when our cab dropped us off.

20160404_113536 — A bit of whimsy at Nikola Tesla baggage claim

The day outside was sunny and unseasonably warm. Our taxi drove past many big modern buildings housing international tech companies before we passed a huge 6-story white building with two wings embracing a lovely modern fountain centered in a wide paved plaza. Although the place was enormous, it seemed deserted. When I asked our cab driver, he explained it was the “former congress of Yugoslavia.” I later learned the building is known as the “Palata Srbija” or “Serbian Palace.” We were to see several more abandoned and underutilized former Yugoslavian buildings in Belgrade and Montenegro and hear that same sense of regret for the loss of former glory or perceived glory. Despite what we were taught in the U.S., Tito and his era remain popular with many people in the former Yugoslavia. No doubt many others there feel differently, but that positive sentiment and nostalgia is an undeniable fact and something I’d been surprised by when my sons and I were in Croatia and Bosnia in 2003.

The modern part of Belgrade yielded to the old as we crossed over the Sava River. We turned north, coming to Kalmegdan park on our left. I made a mental note to return to check out the vending stalls visible from the road along the main path. Past the stone wall of the Belgrade Zoo sporting tiles representing the animals within, our cab turned into a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood. The buildings were unremarkable, many marked with graffiti, and a few downright dilapidated. I’d deliberately chosen an AirBnB apartment in the old part of the city, and was reassured by Vesna’s assurance that it was a family area and she and her family had lived there before moving to a bigger apartment to accommodate their growing family. Still, I felt a twinge of concern. David is such a sport about going along with nearly everything I suggest on our travels that I didn’t want him to be disappointed in my choice of lodging.

As promised, Vesna’s husband, Zoran, was waiting for us. Zoran led us to the apartment, gave us a brief run down of the area, handed over the keys, took our passports to register with the government–promising to return them within the hour, and we were on our own.

After a quick trip to a nearby grocery store/deli, we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather by lunching the balcony. Prices at the store were wonderfully cheap and about $5 fed both of us well. With two schools nearby, children on the playgrounds made a happy background noise.

20160404_190113 — View of the neighborhood from the balcony. If you look closely, you’ll see David crossing the road on a later solo trip to the store.

After lunch, it was time to explore. We walked up the street shown above towards the Danube. We crossed a pedestrian bridge over a wide span of old railroad tracks that ended in the common area of an uninspiring apartment complex. Not exactly picturesque. Beyond the apartments we finally arrived at the wide expanse of the Danube. Two wide, paved walkways ran parallel to each other and the river separated by a wall to keep back rising waters. A lone fisherman stood on the bank while swans swam nearby. We passed a few others out for a stroll, including a family of 3, the father of which wore a t-shirt depicting the US flag being pissed upon by that impish little boy often seen on pickup trucks at home. Hmm. If this guy was any indication, we might not be too popular in these parts.

DSCF1267 — Strolling past a fisherman on the Danube in Belgrade

With no shade in sight, it was getting uncomfortably warm. I’d guessed we could get to Kalmegdan Park via the riverside, but it was becoming obvious I’d underestimated the hike and the heat. When we reached a sports complex, we gratefully bought ice cold bottled water from a vendor and gulped it down before continuing on to the park and the welcome refuge of scattered shade trees.

20160404_171226 — Kalmegdan Park with vendor stalls in the background

Many people were enjoying the park this sunny Monday afternoon. We wandered over to the vendors I’d spied from the taxi and found much of the things on sale to be Russia-themed: Soviet-era trinkets, t-shirts depicting Putin and the like. From the park, we continued our ramble to Kneza Mihaila, the main pedestrian shopping street of Belgrade.

20160404_173618 — Kneza Mihaila, the main pedestrian shopping street of Belgrade

20160404_172823ret — Cafés along Kneza Mihaila

Starting to droop after our early morning, flight, miles-long walk and the heat, we made our way home via a quick stop at the National Theater to see if last-minute tickets might be available (often a great deal in Eastern Europe), but no luck. We opted for deli dinner at home, a big advantage of apartment over hotel. Sometimes even dinner out is more than we we’re up for.

Air Serbia from Ljubljana to Belgrade

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Serbia hadn’t originally been part of our plans, but it caught my attention when I stumbled across a really intriguing-looking train ride from Belgrade/Beograd to the Montenegran coast (which was, along with Slovenia, on my must-go-there list for this trip). Although further research convinced me we would not like the train ride after all. Reviews described spectacular views, but also an 11-hour trip with the potential for hours more in the event of flooding, uncomfortable seats, filthy bathrooms. Nope, we’re too old and too addicted to at least a moderate level of comfort for that. But, in the meantime, Belgrade had caught my imagination.

I discovered relatively cheap, one-way, 1 hour 20 minute flights between Ljubljana and Belgrade on Air Serbia, a new airline for me, but interesting. As a bonus, Air Serbia has recently partnered with Etihad, so we could scoop up a few Etihad Guest points while we were at it.

We dropped off the rent car with Sixt at the Ljubljana airport and made our way through the uncrowded and efficient departure procedure. We had a minor hitch when I realize I’d read an outdated weight max online (Amateur mistake. Shame on me!), and we had to do some quick reshuffling to accommodate the wine that we’d thought was no issue. Air Serbia used to have an extremely generous baggage max, but has now fallen in line with most airlines at 23kg per checked bag in economy. Thankfully, the nice Air Serbia lady cut us some slack and we didn’t have to jettison the wine. Hooray!

Our 2nd hitch came as we went through security and discovered that David and forgotten to pack his very favorite Laguiole corkscrew. He hustled back to the nice lady, threw himself on her mercy, fibbed a little about it being a family heirloom, and convinced her to retrieve his suitcase so he could stash the corkscrew. That was the first time I’ve ever seen that happen! So, we left Ljubljana with one last impression of friendly people.

The Ljubljana airport is small, but modern, clean and comfortable. It was not at all crowded and we had a leisurely wait and boarding. We were bused out onto the tarmac for boarding.

20160404_091421 — Ljubljana departures waiting area

The flight itself was pleasant albeit a little cramped. The only oddity, but in a nice way, was the meal service. When I bought our tickets online, I was given the option of a meal for “$0.” Hmm. Seemed like it must be a mistake, given that the flight was so short, but I figured “What the heck?” and signed up. Sure enough, shortly into the flight, the attendant offered us two small sandwiches saying we’d pre-ordered a meal. Not fine dining, but appreciated nonetheless.

April 4, 2016

Slovenia’s lesser-known wine country

DSCF1208 — Just before the Prus winery. The church in the distance is probably in Croatia.

Ever since a Venetian restaurateur had told us about Slovenian “orange wine,” David and I had been dying to try it. To our frustration, few people seemed to know what we were talking about and the ones who did had none on offer. We decided to venture into Slovenian wine country to find this elusive wine.

Slovenia has 3 wine districts. The most prestigious–and by all accounts very beautiful–is on the Italian border. Another lies to the north with the city of Maribor at its heart. Finally, there is the eastern wine region, Posavje, that borders Croatia. It’s less well-known, but boasts the award-winning Prus winery (“Vinska Klet Prus”) near the village of Metlika. Not only has the proprietor be repeatedly named best overall winemaker in Croatia, but the winery has begun making an orange wine that has been named best in class. We were intrigued. I called ahead, and with some language difficulties, determined that an English-speaking tasting would be available. http://www.vinaprus.si/en/

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Google maps said the vineyard was only about an hour and half away, nestled right up against the Croatian border. The drive through mostly small towns and countryside was pleasant and uneventful and till we we reached a police roadblock just beyond the small town of Donja Teska Voda, about 2/3 of the way into our trip. Along with all motorists heading our way, we were directed into the parking lot of some sort of water park. Puzzled and afraid our wine outing was being thwarted, we were relieved to find a policewoman who spoke English and who explained that the road closure was due to a bike race and would only last 30 minutes or so.

We were getting hungry anyway, so we turned around and drove a few miles back to a roadside pizza restaurant with a nice hillside deck where we could watch the expected bike race. The restaurant owner spoke no English, but we managed, the weather was perfect, the pizza delicious, and the race fun and soon over as promised. In no time, we were back on our way.

20160403_135706 — View of the bike race from the pizzeria deck

As we neared the Prus winery and the Croatian border, we saw many small vineyards interspersed among homes.

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The area is rural, not a chateau or Tuscan-style villa in sight. In a small village, we stopped at a building with a Prus sign out front, but were told in very basic English that the tasting area was further down the road and someone who spoke good English would be there. Sure enough, we came to a large Prus bottle/sign [see photo at top of this post] pointing the way to a chalet-style wood and stone winery, very pretty and modern.

DSCF1239 — The tourist shot in front of the winery

The owner’s son welcomed us and he was enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about the family business. The winery is particularly known for its sweet white wines, which were very good, but we were most excited to try the “orange wine.” Orange wine derives its name from the color, not the flavor. It’s also know as “skin contact” or “contact” wine. The wine-making method is medieval in origin and is, basically, making white wine in the manner of red wine, leaving the skins of white grapes in contact with the wine for long periods of time. The result is a white wine that is high in tannins as well as orangish in color. Orange wines have become somewhat of a fad in the west in the last couple of years, getting write-ups in American newspapers and wine publications although not widely available in the U.S..

20160403_155839PrusCrop — Prus orange wine

DSCF1232 — Glass-front barrel of orange wine shows the skins settled to the bottom.

April 3, 2016

Beer Post: Ljubljana

While we thoroughly enjoyed Slovenian wines, David is not going to let a new city pass without at least trying to find a good beer pub to sample the local beer. In Ljubljana, David’s research led us to try to local beer institutions: Sir William’s Pub on Tavčarjeva ulica 8a, and Patrick’s Irish Pub on Prečna ulica 6. Both obviously sporting non-Slovenian names, but both also carrying a good selection of local craft beers as well as foreign beers.

Of the two, Sir William’s has the more upscale ambiance with gleaming dark wood and comfortable banquettes. In good weather, seating is available outside on the sidewalk as well. The tap selection is modest, but there is a large variety of bottled beers. We ended up sampling foreign brews: a rich, boozy Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock from Germany (12.5% alcohol) and a Thornbridge Jaipur IPA from England (5.9% alcohol). Very different beers, but both delicious and with top scores from some of our favorite beer sites, BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. http://sirwilliamspub-eng.webs.com/

20160331_170315 — Sir William’s Pub interior

Patrick’s Irish Pub is a more casual location, located below street level in several rooms of an old cellar. Unlike Sir William’s, Patrick’s offers hot food beyond just snacks. Although, we only split a large bowl of excellent french fries since we had dinner plans later. Once again, we found ourselves opting for English beers instead of local. But, the beers we chose had sky-high ratings and were hard to come by at home, so we had no complaints. David chose Fuller’s ESB bitters (“extra special/strong”; 5.9% ABV) and loved it. I went with Greene King’s Strong Suffolk Dark Ale (6% ABV) and enjoyed as well.

20160402_181829 — Afternoon beer snack at Patrick’s Irish Pub

Slovenia: Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled in a day

Lake Bled was on my absolute must-see list while in Slovenia. Photos showed something like a scene out of a fairy tale: a castle on a cliff overlooking a crystal clear lake in the middle of which sits a jewel of a little church on a tiny island accessible only by rowboats. But, as I did more research, nearby Lake Bohinj popped on my radar screen, begging to be visited as well.

Once again, we enjoyed the benefits of a small country: Google Maps said Lake Bohinj was only a little over an hour from our apartment in Ljubljana Old Town, and only 30 minutes past Lake Bled. Since the weather forecast called for more sun in the afternoon, we opted to drive through Bled to visit Lake Bohinj first, saving my top destination for last.

It was tantalizing to drive right past magnificent Bled with only a quick pause to admire the view of the island church and snap a pic or two. It turned out to be a good move, though; we stopped in parking spaces claimed by a major hotel. The man selling spots quoted us a price below what we’d seen in big parking lots much farther from the lake and we resolved to try to score one of these spots upon our return.

20160402_104726 — On the road between Bled and Lake Bohinj. We saw fly fishermen in the river, but no fish like this!

Lake Bohinj turned out to be pretty awesome for a second choice. With water as clear as glass, it reflected the surrounding mountains like a mirror. The famous medieval church of St. John the Baptist dates back to the late-10th or early 11th century with frescoes dating back to 1300. On the opposite end of the lake, we hiked the equivalent of 65+ stories to reach the waterfall, Slap Savica. Crude stairs have been set in the mountain, but it’s a serious climb. There’s a gondola for those who’d rather skip the workout.

20160402_111154 — Lake Bohinj view of the church of St. John the Baptist

20160402_112131 — Fresco on St. John the Baptist church, Lake Bohinj

20160402_124930 — Mirror-like Lake Bohinj on the way to Slap Savica (“slap” means “waterfall.”)

Having driven a good 20 minutes beyond the church end of the lake, it took us closer to an hour to get back to Lake Bled. Still, we arrived with much of the day left ahead of us. Unfortunately, all the good parking spots were gone, so we parked in public parking near the Tourist Info where we were limited to 2 hours. Walking back by the good, lakeside hotel parking, we saw a space just opening up. I asked the man we’d spoken to earlier if he’d hold the spot long enough for us to go fetch the car and he agreed, putting a barrier up to prevent any interlopers. We quickly made the switch and were back on a leisurely schedule!

There are two traditional boats on Lake Bled providing access to the small island church: individual wooden rowboats (rented at several locations around the lake) and pletna boats, larger, flat-bottomed wooden boats operated by traditional pletna oarsmen. The charge for the pletna boats was a pretty ridiculous €14pp for about a 5 minute boat ride from the pletna boat dock. David and I had already decided we’d rather row ourselves anyway. That turned out to be a good thing because the day we were there the pletna oarsmen were on strike. (A real shame for those not up to rowing themselves!) On the other hand, that meant that all rowboats we asked after were already rented with a waiting list to boot. After a warm hike around much of the lake, we sucked it up and paid the premium asked by the spa near our parking spot. I think it was €15/hour instead of €10. A tiny drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, it just touched that I-hate-to-be gouged nerve of mine. 🙂 The other downside to renting at the spa was location. The spa is a lot farther away from the island church that the other rowboat rentals near the pletna boat dock. We had our work cut out for us.

In minutes, David was rowing away. Now, my husband is a pretty buff guy, but keeping that little boat on a straight line was giving him some trouble despite my awesome navigating. (The person rowing has to face backwards.) It turns out those boats are really susceptible to wind…as I discovered when I wanted to try the return row. My left arm was doing all the work trying to fight the wind and I was finally worn out. David and I eventually settled on a goofy-looking method whereby we faced each other, each of us using one oar while we tried to avoid banging the handles together with each stroke. Oh well, we made it back and the nice people at the spa spared us an overtime charge. All gouging forgiven!

There’s really not a lot to see once you’re on the island, but it’s fun to do. There’s a separate €6 charge to enter the little church where you can ring the “wishing bell.” There’s also a gift shop and an ice cream vendor with some pretty awesome gelato. 30-40 minutes max is plenty of time on the island.

DSCF1144 — David, rowing our boat ashore

DSCF1151BledIslandCrop — Almost there. Keep rowing, David!

We drove back to Ljubljana on the modern E61 and were easily home in time for dinner. What a great day!

April 2016

AirBnB: Ljubljana, Slovenia

20160330_183510 — Ljubljana AirBnB living room/bedroom combo with painted ceiling

Secured courtyard parking in old town Ljubljana was the perk that sealed this AirBnB apartment for me. But, even without the need to safely park the rent car, I would have been tempted by the rave reviews and lovely photos. From the time I booked, our host Aljosa (pronounced “ah lee OH sah”) was quick to respond to my emails in excellent English. On our arrival, he was waiting to let us into the apartment as promised.

The apartment–in an old building, as I usually prefer when in Europe, was spotlessly clean and stylishly renovated. We particularly admired the ceiling mural and one wall on which he had left the partially-exposed old wallpaper.

20160330_183700 — Feature wall with original wall covering partially exposed

The apartment was arranged with a large combination bedroom/living room and a separate kitchen. Large floor-to-high-ceiling windows on the wall opposite the bed let in lots of light. Ample wardrobe space, a big work desk, a L-shaped sectional sofa and a flat-screen tv with lots of channels (some in English), and good wi-fi made for a very comfortable stay. From the kitchen window, we could see our rent car parked in the electronically-gated courtyard; very nice for peace of mind. Ljubljana felt very safe and our concerns were more along the lines of dents and scratches that are always a risk of city parking. If we had any complaints at all it was that the sheer curtains did leave the apartment rather bright at night, which might be an issue for some. I mentioned it to Aljosa and he may have remedied that by now; it would be worth asking. In any event, at $411 for 5 nights, I was very happy with the value.

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We loved the apartment’s location. There was a café just downstairs and another restaurant at the intersection in the other direction, on our way to the river and the heart of old town. Lots to do, but quiet at night; the perfect combination, IMHO. It was an easy walk to the myriad little riverside cafés and shops, the market and the funicular to the castle.

Aljosa helpfully offered suggestions for local restaurants and local foods to try. When I stupidly left a pair of glasses and a few small items on the bedside table, he mailed them ahead to our Zagreb AirBnB apartment and refused to let me pay. What an excellent host! You can check out the apartment at: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5817102

Visitor SIM: get connected in Slovenia [also Predjama Castle & Piran]

SIM cards are always on my list of things to look into when I’m going to spend any time in a country. Overpriced roaming charges on my American AT&T account are out-of-the-question except for the occasional first text to a landlord, etc. (I absolutely detest being gouged.) I try to keep a French and a Belgian SIM card active, but with no non-roaming EU-wide SIM (yet), I often need a new SIM card when I’m in Europe. Options vary widely from country to country, but Eastern Europe can offer some great deals. Unfortunately, those great deals are often hard to take advantage of if you don’t know the language.

Slovenia has solved that problem with Visitor SIM. For a price, sure, but it’s not an unreasonable price, IMHO, given the convenience. https://www.visitorsim.si/default.aspx There are 3 options, and we chose the €20 for 15 days, 10GB data+ €5 of voice. You can use the data to make VoIP calls, Skype, etc., but we wanted a little easy talk time for local calls and it came in handy when we needed to rendezvous with our AirBnB landlord. The Visitor SIM cannot be mailed outside of Slovenia, so you need an address with someone present to receive the package. We weren’t sure we’d have that option with our AirBnB digs, so I opted for to have the card sent to the Ljubljana airport. I was told the card was would be waiting for us at Café Avioncek in the Arrivals area. While David checked out our Sixt rent car, I walked the 30 yards are so to the café, gave my name to someone behind the counter, and was back in no time with the SIM card. (You’re supposed to provide ID, but no one asked.) The card installed, without problem, on my Android phone and we were up and running, Google Maps and all.

We spent the next days exploring Slovenia and found Internet coverage to be good in most places, if a little spotty in some very rural areas. I can’t say enough good things about Slovenia. I’d been wanting to visit for many years, and we found it to be beautiful, amazingly clean (Ljubljana has been named Green Capital of Europe for 2016), and very accessible. Lots of people spoke excellent English in Ljubljana and we found good English most places save for near the Eastern border with Croatia. I’d go back in a heartbeat!

20160331_134941 — Riverside café in Ljubljana. Slovenians love their cured meats!

One of the great advantages of a small country. You can visit a castle built into a mountain in the morning and be eating super-fresh seafood on the coast by lunch:

20160401_161042 — Piran, on Slovenia’s small coastline on the Gulf of Trieste

On the drive back from Piran to Ljubljana, we made a quick detour out to see the salt-pans at Sečovlje Salina Nature Park. It’s only a short drive out of town and worth a look even if, like us, you don’t have the time or inclination to take a tour or visit the Lepa Vida thalasso spa located in the park. http://www.portoroz.si/en/experience/natural-attractions/secovlje-salt-pans Salt has been harvested from here since at least the Middle Ages.

20160401_172826 — Sečovlje salt-pans beyond the canal

March 30- April 1, 2016