Tromeja

Hello, today I walked up to Tromeja, which is where the borders of Italy, Austria and Slovenia meet. It's in fact at the top of a mountain (Mount Peč) which is 1508m high. There were great views on the way up - although it was a bit hazy - from the Slovenian village Rateče (a short bus ride from Kranjska Gora) and great views into Austria on the other side. I then walked on the Austrian side, along a ridge, down to the Wurzen Pass where I came back into Slovenia. Although it was a road border, no border checks or guards. I walked along the main road for a bit then down a forest road (as signed), through a farm (where there were warnings about a bull) and then I got lost. I obviously missed the turn off while I was looking around waiting to be attacked by a bull (I did see the bull and the herd later but they couldn't of cared less about me). I got to a open pasture and saw my destination below (the main road) and so bush bashed (or pine tree bashed) my way down and I luckily found a forest road which led down. Another adventure. 

It has been quite hot here -  up to 30 degrees - but in Kranjska Gora there are cooler nights and no humidity, plus the walking was mainly in forest and it was much cooler up in the mountains. The hotel is quite good - it's very quiet.

Kranjska Gora

Hello, arrived in Kranjska Gora early this afternoon. It's a town located in the north west of Slovenia, right near the Austrian and Italian borders. It's mainly a winter resort - although they are a lot of people around now especially on bikes as there is a rail trail running along this spectacular valley. The town has seen some development since I was here last including some big hotel chains taking over a number of the previous quaint (i.e. run down) hotels - that's also meant an increase in hotel room rates here. Had pizza for dinner - burnt again! I thought it was wood fired pizza not wood burned pizza. I've only ever just heated up a pizza but I wouldn't think it's that hard to bake a pizza.

Weather permitting, off to the mountains tomorrow.....

More Slovenian Ramblings

Hello, I thought I would share some recent events and observations (and pictures too) before my trips to the mountains tomorrow.... 

Home Improvement
I finally relented and purchased an air-conditioner here in Piran - or rather replaced the one that didn't work (yes another thing that didn't work). It just gets so incredibly humid here, even at modest temperatures, once that sea warms up. I also contacted my electrician to do some minor improvements and fixes. He turned up on his new electric bike. Electric bikes are the future I think but are currently expensive and heavy but he had one of the new types which are smaller (with smaller tyres), lighter and cheaper (a bit like the portable, fold up bikes). He said his will go up to 30 km/h. Impressive - especially as he lives up the top of a hill.

Neighbours
I have had a few issues with my neighbours (family of five) who live above me here in Piran. They also come for the summer, with the father working in the local ice cream parlour. Usually, they are not there. This year, for some reason the mother and children spent a lot of time home. The youngest child apparently decided to practice gymnastics or his triple jump upstairs, shaking the whole floor, on a regular basis. It was getting ridiculous, so I went up one particular bad day and made my feelings known. I got a quick "sorry" as the mother scurried away with the delinquent child. Since then it has been comparatively quiet and they have spent much more time out of the apartment. On reflection, I shouldn't really blame the child. At times he was put in a separate room and when he woke up he went bezerk. Plus I don't think he is an indoor person - he is always crying when indoors or when they return to the apartment - and they come back at all sorts of odd hours too which doesn't help.

Tourists
I saw a Japanese man the other day wearing an air freshener around his neck. I am not sure whether it was because of the smell or his smell.
The English like to parade the fact they are English. I saw one of them wearing a floppy hat with England and the Union Jack all over it. Not a good idea in these times of Brexit. He could speak Italian and was quite happy to show it by speaking to anyone that looked at him. He was a bit confused though when he got off his stop with Google Maps quickly consulted. Been there, done that.
I get a bit caught out when I am walking down the street from time to time and what appears to be a topless woman walking by is in fact a topless man. It's not an uncommon mistake. Although my neighbours did say they once saw a full naked woman in the main square here in Piran, walking around, completely unfazed.
I have mentioned this before but Russian tourists are hilarious. They usually don't know any language apart from Russian but that doesn't stop them. They just talk Russian to people and expect them to understand them. When I went to buy my air-conditioner there were a (rich) Russian couple trying to order appliances for their apartment. The conversation wasn't going anywhere and I think the sales person was about to punch one of them. Another woman I saw regularly for a while (she looked like an Olga) went shopping and just asked for things in Russian.
We had a bit of a blow up between locals and tourists here in Piran recently. We have an unofficial hostel (officially, a collection of "private" rooms) round the corner which regularly has youth groups staying there on summer camp. Most of them are quite good because they have activities for them al day which keep them occupied and too tired at the end of the day to get up to no good. This was not the case with a recent Belgian group. They sat in the middle of the street, walked around playing loud music and smoking, sat on peoples front steps, and wandered around all night. Things got to a head when they were running around the "hostel" splashing water on the street below and playing loud music. A local woman had had enough and went up to tell them off. In their wisdom they decided to splash water on her. Well that set it all off with all the other neighbours who had had enough coming out on the street and giving these kids a piece of their mind. There was shouting all around. So much so that the police were called and then things quietened down. Not a peep was seen or heard of them again until they left the next day. Unfortunately, it's an ongoing problem here, particularly peak season in August, when some tourists treat the place as some sort of fun park rather than respecting it as a place where people live and work.

Wedge Parking
This is a standard type of parking in Italy but it has also caught on here in Slovenia as well. Wedge parking is when you don't have enough space to park your car but there is sufficient space to get half your car (the nose) into the spot with the back end hanging out on the street.

Scooters
I have seen a few older people riding around on tiny scooters recently. Seems like they can't be bothered walking but can't handle the complexity of bikes.

Paris Urinals
Apparently there has been a bit of a public backlash to the placing of outdoor public urinals in Paris. Who would have thought? You can see the story on the Euronews website.

Flying Angel
Recently we had a spectacular event here in Piran - removal, for restoration, of the angel from the top of the bell tower by helicopter. It was quite a sight seeing this angel flying in the air. I took some pictures from my window (see below) but there are better pictures at this website if you are interested. The army and mountain climbers were engaged in the operation. The angel is 3.8 metres high and weighs 320 kg.

Thoughts on Slovakia and Hungary

Hello, I returned about a week ago from my cycling trip and have been readjusting to the humidity here in Piran, particularly as the apartment has heated up while I was away. I don't have air-conditioning, just a fan. In Hungary it was in the low 30s but little or no humidity. Here it has been 34 for the last few days but with around 50% humidity. Next trip is to Kranjska Gora, in the Slovenian mountains, in the last week of the month. Anyway some general reflections on my trip...

The Trip Back
I caught what should be the direct train from Budapest to Slovenia but we had to get off because of track works in Hungary and go on a bus for about 40 minutes. Took about just over four hours to get to the border, then there was another four hours to Ljubljana, the train being slowed by track works. We were late getting to Ljubljana, so I missed my bus connection to Koper/Piran. So I had dinner and then got back on the same train which was leaving for Koper 45 minutes after arriving in Ljubljana! Didn't see much on the train in Hungary except fields and sunflowers. I did see two deer enjoying a farmer's recently mowed field. They seemed unfazed by the passing train.

Slovakia
I didn't see a lot of Slovakia on my cycle trip (we stayed in only two hotels in Slovakia) but I liked Bratislava - at least the compact, pedestrianised, old city centre - and it appeared a very friendly place. Seemed to be a greater Austrian/German influence.

Hungary
Hungary was a bit different, particularly those parts away from its borders with Austria, Slovakia, and Slovenia. It reminded me of the former Yugoslavia. It's clearly very poor - particularly in regional areas - prices are lower than in Slovenia but its infrastructure (particularly roads) is in a bad state, there was little agriculture, a lot of dilapidated houses and buildings, and general untidiness. Budapest was better and that's where the infrastructure money is and has been spent - with a new stadium being built and other construction. The culture reminded me of old Eastern Europe too: poor and grudging service, particularly at restaurants, with waiters chatting among themselves rather than looking after the customers. Most of the time it was as if they really didn't want to be there. However, the few local people I met (not working in service industries) were friendly. 
My impression of Hungary was not enhanced by the fact that I was scammed (or rather robbed). I mentioned the police check in Budapest in the previous blog. When I got back to my hotel I noticed some euros were missing from my wallet after "police" checked my documents and currency. I was unbelievably gullible and really didn't expect to be scammed at a major public attraction on a Sunday morning. I knew the Hungarians were paranoid about security and illegal immigrants and so getting checked by police was not a surprise. I should have been more wary. 
In fact, the Hungarian government might do better than blame immigrants (which they don't have) and the European Community for their problems. I think their problems lie closer to home. Coming back to Slovenia was like going forward 10 years. I can see why the Hungarians didn't get on with the Austrians when they were in the same empire.

Television
Hungarian and Slovakian TV have also caught the dubbing disease which has inflicted most of Europe these days. Sometimes the results are hilarious.
A particularly innovative programme I saw on Hungarian TV was a quiz programme combined with a war game.
Sometimes CNN was the only English channel available. I soon got sick of it as it was mainly minute by minute analysis of latest Trump actions. Surely, other things are happening in the world!

Food
A few things I noticed: Hungarians like spicier foods (they like paprika) than the Slovakians. Hungarians also prefer cucumbers as their salads and like their potatoes in the form of croquettes.

Accommodation
The hotels I stayed at were quite good particularly in the larger cities. Also the older the hotel, the larger and more comfortable the rooms were. The one exception was an old hotel in a smaller town which had a very low and hard bed. Probably prison issue.

Border Controls
Although I cycled from Austria into Slovakia and then criss-crossed into and out of Hungary, I never saw one border post or even a hint of passport control. Only in Slovakia did the hotels take passport details for notification to police. It seems to me that people smugglers might be more successful if they put their clients on bikes.


Some local photos...

Budapest 3

Last day in Budapest was spent mainly in the Budapest City Park, inland from the Danube, in and around which there were more spectacular buildings as you will see from the pictures. Another hot day, 34, and not much happened except a Greek tourist asked me to take some pictures, which developed into a photo shoot. He wanted about three pictures. Later we were subject to a police check as apparently there is crime in the area. Well he did look a bit dodgy. Also when I arrived at breakfast this morning it was like Victoria Market. An Italian tour group was in. I blame the fact that they drink too much coffee.

Back to Slovenia tomorrow. It will be a long day!

Budapest 2

Day 2 in Budapest was spent mainly on Margaret Island. But on my way, I went past Parliament House. It makes the Victorian Parliament House look like a shed. Margaret Island is an island in the middle of the Danube River between Buda and Pest and it’s joined by road at either end through bridges crossing the Danube. It’s not small: about 2.5 km long and 500m wide. It’s essentially a large park but it has more than that: a sports centre, public baths, hotel, restaurants and other eating places, churches, roman ruins, a water tower (which I went up), fountains and an open air theatre. It’s a very pleasant place and I had lunch there – the Hungarian version of the schnitzel which involved pork topped with some sort of goulash on top. Very nice, and the service was good (if grudging) as was the price. 

There were a few incidents today. On my way there a van drove past me with a bunch of metal poles sticking out from the passenger’s window as well sticking out the rear door. I guess the poles were too long. While on the island I came across a traffic incident: a child was lying on the ground and another child was in his pedal car in front of him. Not sure whether the victim was hit or fell out. The only injuries seemed to be emotional. Also, I saw a bus which appeared to have taken a wrong turn (see photo). It was another hot day today, 32, but unsettled as it threatened with thunderstorms at the start and end of the day.