The Grand Adventure, days 1-3

Days 1-2 (ITALY and SLOVENIA)

So from March 19 to March 28 I was over on the Continent travelling around laying the groundwork for one of those times you look back on 50 years later and think of as a highlight of your life.

My Easter holiday was spent travelling from Trieste, Italy through good portions of Slovenia and Croatia and concluded in Vienna on the Tridium weekend. Preceding the trip, I had one of the toughest weeks of my life and more or less broke down, with some rudeness and a loss of self-control in a group context that I'm certainly not proud of. Work, class, and personal issues folded together into a giant stressful mess that had me at the office until almost midnight for at least two weeks straight surviving on a sandwich and yoghurt for dinner. I seem to be either passive or angry, with no real assertiveness in between. Hopefully we won't be seeing any more of that. But yes, something to work on--we're all imperfect and spend our lives chipping away at our image and person, seeking fitter bodies, more knowledgeable minds, and more concerned and devoted souls, among other (lesser) goals on the asymptotic road to perfection we all (hopefully) try to follow. Perfectionism? I don't know, I think I'm past that stage in my life. Betterment? Let's hope so. I could use a little less black and white, rigidity, and risk aversion in my life. Well that's probably about as personal as this blog has ever been--but onwards!

We arrived at Trieste via an airport with about 4 gates and a 40-minute bus ride into town. Trieste airport serves just about every city in Italy east of Venice, since they're all small former Austro Hungarian areas, they've gone rather sleepy in their twilit days, Trieste not excluded. But my travelling buddy, Mike (from the flat/program) and I spent the day wandering around Trieste, sort following in James Joyce's footsteps (he spent a decade or more there), although not obsessively by any means. Stuffed ourselves with gelato, pizza, wine, and gnocchi (a pasta I can tolerate and even enjoy--kinda the same ingredients as pieroghis!), wandered the docks, had some coffee (excellent Italian stuff), and called it a night. A bit of a side comment before I proceed--I've often given Italy (and France) a mocking bad rep, but for the record, this little corner of Italy was quite too my liking and we had a splendid time and wow--when it's done right, even pasta can taste quite nice.
The weather was wonderful, the people fairly friendly, the attitude a bit more relaxed, nice dress, and scooters everywhere.

A rail in the morning put us on our way to Ljubljana and a lazy day picking up the car and checking in. Made up for the lazy day after dark wandering the city and having a fabulous dinner that's now only a glimmering memory. The city is like a miny Prague, still undiscovered and unspoilt. Prague these days is a never-ending stream of stag parties (from what I hear in the media, although friends in the city don't seem to mind/notice too much), Ljubljana had 1 of these European bachelor parties the entire time we were there. But the city is quaint and beautiful, centred on a lazy river, beautiful bridges, and gently weeping willows dipping into the water. For the capital city of an entire NATION of only TWO MILLION (Vienna has as many just on its own, and let's not even mention New York, London, or Sao Paolo), Ljubljana is quite vibrant and lively. The nightlife seemed quite trendy, not too much of the techno clubby big city European thing, but more the relaxed lounge to settle back and talk. Much more to my liking, although we never really joined in and sampled. Had a bit of a night adventure hiking up to the castle overlooking the city on a eerie, empty trail, saw some beautiful nightime views, then back down and off to Hostel Celica. The hostel was quite unique--a museum, art gallery, bar, and lodging, all in one--and a former prison to boot. We had a cozy room and spent a few hours using the free internet and talking to two girls from Lithuania and Germany about the EU and a young federalists program they were on. I love how open and aware Europeans in general are about politics and the like, and it was fantastic to be able to sit down and talk about all this (even economics, job market, foreign languages...solid conversation) in a very casual, social fashion. It just doesn’t happen in the States, particularly at my school (a friend once commented that my school was “full of self-centred fascists”—with no offence to my WU readers, I tend to agree). The place is basically full of wilful ignorance and apathy to an amazing extent, whether we’re talking politics or the environment—unless it ties back to a professional career (with a big salary), alcohol, or the home sports teams, by and large people don’t seem to care. Ok done my rant—that’s the collective US university experience these days, it seems. There are definitely pockets of hope, just not quite enough. Anyway, the Europeans were off to dinner with some friends from their convention, and we were off to bed, with Zagreb on the horizon for the morning.

Days 3-4 (Zagreb, Karlovac, and Pribic, CROATIA)

We set out in the morning in our trusty steed, "Destina", a 1.2 Litre automatic Opel Corsa (think small Ford Focus). Reliant, sturdy, speedy (after a fashion), and responsive, she's quite dear to us. Afterall, this was the beginning of a 1900 kilometre (about 1200 miles) journey over only 6 days. Drive like that every week of the year and the car would be dead in no time. Every type of road condition except for a California 12 lane highway lay in the future--from brand new highways and tunnels to 2 lane road switchbacks up the snow covered mountainside to cobblestone stretches by the sea with palm trees lining the road and even roads that amounted to little more than dirt cattle paths winding through the hills between highways. O and a pedestrian area, but that's a later story.

Anyway, it was up out and on the road. With a stop off the beaten path at an abandoned Cistercian monastery, wandered around, shot some pics, and moved on to two roadside castles (now hotel resorts), more pictures, then across the (very open) border. Barely a glance at our passports and off to Zagreb to drive around lost for several hours. While in Slovenia I received word that my distant relatives had been able to get in touch and wanted to meet up with me--so we had an appointment at our original hotel in Zagreb.

At first sight, Zagreb was not much to look at—rather bleak, with many a 60s era high-rise apartment building, and seemingly little else—a grey place. Later, we saw the true heart of the city, a much more beautiful place that paid homage to Viennese grandeur. After covering half the city trying to find the hotel, we finally stumbled upon it and my very patient relatives. With our late arrival affecting the ambitious plans for the day, we set off immediately for Jastrebarsko, Krasic, and Pribic, the “ancestral village.” After gelling over coffee, we drove up to the village. First stop was a run down, once-spectacular Greek Orthodox church. Then on to the village proper, the cemetery (eerie but amazing), and the original home of my great great grandfather Mijo and his family, where my great grandfather was born (later to immigrate to the States). There’s a picture up at the photo site, but basically, I felt like I was looking at something out of the Beverly Hillbillies. The house was quite wide, with a long porch spanning the front, but narrow on the other dimension. Also, since it was about 200 years old (or more), it had clearly seen better days—it looked cartoonish, the way some of the lines fell—pieces were out of place and angled incorrectly. In the yard, chickens were running around and some turkeys got loose into the street. With another house behind it and a house across the yard, people do still live there, including—in my understanding—one of the last people in Croatia to bear the name of Neral. I might be wrong on that one though. There was a barn attached at a perpendicular angle housing chickens and, behind a door guarded by a vicious dog, some pigs. The surrounding countryside, near the Slovenian border, was quite gorgeous—rolling, verdant, and quite fertile. All in all, quite an amazing opportunity. Additionally, along with everything else they did for Mike and I, I have to say that without the Karan’s help, we never would have found Pribic—saying it was off the beaten path is probably an understatement—it’s quite an isolated area.

Continuing this amazing day, we enjoyed a splendid traditional home cooked meal (sausage, cheese, and a type of cheese bread that reminded me of Slovakian pugatch—yes I can’t spell) in Karlovac after a bit of city touring and drove back to Zagreb to crash in Iva’s apartment. Went to bed early (for us), but spent quite a while talking about Croatian marketing, living under communism, EU/periphery politics, and so many other fascinating subjects…even to my delight the merits of Mac computers in brief. Again, amazing hospitality for which we are ever thankful.

Woke up in the morning and tried my hand at making Turkish coffee (not too much of a success, also, after having it at a Turkish restaurant yesterday, I’ve realised it’s the one type of coffee I don’t care for). Then it was off on a personalised tour of Zagreb and its hidden beauty, whiled away in the middle of the city. Zagreb is like a miniature Vienna or Budapest, grand yellow buildings and trams everywhere. Then there’s the ultra-lux hotel left over and restored from the Orient Express days…more coffee, another amazing traditional meal in a restaurant, and on our way to the coast we went, parting ways with the amazing relatives.

Apologies for length and to be continued, in small doses for your ease and reading pleasure.