Pustertal Bicycle Trail

Well the cycle tour has begun! I'm on day three now but after that first day I was knackered. 45 kilometres from Brixen to Bruneck on day one - lots of up and down which took me an embarrassing five hours. I was just as slow on day 2 (13kms an hour) from Bruneck to Innichen (last stop in Italy). It's a bit different hauling an extra 10 kilograms or so. The weather was good for the first two days  but today it rained (Innichen to Lienz in Austria) but through some miracle I missed most of it. It was a joy to beat the rain and to fly downhill for a change - only 2.5 hours for 42 kms. As you will see from the photos the scenery is great - through orchards, grape vines, green pastures - and now mountains Also chatted to a number of Austrians and Germans also cycling parts of the trail. The  first 2 days or so I was on the Pustertal trail which sometimes followed the river, sometimes the old railway line and sometimes straight over the top. I am on the Drava river trail now which tends to stick pretty close to the river and so it should be flatter. I will see how it goes.

Now for some observations....

Cyclists

I have come across different types. The tourers. These are doing what I am doing except they have panniers, skinnier tyres, and are hauling more weight than me! I saw one of them nearly killing himself trying to get his bike up the stairs to the platform at Venice. While my mountain bike has trouble up the hills (as does its motor) it flys in the gravel and in the wet and that's where I have the advantage with the fatter tyres. The next group are the weekenders - recreational cyclists doing long or short rides. These people are potentially dangerous if they are Italians. As soon as I got to a section of trail popular with them (near Toblach). It was on: standing in the middle of the path, riding two abreast, even riding on the wrong side of the trail. I also had the privilige of seeing the largest pair of lycra shorts I have ever seen, I didn't think they made them that size. Then there are the racers. They are also dangerous if they don't give you space. They are just trying to ride as fast as possible - for training or something. Finally, there are the locals who just use bikes for transport - especially from the outskirts of towns.  

I mentioned the respect drivers give cyclists - the exception are Italians (of course - I have had some run ins) and city drivers, Here in Lienz (the capital of the South Tyrol region) they are less gracious, even at pedestrian crossings (but that could be the German tourists - there are a lot about). I usually don't have time to check numberplates.

Festivals

Just about every town I visited in Italy had a festival on when I was there, in Brixen, in Brunneck (which had a wine thing on) and in Innichen it was market day. But a market day here does not just mean arts and crafts - it also means beer, food and a band. This particular band played for 5 minutes and then took a break for 5 - was it because most of them were on wind instruments and it was not possible to drink their beer while playing?

Food

There appears to be confusion about the origin of some food. A Weiner Schnitzel was referred to as a Milanese in Italy. And actually it was good they didn't call it a schnitzel as it was terrible. The one I had today in Austria - or rather 2 as obviously one piece was too small to qualify as a schnitzel - was different it was great but then it was from the Lienz Schnitzel World - specialists in all things schnitzel - one was remarbably similat to a parmigiana - but they use pork for all.

Same with salami - what is Milano in Slovenia (and Australia) is Hugarian salami in Italy. Its'sas if the Italians are in denial as it is a bit too plain and are now trying to blame the Hungarians.

Travel Tip

I have found that if you are asking for something which has an English name, like cocoa cola, you need to say it with a European accent - doesn't matter which one - and you will be understood.

And here are a lot of pictures...

Brixen

Hello from Brixen in the South Tyrol, Italy (i.e. the northern, German speaking part where most of the Italian Winter Olympians come from - or at least those called Gunther, Hans etc.).

Arrived here for the start of my bike tour yesterday after almost 12 hours after I left Piran. Getting to Trieste railway station was the easy bit - I caught a taxi and made a new friend who does a lot of cycling group transport. Then it was on to Italian railways. Well I must say that was the smoothest part! I went to the ticket office - got my tickets quickly from a person who spoke excellent English and knew what she was talking about, came back and my bike was not stolen. My anxiety about my bike was only heightened when the first thing you get on the ticket machines are warnings about pick pockets and not to get any railway information or help unless the person is a uniformed railway staff member. And that's another point, they may not do much ticket checking and it might be a bit untidy at the station and on the trains but Italian railway staff are immacutely dressed. Anyway the italian trains were comfortable and just about on time. Despite not encouraging the carriage of bikes - some trains did and that was well organised, once you worked out the system. Apart from one train to Verona from Venice that appeared to be cancelled, got to Verona for my connection to Brixen. Unfortunately, I didn't realise that the train I was catching was the Bologna to Munich train - yes to Munich. It was somewhat chaotic - as all these north african refugees who didnt have reserved seats sat in the reserved seats, people (like me) got on wanting to sit in their seats as the train was packed. 
And they weren't moving anywhere - luckily i found a reserved seat that someone had not used. There were people in the aisles, some taking residence in the dining car - things settled down by the time I got off - but not before i fell as the train suddenly jerked and I nearly crushed 2 people, one with me and the other with my backpack.

And then it got worse, it was raining at Brixen and I thought the hotel was a short walk away, 1.5km the web site said and that it was in Brixen. Maybe that's in a direct line - as i reckon it was 3km uphill and I actually passd the Brixen city limits sign. It was half an hour by the time I got there and I was soaked. Its actually a good hotel with a great view of Brixen below!

I am starting the bike tour tomorrow - so today i walked around Brixen (pictures below). It was supposed to rain but in fact it has clleared up and is sunny although a bit cooler than Piran! The town has a large old centre with lots of striking old buildings and today is honey day, and so they have music and stalls in the city centre - the bee mobile (a horse drawn carriage) and i even think I saw Miss Bee or is it Miss Honey.

Not much happening otherwise but I did see a cheapskate or a cheat, not sure which, who I saw taking a picture of a postcard which was on one of those stands outside a shop.

That's it for now until the next wifi hotspot!

Pictures from Piran

Hello,

Me again, just a few pictures this time taken around Piran....

Cruises ship just outside Piran

View from Piran towards Trieste in Italy

Piran old town wall

Bell tower of St. Jurej above Piran - the bells are rung remotely

Piran old town wall

Piran

Piran

View of Trieste

Piran

Piran

Izola

 

Alps, Public Transport and Italians

Hello again, have been around a bit recently. Went to west of Slovenia to visit my cousin - and visited the mountains which are close to the Austrian border. Those places are very accessible here as well as not being too overdeveloped, we went for a short walk of one hour hour and we were at the foot of 2000m peaks. Also cycled to the Croatian Border - to the Dragonja Valley - kilometre after kilometre of grape vines, and visited the capital city, Ljubljana. Off on my cycling trip on Thursday (Italian Railways permitting) - so hopefully will be able to send some adventures and pictures from there. Looking forward to it - hopefully I will last the 2 weeks! 

Characters on Public Transport

As in Australia, you come across the most interesting characters on public transport (or at least I do!). I came across my first carny folk* on the bus. Well the male of the couple was complaining that it was too hot on the bus and that the sun was beating down on his head (it was mainly cloudy). Something was certainly happening in his head and so he had to move to the back of the bus (near me, of course!) - at which point the couple engaged in (or resumed) an inane discussion in which each party didn't appear to know what the other one was talking about.
On another occasion on a bus trip to the capital, Ljubljana, the bus was just about to go on to the freeway (at a toll station, basically in the middle of nowhere)- when a couple started waving the bus down. They wanted to get to the next town! I don't know how they knew the bus would go on to the freeway there (it was a railway replacement bus on a weekend with few buses), the time it would be there, that it would stop, and that it was the right bus! Anyway the driver was feeling compassionate, and probably also surprised, and so let them on. On the same trip a couple of women got on with the same oversize sunglasses and oversized dangling earrings (but different colours) - it was as if they were wearing a uniform. 
One time a knucklehead saw the back door of the bus at the Piran bus station opened. Just as he was getting to the door the driver closed it and opened the front door as he was getting ready to go. The knucklehead tried to force the doors open waving at the bus driver. He finally realised that the front door was opened and so he went there - the bus driver was not happy and told him off, he explained that he wanted to get on and the driver told him that there was still a few minutes before departure. Here, you don't get on the bus until the last minute. I later saw the knucklehead buzzing around the train station. On another occasion we stopped at a bus stop which we never really stop at to pick up a tourist - he was only going one stop (a few hundred metres) - clearly he was scared of walking in the dark in scary Izola (a small town here). And he couldn't count either and got charged the equivalent of $1.65 for the privilege. 

Tourists (especially Italians) 

A lot of Italian tourists here still - even though the peak was August. They walk around completely oblivious to the existence of anybody else - whether you are on a bike or trying to walk on the same footpath as them. But dealing with them is a different matter again. Usually I have low expectations of people - and that works as most people exceed those expectations - so it is a positive thing. Italians are different, they usually meet my expectations. For instance, in trying to arrange my train tickets to northern Italy for my bike tour - I contacted Italian railways, the person spoke very good English. It was all going well, he explained what tickets I could book now etc. And then it just stopped: he just said "That's all. Goodbye" and that was it. So, I don't know whether he was on a time limit or something but most call centres at least ask if there was anything else you wanted. Same with the rail trail which nominally goes from Trieste in Italy, through Slovenia, to Porec in Croatia. When you get to the Italian border the trail continues for a little while, degenerates into a a narrow path (barely enough for one person) before deposting you on a main road a few kilometres outside Trieste. 

As I have mentioned previously - there are some interesting sights here. The other day I saw the whitest person I have have ever seen - he was as white as Casper the ghost and wearing bathers - definitely out of place here in barbecue land. Also saw a person that was two toned (like an upside down Polish flag): from the shoulders up he was red, while the rest of him was white. Clearly didn't put much thought into this beach thing.

Cycling

It is a much more positive experience here. Motorists actually stop and give way to you when a path crosses a road (although they are usually parallel to pedestrian crossings). But some people (tourists), don't get it. One trail is marked with red lines and bicycle symbols and people still walk straight through the middle of it! But some cyclists are really into it - one (Italian) cyclist had the whole coordination thing going. His theme was black and blue. Black and blue bike, shirt, helmet and water bottle. But he didn't leave it there - he complemented it all with vertically stripped black and blue socks. I wanted to take a photo. 

Interesting TV Programmes 

An interesting programme is the cooking channel. The difference is it is in a variety of languages. So I am not sure who it is aimed at. The person that just likes to watch cooking - sort of like a sport? Another programme is a US one: Bait Car. This is where the police park a car (full of cameras and GPS) - always unlocked and either with the door opened or a whole of of valuables on the front seat - and wait for someone to try to steal it. You can imagine what sort of person usually gets caught. I will give you a clue: not any members of organised crime groups!

Different Concepts 

Some things you see here are so different. For instance, because credit cards etc. are not as prevalent here they have cash on delivery. So if you order something online you go to the post office and pay for it there in cash - they make the payment into the account of the seller! Another interesting thing I saw in the shop the other day was an electric fly swatter. It is basically the shape of a tennis racket - with the strings being replaced by wires and it being battery operated. I am no fly expert and so I am not sure what is less cruel; instantaneous electrocution or getting choked to death by a spray. It is a German product.

Koper

This is the regional capital and I have been there a few times as that is where the biggest shops are. It's about 50 minutes on the bus. Anyway it appears to have a disppropriate number of travel agents and opticians. Does that mean the people there have poor health and can't wait to get out of the place?

*carny folk - a person who may be involved in the carnival industry, usually itinerant and is not adverse to engaging in illegal activities and particularly opportunities that may arise for theft . Personally, usually has bad teeth, body odour, burnt to a cinder and is loud. Diet is fast food and soft drink (thanks to Steve for help with this definition)

 

Celje, in  the west of Slovenia

Celje Castle

Robanov Kot

Hut at Robanov Kot

Bee hives at Robanov Kot

Old building in the Dragonja Valley

View from Dragonja Valley

Ljubljana, old town