Categories
in slovenia

Zlatorog legend

“Zlatorog (a legendary white chamois buck) used to roam the then beautiful garden valley of Triglav with the White Ladies, good fairies who kept the mountain pastures green and helped humans whenever they found them in need.

Meanwhile, down in the Soca Valley near Trenta, a greedy plot was being hatched. It seemed that an innkeeper’s daughter had been given jewels by a wealthy Venetian merchant. The girl’s mother demanded that her daughter’s lover, a poor but skilled hunter, match the treasure with Zlatorog’s gold hidden under Mt Bogatin. If not, he was at least to bring back a bunch of Triglav ‘roses’ in mid-winter to prove his fidelity – an impossible task.

The young hunter, seething with jealousy, climbed the mountain in search of the chamois, figuring that if he we re to take even a piece of its golden horns, the treasure of Bogatin – and his beloved -would be his. At last the young man spotted Zlatorog, took aim and fired. It was a direct hit.

The blood gushing from Zlatorog’s wound melted the snow and up sprang a magical Triglav rose. The chamois nibbled on a few petals and – presto! – was instantly back on his feet. As the chamois leapt away, roses sprang up from under his hooves, luring the hunter onto higher and higher ground. But as they climbed, the sun caught Zlatorog’s shiny horns. The hunter was blinded, lost his footing and plunged into a gorge.

The once kind and trusting chamois was enraged that a mere mortal would treat him in such a manner. In his fury he gored his way through the Triglav Lakes Valley, leaving it much as it looks today. He left the area with the White Ladies, never to return.

And the fate of the others? The innkeeper’s daughter waited in vain for her lover to return home. As spring approached, the snow began to melt, swelling the Soca River. One day it brought her a sad gift: the body of her young swain, his lifeless hand still clutching a Triglav rose. As for the innkeeper’s rapacious wife, we know nothing.”


the best tale i could find of zlatorog, the chamois from the triglav mountains, from the earthen chivalry blog. the bohinj lake was mostly frozen on our visit, but even in a cold winter day, the beauty of the triglav national park is breathtaking.

Categories
in slovenia

‘‘For me, Jure is on another planet. He can die on the bike and keep going.’’

the words are by hans mauritz, the co-organizer of le tour direct, on a fascinating 2006 article on the nytimes. he’s talking about jure robic, a slovenian super endurance athlete, who has a peculiar approach to the sport. he’s not physically stronger than other contestants, but he has the ability to push himself beyond the point of mental breakdown.

‘‘During race, I am going crazy, definitely,’’ he says, smiling in bemused despair. ‘‘I cannot explain why is that, but it is true.’’

The craziness is methodical, however, and Robic and his crew know its pattern by heart. Around Day 2 of a typical weeklong race, his speech goes staccato. By Day 3, he is belligerent and sometimes paranoid. His short-term memory vanishes, and he weeps uncontrollably. The last days are marked by hallucinations: bears, wolves and aliens prowl the roadside; asphalt cracks rearrange themselves into coded messages. Occasionally, Robic leaps from his bike to square off with shadowy figures that turn out to be mailboxes. In a 2004 race, he turned to see himself pursued by a howling band of black-bearded men on horseback.

‘‘Mujahedeen, shooting at me,’’ he explains. ‘‘So I ride faster.’’


they say he wins for the most fundamental of reasons: refusing to stop. long article, but definitely worth a read.

image by camera obscura.

Categories
in slovenia

i can haz a pony!

Relics of old Yugoslavia, Rog bikes are still all over the place in LJ (local slang for the Slovenian capital). You can hear varying degrees of metallic rattling emanating from these hunks of stainless steel, and of course the unmistakable trill of their antique – and more or less obligatory – bells. The point is, there are actually still loads of the older models trundling around Ljubljana’s cobbled back-streets and major thoroughfares, which, 18 years and counting since the factory closed, only confirms the communist engineering ethic: ‘build it like a tank’ – build it to last.

Perhaps Rog’s most cherished model, the Pony, with its dinky frame and comically undersized wheels, is definitely the cutest. You see everyone, from petite female students to lanky businessmen in three-piece suits to centenarian grandmothers, perched on their springy seats. You see these prancing Ponies in every colour, sometimes having been painted over numerous times.

from Ljubljana in your pocket guide.



ever since a friend told us about pony’s, i’ve been seeing them everywhere i look, obsessing about these cute little bikes. we searched bolha.com for days, until we found a couple of them in mint condition, and relatively cheap. (why are bicycles so ridiculously overpriced these days?)
anyway, it was practically love at first sight! mine is a more recent rog model, slightly bigger than the more typical ponys, but just as charming. i plan to put a lot of mileage in it :)

now we only need a couple of locks and a basket, and off we go!


Categories
in portugal in slovenia photography

elita & ribeiro


currently lurking and without many words to share. this too shall pass.

Categories
in slovenia

spring crocus

the season changed on the calendar and as if on cue, thousands of tiny flowers popped out of the ground. anywhere there is a bit of dirt, spring crocus is blooming. precious tiny blurbs of colour on dormant hills, giving us yet another excuse to walk around and breathe fresh air. if we hadn’t fallen head over heels for this country long ago, this would probably do it :)