Slovenia - 6th June 2005

[squirmelia]

The valleys were always draped with thick layers of forests and were so deep it was sometimes hard to tell where they ended. Rows of houses clung to the slanted clearings and when up close, around them you could watch the alpine meadows strewn with long wavy grass and blue, pink, purple and yellow flowers vigorously swaying, drooping, in the wind. The mountains meandered dreamily amongst the clouds, peak after peak, watching over the villages, part of the background.

"Fairytale land", the tour guide said, "fairytale land".



The first place I visited was Jezero Jasna near to Kranjska Gora. A statue of Zlatorog stood above the tadpoles swimming in the green lake, surrounded by dark forests and mountains spread with wisps of cloud.

From the window of the bus, I saw a red brick house with "fossil" written on the roof. Every roof should be adorned with such a word.

Near to the Russian Chapel, I wandered into some of the Alpine meadows and found trees hiding amongst clouds and sipped water from the streams.

Ascending into the mountains, furthering the journey around the twisted steep bends, the face of the "Pagan girl" (ajdovska deklica) became apparent on a mountain, if you looked closely. Legend says that she was trapped there by her sisters as a punishment for predicting who would kill Zlatorog.

The mountains were what I adored most, standing at a high altitude, where the air actually felt fresh, repeating the word, "wow". The Vršič pass is the highest mountain road pass in Slovenia at 1611m (rather high when you realize Beachy Head is only 162m above sea level).

Returning to lower heights, a beautiful river near to Bovec could be seen. The Soča river has apparently had a lot of poems written about it and it being a stunning pale blue, contorting around the misshapen rocks it had churned up, I could see why.

After tearing myself away from the river, the Kluže fortress was my next destination, but it looked rather gloomy, so instead it was a dark cave that took my interest. The tourists peered curiously into the cave and after taking a quick photo with the flash on to aid navigation, I stepped into the darkness and soon touched the opposite wall. The thing I found most fascinating about the photo was the crisp packets on the floor, which I did not see when actually inside the cave.

A nearby deep gorge had stones thrown into it by people waiting to hear them reach the bottom. I refrained from stone throwing, but a receipt flew out of my pocket and a few minutes later, it was still floating down towards the river at the bottom.

Comments

[djmindwarp.livejournal.com]

sounds cool.

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