Category: in slovenia

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in slovenia

mangart

mangart, at 2679 meters is the 4th highest peak in slovenia – and our first attempt at some serious hiking with our friends sara & gandalf. mangart has the highest road in slovenia, just over 2000 meters, so you get to drive almost to the top, and hike the rest of the way. we didn’t hike it all the way to the top though, but instead took it easy and enjoyed every minute of it… until the wind became too strong and cold and we had to come back in a run. can you believe there was still a patch of snow up there!?
i’ll let the pictures do the talking, because words don’t do justice to this place. meet mangart:

from up there, you can pretty much see the whole world:


or at least a good portion of slovenia, italy and austria. you can sit and relax while below you the world goes on and fluffly little clouds pass by, floating over the top of the mountain to the other side. it’s really precious – and probably our new favourite place. :)



we’ll definitely go back again – preferably on time to see the autumn foliage, which i am currently obsessing over! if it wasn’t for all the rain currently falling on slovenia… the country has been hit with heavy floods in the last few days. we’re safe & sound, but worried with the local tv reports showing serious damage in places we’ve recently been to. they say the worst is yet to come, so we’re crossing our fingers and staying indoors for now. stay safe.

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in slovenia

tromeja = 3 borders

yesterday we joined the ics club on a hike to tromeja, which is a special hill on top of which the borders of slovenia, austria and italy meet. it was in this hill that in may 2004, officers from the 3 countries shook hands to welcome slovenia into the european union.

sunday was the perfect day for hiking, with blue skies and gentle breeze – a day just begging to be spent outdoors, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. the hike started in rateče, which is a small lovely town in itself. we’d been in the area a few times to see the ski jumping competitions, but never thought of turning right instead of left! the town is so picturesque, it’s almost postcard perfect. like my dad would say, “sometimes i feel like i’m inside ‘the sound of music'”. :)

there are two ways to the top of tromeja: quick & steep, or slow & easy. we picked the latter for the ascent, and took our time in the two-hour climb, stopping now and then to enjoy the view of the meadows and the alps.
the summit was crowded with people, since it was the day to celebrate the friendship between the three countries. the views were breathtaking and stretched as far as villach and klagenfurt on the austrian side, and planica valley on the slovenian side. there was live music, people in costumes, donkeys (!) and plenty of local delicacies from all the countries.


on the way down, we took the steeper slope, and shaved off a bit of time… though not so much, as we stopped frequently for pictures and stretched on the grass at the lower hut to recharge energies…
all in all, pretty much a perfect day :)

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in slovenia in the netherlands traveling

things we do on roadtrips

we test new eyewear and check for directions… often.

we cringe as we cross big bad tunnels and buy vignettes when we get to the other side.

we brave the weather and get stuck in never-ending traffic jams… sometimes for hours.

so we snack on spekulaas and watch star wars to pass the time.

when things go well, we drive on endless roads without a speed limit… this is europe afterall.

and sometimes… well… sometimes, things don’t go exactly as planned…


after four separate diagnosis of “this doesn’t look like a simple problem”, we bid goodbye to our focus (who is now waiting for a diagnosis on a garage somewhere) and drove the last 100km to our destination in a taxi. and here we are now, in glorious amsterdam!

i left this country four years ago, almost to the day. it’s been too long – yet all the details, the smells, the sights, the sounds… they’re all coming back to us with such fierce familiarity that in some ways, it’s like we never left. for us, this is not a mere a sightseeing visit: we’re definitely more interested in revisiting all the things we love about the netherlands, all the particularities we’ve missed throughout the years. i’m really looking forward to this week :)

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in slovenia

green intermezzo




:)

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in slovenia video

films under the stars


until the end of the month, kinodvor is playing a different movie each night on ljubljana’s castle. we gave it a try on monday with the cove and were pleasantly surprised. the sound + screening quality + popcorn are good, the backdrop of the castle in the night air is quite nice and even the plastic chairs are not that bad. so we went back yesterday and watched the road and i think we’ll go again next week. perhaps we’ll try to choose less depressing movies…