Last Days in Piran

Hello,
Only 23 days until I depart for Australia. I have not done many trips recently as the weather deteriorated quite rapidly at the start of September, raining nearly all the time. It's got better the last week or so but it has got cooler and more windy - with temperatures in the low 20s. Thankfully the humidity has gone. So the fan and shorts have been packed away until next year. But I still have a few observations...

Weather
As I said the weather has been windy, so much so that a foil tray ended up in my room - blown in through the open window - and I am on the 3rd floor! It's got so cool here, even the flies - which have not been spotted all summer- are coming inside.

Nordic Walking

An activity that they are still trying to flog is Nordic walking. It’s a fitness activity that is essentially walking with long ski like poles. In effect, it comprises walking a short distance, carrying unnecessary, expensive, equipment. I think the pole manufacturers invented it to sell more ski poles. I saw one the other day that even had the whole outfit: bright blue top with matching runner.

Televsion
I saw the UK National Union of Students president being interviewed on Sky News. She was complaining about how poor students were and that some were going hungry. She didn't do much to promote this poverty, wearing a large, chunky necklace and two fancy piercings.
I saw a concert on TV recently and one of the presenters had a dress with what looked like a pouch in the front. I don't know whether that was intentional or they gave her the wrong sized dress.
I also saw a TV news report about a new hotel opening in the capital. Ljubljana. Unfortunately the Serbian owner couldn't attend the opening as the Serbian authorities had confiscated his passport due to some tax issue. Not a good start to the venture.

Public Transport
I saw an older man get on the bus the other day with a bun on top - of course he had a guitar. Also on the local bus, a German got on expecting it to be free. I am not sure whether in Germany pensioners get everything for free or he was just a cheapskate.
When I visited my relatives in Orehek recently, I caught the train and one of the passengers presented a bus ticket to get on the train. She mistakenly purchased a ticket from the bus ticket office. There was a bus replacing the train so maybe she got confused. She wasn't even a tourist.

Invisibility
I still appear to be invisible. Someone ran into me with their dog near the bus station. She clearly didn't even care about the dog, at the very least.

Interesting Products
In the supermarket I saw for sale one litre beer cans from a Danish company - that had a pop top! I am not sure whether they really like their beer in Denmark or they developed a special product for the German and Czech markets.

And finally some pictures...


Piran

Orehek

Return from Bovec

Hello,

It's been a few days since I came back from Bovec and have been busy assembling and demolishing furniture. Replaced a wardrobe with a new one that doesn't take up half the bedroom. Apart from the new wardrobe not fitting together exactly, almost getting crushed when demolishing the old one and nearly ending up through the window, things went pretty smoothly. At times, it was like being in a Mr Bean movie.

A few observations...

Last Days in Bovec
On my way to dinner at another place on the last day (the other three had queues or were booked out) I saw a child throwing stones on to a slide with the mother watching on. That's how it starts. Also on the way I saw the sign pictured below outside a bar/cafe ("zenske" means women). Clearly they were not interested in attracting female clientele. At the restaurant itself they they were run off their feet - but, ironically, the service was worse when it calmed down. Overall, the portions in Bovec appeared to be smaller than in Piran. We must have Italian sized portions here. On the way back from my hotel I was behind a a keen environmentalist; she picked up every single piece of rubbish along the path and even checked the creek.

The Trip Back
Went back to Piran by bus a different way via the lower Soca valley and then through the Idrija valley along a narrow road with stunning scenery. The hotel was kind to me and packed a breakfast for me as I was leaving early. There was more food in it than I usually eat for breakfast.
The bus trip itself was interesting. At one stop the bus driver started tightening the bolts on his front wheels. I wondered why until I saw how he drove along the narrow road. I felt safer when he was talking on the phone (hands free) - when he was driving slower.

Random Thoughts
What is it with old men with with skinny legs and large shorts. Are they wearing the shorts they always have but their legs have shrunk, or do they feel the need to buy oversized shorts for some reason.
Bike helmets. They are not compulsory in most of Europe but those that do have them, hang them from the handlebars or have them on but unclipped - what's the point of that?

Hitchhiker's Museum
I mentioned this in a previous blog but it has now closed in Piran and is doing a national tour. The man, who was not as creepy on TV, featured on the national news. The exhibition includes the tourist stuff he collected over the years. He has a lot of junk.

Some pictures of Bovec...

The sign...

 

Bovec 6

Last walking day was spent, at first, on the far side of the Soca river but I had to improvise as part of the trail was closed because of a landslide. I found another World War 1 fortification at Celo, which had nice views down to Bovec (also part of the path of peace). Came across some British walkers who had a worse sense of direction than me. They took the trail to the fortification instead of going straight ahead to the top of the mountain as they intended. They also left some gates open, as the trail goes through farms. Naughty.

I had dinner at the hotel restaurant last night and didn't that cause confusion as usually the people eating there get their meals included as part of their accommodation. The excellent person at reception (that seems to work 12 hour days) sorted it out by adding the cost to the bill. It was a buffet and I could eat as much as I liked but there were staff watching. I did, however, have a double serve of potatoes as well as a "gypsy style schnitzel", whatever that means. Looked like meat In a sauce to me. But clearly no potato shortage here. 

We had the last of the music festival last night with a very good 50-60s band which abruptly finished at 11pm on the dot.

Also the reason hotel reception is in the basement is because the hotel complex is on a hill. If you enter via a side street, magically, reception is on the ground floor.

At breakfast, people feel the need to fill their water bottles from the drink dispensing machine, while everyone else waits. Don't they have water in their rooms? One this morning even filled up her bowl full of hot water from the tea/coffee machine - I've no idea what she was going to do with that.

Back to Piran tomorrow. Some photos....

Bovec 5

Today I went up to the mountains again via the Kanin cable car. Today not a lot of distance was covered, only about 300m up as I climbed the nearby mountain of Prestreljenik (2498m). Not only are the views superb, the mountain sits on the Slovenian - Italian border. It even has a white post denoting the border. Although the walk was not technically difficult and not exposed, there was a bit of scrambling involved on occasions. The guidebook referred to these as rock steps; they were only "steps" if you were over 6 feet tall. Met another Croatian group up there - with a Slovenian guide, who was kind enough to take a photo and I reciprocated. Also saw a few walkers wearing bike helmets - you do wear climbing helmets when going on steep rocky slopes because if the risk of rockfall but the walk I did doesn't really qualify, there was a bit of loose stuff but helmets, even bike helmets -which aren't designed for rocks anyway - seems a bit over the top.

In other news. More music on last night - Slovenian rock/pop. Finished just past 11pm but then a group of Slovenian drunks took over for a little while (I liked their repertoire better). In fact all night there were people running around. 

I have a gift of attracting crowds.. Yesterday, I was the only one waiting to buy ice cream, then suddenly I was surrounded by a group of people. After the climb I decided to take a side path to take some shots - suddenly there were six people behind me., thinking they were missing out on something. Later at the restaurant at the cable car station I was all alone, within 5 minutes I was surrounded by groups on all sides (incidentally their strudel was excellent).

And finally, the C team were on house keeping today. No replacement towels and the bathroom bin next to my bed. Luckily, found a trolley in the hallway and helped myself. Perhaps I should impose a housekeeping charge. 

The photos....