Scenic Drive - Slovenia

Despite sitting outside Cinque Terre (in the lovely town of Levanto), thought I'd throw-back to August and post a short scenic drive video filmed as we entered Slovenia.  

-K

Bled, Slovenia – Sept. 12-17, 2012

More pictures here!

With so much to love about this area of Slovenia, it seems odd to rank our pitch at the top of the list; such is the life in a 19’ Airstream.  

As I alluded to in my prior post, we were in heaven the minute we drove into Camping Sobec:  Gentle paved roads through the half empty, pine-forest campground led us to our pitch, #123.  We happily set up camp at the end of a road while gazing at the open fields around us.  This spot did not have the elements of a comfort pitch (specifically water and drainage) but it had its own luxury item:  Privacy; couple that with the ability to just open the door in the morning and let The Noses run, it was perfection.

Then we drove into Bled.

Wow.  We have seen some picturesque sites on our journey but Bled easily tops the list of picturesque towns.  To think that prior to talking to a Europcar rental agent in England, we had never even thought of visiting Slovenia just makes me realize how large and varied the earth is and how limited our ability to appreciate it.  

Due to the rainy weather, the tourist office recommended a hike into Vintgar Gorge for our first full day in the area.  It was as gorgeous as promised but I imagine it would be breathtaking with some direct sun to light up the aqua river.  We continued up to the Plateau area hoping it would contain wide open vistas over to the Alps but the area was also tree-filled (and, having gained in elevation, very cold – 6/42!)  We dropped down the other side of the plateau to Lake Bohinj which is more rustic and natural than Bled but not nearly as picturesque. 

Our most memorable day was when SP rented a bike and I walked The Noses from the campground, meeting up in Bled for lunch.  A delightful day!  Sadly followed by a night in which SP became violently ill (we think from some bad water) and all of a sudden we were back to wishing for the luxuries of water and drainage over privacy.

Actually, we were wishing for all three.

-K

Bovec, Slovenia – Aug. 14-20, 2012

More pictures here!

It was simply too hot to enjoy, but we will be back.  Slovenia, as I tweeted before, is the Colorado of Europe:  A rugged and mountainous space with happy, healthy people outside all the time.  Prior to our arrival in England, we had never heard of the country but on three separate occasions, when we asked a European where their favorite place was, they mentioned Slovenia and thus the tiny country made it to our list.  (The Aventura, if I haven’t mentioned it before, is all about visiting towns [and now countries] that we ordinarily wouldn’t have picked out as vacation spots from the comfort of a non-rolling home.)

Fortunately the snow was off the peaks as we drove through the valleys leading from Udine, Italy  through Kobarid and up to Bovec, otherwise we may have driven off the road the beauty was so intense.  If you can peel your eyes from the road, you will glimpse the aqua waters of the Soca River far below, the color of which cannot be believed; even my pictures look unreal to me now. 

However, we quickly learned that it is not a country built for caravanning:  Small, windy roads whose unprotected edges drop precipitously down the mountainside and ne’er a full-service (comfort) pitch to be found.  Indeed, most campgrounds we checked out, including the one that found room for us, Kamping Polovnek, had the smallest pitches imaginable (or, worse, no defined pitches at all) with matching small roads leading into them.  Salt and Pepper could barely fit down the access paths let alone park in most of the spaces. 

The campgrounds are filled with small RV’s (motorhomes) and tent-campers.  Multi-colored tents popped up side by side across the fields in Kamping Polovnek transforming the fields into psychedelic mushroom farms, no pun intended.  Being one of the largest outfits around, we crammed Salt between two trees and tried our best to enjoy the four feet directly in front of our door; the only “private” space we could garner.

In an effort to escape the stifling heat at camp we sought out higher elevation (yet another gondola ride although at half the price of Switzerland) and hiked to a point where, clinging to the sides of rock, you area able to gaze through a giant hole into Italy.  It was definitely cooler up there but still hot and the gondola ride back down was almost more than we could bear; with the sunshine streaming into the glass-enclosed bucket and only a small window to be opened it quickly became an oven. 

Despite three competitive tennis matches (SP is consistently winning now, but not without a fight) by far our best experience was the day we did the Bryant Soca River Tour and stopped at two of the pull-out spots on the (ahem) highway, walking down to the river.  It was deathly cold in the water, but it felt so good we all jumped in multiple times.

Between the heat and the lack of an in-pitch dumping site, we simply had to leave.  We couldn’t leave our tanks with anything in them for more than three days without Salt starting to smell (it was over 90 every day) and pulling in and out of the pitch to access the dump area was a nightmare.  As a friend of ours wrote we “need[ed] a vacation from our vacation.”  (Incidentally, we could have used the clean and functional facilities at the campground—and I did most of the time—but with the campground full to over-loading, that was not a pleasant experience either.)

SP had the great idea to go directly to the closest full-service pitch available but try as we might, we could not locate one in Slovenia.  The closest we found was in Austria, a short 100 KM drive, and thus Austria made it onto the Aventura list (although, unlike Slovenia, prior to this we may have been able to place Austria on a map.)  We landed at Camping Brunner in Dobriach, a small town on a gorgeous lake with temperatures in the low 80’s and a nice fresh breeze.  It was time to find some tonic, open the Mt. Gay Rum and start pouring those T&C’s! 

Nothing says vacation like a full-service pitch.

Cheers!

-K

Switzerland (Fiesch & Poschiavo) & into Slovenia – Aug. 13-16, 2012

More photos here!

We knew Europe would be crowded in August which is why we planned on being in the Alps, assuming most people would prefer the beaches of the Mediterranean for their vacation.  None the less, it started to get crowded at our lovely spot in Poschiavo (Camping Boomerang) to the point where I thought they were about to ask us to share our pitch (crowded has since taken on a new meaning.)   So we decided it was time to go even further afield and try out the Julian Alps in Slovenia via a quick drive through northern Italy. 

But first to describe our remaining time in Switzerland:  We accomplished two more hikes, a long one starting at the Alp Grum train station and winding through a valley to the base of a glacier and a much shorter one that started at the top of the Bernina Diavolo gondola, where after only a very short hike, we were above 10,000’ and doing our best to breath. 

If we needed any further impetus to leave Switzerland we received it with the cost of those two hikes:  Over $300 (eight round-trip train tickets and four gondola tickets) this, for something that we are used to enjoying for free. 

Eager to get to a less-expensive country, we drove out of Switzerland and into Italy where we almost fainted pulling Salt over Abrica Pass.  Every mountain road we have been on in Italy has been under construction and this was no different.  Add August traffic to the construction and you have quite a mess and definitely more than we would try to deal with again.  We vowed to stick to the multi-lane highways and save the mountain roads for Pepper alone.  Big words for two people who have no experience driving in most of these countries.

After the slow, harrowing drive through the pass, we knew we wouldn’t make it to Slovenia in one day so we opted to leave the highway and head to Caorole, a small town on the Adriatic sea, which had at least three tent signs on our map indicating camping.  Unfortunately, we did not notice the map also included an umbrella sign; the universal symbol for “beach”. 

The temperature had reached above 30/90 as we pulled into town and proceeded to get turned away from every campground.  They were full, and I mean full; even if they had found a spot for us, I wouldn’t have stayed.  You simply would not believe how crammed together everyone was (unless, of course, you have camped on the Italian coast during August).  You could barely walk between the rigs. 

So we had a quick dinner (pizza!) along the sea before hitting the road.  As it was late, we decided to forgo a campground and just stop at a motel off the highway.  Ha!  This is not the US, you don’t see many glowing Holiday Inn signs as you cruise down the road.  So Simon (GPS) directed us to a hotel outside of Udine where we grabbed a small room for €70 and slept like two logs (the separate beds helped!)

Still not having any reservations (do not attempt to camp in Europe in August without reservations!) we headed early to Slovenia, starting our pitch search in Kobarid and garnering our first rejection before noon.  Luckily, by that time, a campground further north had written that they had room for us so we headed to Bovic.

And just like that we were back on mountain roads.

Not having any options for a highway (or, worse, maybe Route 203 from Kobarid to Bovec is considered a highway in Slovenia) we had another white-knuckle and close to Salt-scraping experience getting to Kamp Polovnik.  However, true to their word, they did have a place for us. 

This is where you can find us now:  Crammed into a pitch (one of the few that are even slightly defined by trees—most of the camp is just open fields and therefore a free for all for space) and hoping for enough Aventura spirit to get through the heat and crowds of August. 

-K