Fabian's Blog

See my post below (of 17.09.2011) , but now I have a new panorama picture from almost the same spot, but then in the early morning (07h02!). I took this picture on the third of September 2011 near Vodnikov Dom on an altitude of 1817 meters above sea level.  You an click on the picture to enlarge!

During my last trip I travelled along the Croatian coast and it was really beautiful. I entered Croatia via the border crossing Rupa on the Slovenian/Croatian border the 5th September and I left Croatia via the border Croatia/Montenegro on the most southern part of Croatia the 9th September .

I just put my pictures online on my website, you can click here to watch them. I liked the “Jadransko More” (=the Adriatic Sea) and the 23 1/2 hour boat trip from Rijeka to Dubrovnik was great!

Dubrovnik is a story on it ‘s own: it is a place with a long history and a lot of tourists. I made great pictures in Dubrovnik and enjoyed it, thanks to my friends, for which I am grateful to them!

Below a panorama picture of Dubrovnik, click to enlarge and enjoy!

On friday 9th September I went from Dubrovnik (Croatia) to Budva which is in Montenegro (Crna Gora). The bus ride was not that long, so I could spent the afternoon and evening in Budva which was really nice.

We took the ferry to cross the bay of Kotor, the only fjord in Southern-Europe and (wikipedia article) it is very beautiful as you can see below on the panorama picture I made.

Budva seemed to me like “Lloret de Mar” in Spain (altough I have never been there), but then for the Balkans and Russia. I spent a nice time in Budva, but the Vardar was waiting for me so after a nice afternoon and evening the next morning I had to be ready for a 9 hours bus ride to my next stop Kraljevo in Serbia

My aim was to reach the highest mountain of Slovenia and all ex-Yugoslavia, but fear prevented me to climb the 2864 meters high Triglav. I was stuck at “Mali Triglav”, altitude 2751 meters above sea level. I am proud of my decision to stop at “Mali Triglav”, because I thought ‘safety first’. My Slovenian friends told me, you can only make one mistake in the mountains….and I do agree. I did not want to make any mistake so Mali Triglav was enough for me.

The first day of climbing was quite tough as we ended up in rain and fog, the temperature dropped to 6C. The second day we made it to the top and the last day we descended back to Stara Fuzina. Three days of walking in total, without the comforts we know in daily life and I have to admit I enjoyed it.

Anyway I reached Mali Triglav and from there I continued my trip through ex-Yugoslavia. Slovenia is a beautiful country, I have no words for it. I am happy I visited it and I will return to Slovenia for sure.

 A big thanks to my Slovenian friends, John and all others who supported me.

Gorizia / Nova Gorica will nothing mean to you, but for me it are places which has a meaning in history. Gorizia is in Italy and Nova Gorica is in Slovenia. Once Winston Churchill sad on the 5th March 1946:  “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an “iron curtain” has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow”  (source Wikipedia) .

That ” iron curtain”  I crossed today and it is strange: the border at the station of Nova Gorica is in Slovenia , but the square in front is in Italy: this was until 2007 a Schengen border and untill Slovenia’s independence part of the Iron curtain. Actually it was not really a really ” iron curtain” , because Yugoslavs were free to travel, much more free then the rest of ” the communist block”, but here you could not cross the border as I did today.  I tried to find more about this border section, but there are not a lot sources on the internet about it, they only thing I found is this on Wikipedia,  (click here) .

People can say everything about Europe, but this is a very positive point, thanks to the European Union: open borders….  Maybe we in the West do not realize the meaning of open orders, we even disagree with it, but from here on people realize much more and more the value of open borders, as I do.

So now I am in Slovenia and tomorrow I will start to climb Triglav, with 2864 meter above sea level the highest mountain of Slovenia, but also from all ex-Yugoslavia. Let my ” od Triglava do Vardara ” trip start

So here piazza del Transalpine (Italian name) / Trg Evropa (Slovenia name) as it is today: