| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 10 February 2005 |
|
 |
|
The first
stop was for people to stare at Omar Sharif's bus--is he following
us? :-) Then we saw the Institute of History, which was being used
for the film as well. The guide pointed out things we hadn't
noticed yesterday, like the gas lamps still used to light the
streets, and the oldest pharmacy in Zagreb (1355--I assume the
merchandise has changed since then). There was also some
duplication, though: the Stone Gate, Lotrscak Tower (which we didn't
climb), and St. Mark's (whose roof had looked much nicer in the
sunlight). Between the Tower and St. Marks' was St. Cyril's, a
Greek *Catholic* church--most unusual. We also found out what the
coats of arms on the roof of St. Marks' were. The left we knew was
Croatia; the right is Zagreb, with the three heads a symbol of
Dalmatia and the marten a symbol of Slovonia (*not* Slovenia). And
the noontime changing of the guard we saw yesterday was only the
fifth since 1918. That's because the guard was just reinstituted
May 30 as part of the independence declaration. No wonder the crowd
(on a Monday, no less) was so large. I guess we were actually
photographing a political demonstration without realizing it.
We also saw the Croatian Parliament Building across St. Mark's
Square from the Viceroy's Palace (Orsic Palace).
When Ada saw Steve helping Mary back on the bus (which
basically involves lifting her up each step), she said she thought
he was a wonderful young man. She also said after seeing Mary on
this trip, she would never say she couldn't do something.
Then on to St. Stephen's, and our luck gave out and the rain
started. Luckily all we had was a quick dash to the interior, which
was dry. Inside was the usual assortment of altars and pulpits, a
copy of a Titian presented to the church for Zagreb's 900th
anniversary as a bishopric (okay, so it's a few years early), etc.
St. Stephen's also has the 'fourth best organ in the world.' (What
are the first three and who rates them anyway?) And just inside the
door is an example of Glagotic writing, from before the Latin
alphabet was adopted (and before Cyrillic too, one suspects, though
it is not in use in Croatia).
After a brief rest stop at the hotel, we started out for
Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Someone described Yugoslavia as
seven nationalities in six republics, speaking four languages,
practicing three religions, and using two alphabets. The seven
nationalities are Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian,
Albanian, Hungarian, and Romanian. The six republics are Slovenia,
Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. The
languages are Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, and Macedonian; the
religions Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslim; the alphabets Latin
and Cyrillic. We will be visiting Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia,
Bosnia-Hercegovina, and then Croatia again.
The drive was through forests and would have been pretty except
for the rain. Our city tour of Ljubljana (Mojca's home town and the
capital of Slovenia) was also in the rain, but was a bus tour rather
than a walking tour, so it wasn't too bad. Then we got our lunch
break. Mary and Steve went to the hotel close by, but Mark and I
wandered off and eventually found a self-service restaurant where we
got chicken and tripe, each with polenta, and sodas for 138 dinars
(about US$6). By the time we got out it had stopped raining,
allowing us to walk around a bit. The Dragon Bridge we saw earlier
was a bit too far away for us to return for a picture, so Mark had
to settle for a post card. The Tromostovje (three-bridge cluster),
for which Ljubljana is best known, was under construction and
covered with construction materials. We did get to see a bit of
Ljubljana, though not under the best of conditions.
When we returned to the bus and left for Postojna, the rain
started again. (Nice of it to stop for our walk.) Most of us
napped, including me.
We arrived at Postojna about 4PM and were greeted by a long
flight of stairs to the hotel lobby. Some searching located the
elevator (for Mary) and we all got checked in. At 5 PM we were
scheduled to go into the caves, so naturally the rains started up
again at 4:30 PM. So Mary got into the wheelchair and we raced
through the rain to the entrance, practically pitching her out when
Steve caught a wheel in a sidewalk grate. (This after we discovered
the doors outside the elevator on the ground floor were locked and
had to use the stairs from the lobby. Luckily down is easier than
up.)
The Postojna Caves were at least partially known even in
prehistoric times, but were first systematically explored in 1818.
In addition to the magnificent geology, you also get a biology
lesson from the cave dweller Proteus anguineus, an olm (salamander)
which has both gills and a lung, no eyes, four legs, and the ability
to reproduce either by laying eggs or by giving birth to live young.
The tour begins with an electric tram ride into the caves.
Near the front you can see the walls and ceiling have been
blackened--this was caused by the explosion in 1944: the Germans
thought this would be a good place to store gasoline, but were
proved wrong when the Partisans discovered it and blew it up. A
plaque near the exit commemorates this. Further in, the tram passes
through some very low tunnels, causing everyone to duck. (The walls
are also close in--don't stick your arms out!) The caves are 46
degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) year-round and drip (we
thought at least here we'd be out of the rain); add to that the
moving of the tram and you can understand that we were a bit chilly.
Once inside we got off and hiked up a steep path to the highest
point in the caves, then descended to the 'Russian Bridge.' This
leads to a path that proceeds mostly downhill for about a mile
before looping under the bridge. Since there is also a path
connecting the upper and lower parts here, Mary decided to wait here
while the rest walked the loop.
We got very little description from the guide, in part because
the group was so large the back people on the path couldn't hear him
when he spoke, and in part because most of our 'English-speaking'
group was actually Chinese-speaking and their guide had to
retranslate everything.
We returned to the hotel very cold, but of course as it was
summer there was no heat. At dinner several of us got slivovitz
just to warm up. Dinner itself was a mushroom risotto, grilled
meat, overcooked peas, and potatoes (fried--I think I'd rather have
them boiled, but one doesn't get a choice), with ice cream for
dessert.
|
We had breakfast (very limited buffet) and then
left for Bled and Austria. Bled is just south of the Austrian
border and a very popular resort town. It is built on the edge of
Lake Bled, a glacial lake not unlike Lake Tahoe. Of course, Lake
Tahoe doesn't have a castle overlooking it and an island with an old
church in the middle of it, but these are minor differences. We
stopped at a couple of points around the lake for picture-taking and
then had twenty minutes in the town. We picked up some snack food,
some postcards, and a souvenir of Slovenia (a bag of paprika). We
like to get a small souvenir from each country for our souvenir
table, but with the imminent break-up of Yugoslavia we're getting
one from each republic just in case. In Croatia we got a key ring
with the Croatian coat of arms.
After this, we crossed the border into Austria. They looked at
our passports but no one stamped them. All in all, it was about on
a par with crossing from the United States to Canada. The border
points are separated by a tunnel and after crossing we descended via
a series of hairpin turns into Austria and on to Klagenfurt to
change money and have lunch. (Oh, yes, just before the border on
the Yugoslav side was what appeared to be a monument to the
Partisans which looked a lot like the Democracy Monument in Bangkok,
only smaller.)
Mojca talked a little about changing money. Romania and
Bulgaria, not being major destinations for Western tourists, are not
used to travelers cheques yet and many places don't accept them.
But large bills are not a good idea either--you don't want to change
US$50 for two days in Bulgaria. Mojca suggested that since Austrian
schillings are hard currency, convertible everywhere, people change
enough travelers cheques/large bills to cover the rest of the trip.
(Let's hope they don't then carry Austrian 1000-schilling notes or
they're back where they started!) We have one-dollar and five-
dollar bills, so I don't expect a problem. When we got to
Klagenfurt we changed US$200 to 2389 schillings and hit the town.
Since we didn't know we were going to Klagenfurt ahead of time,
we hadn't read up on it ahead of time. So a quick flip through the
guide book set our plan of attack. After changing money, we took
pictures of the statue of the Lindwurm (dragon) in the Neuer Platz.
(The Lindwurm is the symbol of Klagenfurt, the capital of Carinthia
founded in 1161.) Then we found a grocery and bought cheese and
crackers for lunch. Mark also found an obscure Jules Verne book in
German.
Then we went to the Domkirche, with its elaborate interior.
What appeared to be a gorgeous marble and gold pulpit, however,
turned out to be wood painted to look like marble and gold. It was
still pretty fancy though.
We spent our remaining time walking around just looking at
things. There was a monastery built for one order, then acquired by
the Benedictines, and most recently by the Jesuits. Of course, this
is over a period of six hundred years or so, so some changes in
management are to be expected.
The drive to Salzburg was through the Alps, towering over us
and covered with snow, or at least having some snow on top. This is
supposedly unusual for this time of year, but where Leepers travel,
strange weather follows.
Amongst the mountains were Alpine meadows (well, I suppose
'Alpine' is redundant here, but you get the idea) with cows grazing.
All they needed was Julie Andrews running across them singing.
Actually, one of the problems here is that everything not connected
with Mozart seems to be connected with THE SOUND OF MUSIC. There
are 'Sound of Music' tours and the guides point out anything
connected with the movie. I didn't even like the movie that much
(except for the nuns stealing the distributor caps).
Our first stop in Salzburg was the airport, not that we were
going anywhere, but Ada's luggage was just arriving from Madrid.
From there we went to our hotel (the Hotel Winkler) and checked in.
Mark and I immediately went out walking. The on-and-off rain
of the day, which had stopped while we were in Klagenfurt and then
resumed, seemed to have stopped again for good. We walked across the
Salzach River to the Old Town and walked around, looking at the
various old buildings and winding streets, including one named
Judengasse (or 'Judenga{e,' as it was printed on the sign) (Jews'
Lane). We didn't go into any of the churches as the important ones
are usually covered on the city tours. |
|
| Copyright © - "Evelyn C. Leeper" |
|
 |
| Other travelogues by the same author: |
|
|
|
