Wednesday, September 23, 2015
It was another short night last night. We have had some
really busy and long days and been up late and going early. I have to say that
today we signed up for 2 optional excursions tomorrow so while Thursday could
have been a restful day, it won’t be for us. We’re keeping our fingers crossed
that the river cruising portion will be easier and more restful.
Anyway, back to today. It started out much cooler this
morning. So far, everywhere we have been it has been surprisingly warm. The
local guides have all commented on the high temperatures and cloudless skies
and how summer is lasting so long this year. (Except for the day it poured in the
morning in Dubrovnik and was windy the next morning when we departed.) Anyway,
today the pattern broke. It was cooler and cloudier. Late this afternoon it
started raining and it poured all early evening. The temperature dropped from
21C to 9C over the course of the afternoon and evening. The high tomorrow is
not expected to exceed 17C. That will be in the upper 60sF. It is supposed to
keep raining until about 9am. We hope so we booked the full day tomorrow. So, I
guess fall has arrived with a vengeance at long last. I am hoping that part of the
temperature drop is that we are in the mountains again. We are also hoping that
this rain we’re getting is somehow making its way to the Danube so we can sail
when we get there in October! Assuming we can find a way to get between Zagreb,
Croatia and Budapest, Hungary which we did not foresee being a problem months
ago when we booked all this!
Today we had another early start. We had breakfast and got
bags out and checked out and on the bus for 8am departure. We have a full day
ahead on our way to 2 nights in Slovenia, the last country on our tour of
ex-Yugoslav republics. We drove for about 2 hours to get to our morning stop on
the coast in Senj. We had one quick photo stop from the mountain top
overlooking the Adriatic Sea before driving down there. We had about a half
hour stop in a scenic little seaside town with an old stone fort standing over
it. We went into a café and ordered drinks and used the restrooms before
wandering and getting some more photos. We drove about another 2 hours to
Opatija for lunch. It was raining by then. Opatija is a much larger seaside
town still in Croatia. We were on our own for lunch. Since it was raining hard,
we walked to the first place with available covered open-air seating that we
found. They served pizza so we sat. It was the quickest service we’ve had in a
restaurant here. We shared another good pizza and then we shared Nutella
crepes. It was 96 kuna for the meal with drinks. It was perfect. We walked back
to the bus through a park along the seashore since it had stopped raining for a
while. It was a pretty town. Next stop, not long after we set off again was the
border between Croatia and Slovenia. According to Gabriella, the border
crossings are becoming unpredictable in the face of the immigration crisis in
Europe right now. We did not take long
to get out of Croatia or into Slovenia, but according to Gabriella they were
being much more thorough than usual. An officer came onboard the bus in each
place and check each of us and stamped our documents with us in our seats. The
Slovenian guard was armed and that is the first time we’ve seen that since we
got here. But, there were no lines this time and it went pretty quickly all
things considered. Of course, we still have to get back into Croatia to finish
this trip on schedule. So, now we are in a new country, Slovenia. We had to
drive about an hour I think to get to our first destination, the Postojna
caves. It was really crowded just like the lakes yesterday. You’d hate to be
here in August! There were probably dozens of tours buses. But, they were set
up to move large numbers of visitors. You get a timed ticket and then you join
the line for your language. Gabriella had told us to expect 70 people in our
group but I suspect it was closer to 100. They take you through only a fraction
of this giant cave system. You travel over 5 km of caverns. There are a series
of small electric trains on tracks for the first 2 km in and back out, the rest
is a paved and sloping and curving and crossing pathway. The lights all went
out as we reached the furthest and deepest point! It is supposed to be a fun
surprise. Geez! We both nearly panicked until the lights came back on. I turned
on the flashlight I have on my purse immediately but still without that train
running, I figured it would take us overnight and into the next day to all walk
out of there! Good news, it was just a little joke so we could see how totally
dark it is underground. I think we already got that memo. It was really
incredible and we were both thinking, Poor Carlsbad Caverns, as we walked
through. I don’t know how the 2 actually compare, but even though Carlsbad has
a cafeteria at the bottom they don’t have a train and this one seemed larger.
It was spectacular. We were in there for about an hour of walking and however
long the quite exciting train rides were. The trains went faster than we had
expected and at a constant underground temperature of 9C, it was a chilly ride.
Since it had been raining heavily all day, it was also raining inside the cave!
It was at least another hour drive in heavy traffic and
heavy rain (on the freeway this time!) to get to the Park Hotel in Bled. Our
home for the next 2 nights is on Lake Bled. We finally scored view rooms! We
are on the 2nd floor in 221 overlooking Lake Bled and Bled Castle
above it. We have a balcony! The hotel must be huge though since we arrived in
the dark and in pouring rain, we haven’t seen it outside. Gabriella advised
that the rooms were again in need of refurbishment but it looks good to us. It
is a good sized room and clean. Dinner tonight was included and since the same
dozens of tour buses that we at the caves seem to have all arrived here at the same
time, the Park Hotel is doing a great job. For sure the same Gate One group
that we have seen everywhere every day since Tirana is still with us here. They
still seem as unhappy with their group! We got lucky. Our group is not so bad!
Dinner was crowded and frenetic and a little poorly organized but we all got
fed and the food was varied and tasty. Gabriella had advised us to make sure to
have the barley soup tonight and the barley coffee in the morning and to cross the
way to the hotel’s terrace café overlooking the lake for their signature Bled
Cream Cake. But, there was no barley soup tonight! We see about the other
recommendations later I guess. I had hoped it might be on our buffet dinner
dessert display tonight and it might have been but there were no labels and too
many things on it to try our way through hoping one was it. Clay feels certain
since they sell it especially that they wouldn’t offer it on the buffet. We
just don’t know. Well, once again I am up past my bedtime with this. At least I
can sleep in until 7am tomorrow. The bus doesn’t leave until 9:30am for our
included tour of Bled Castle. Hopefully the rain will have stopped for the day
by then. I plan to wear socks tomorrow for the first time since we got here!
