Approaching the passport control booth at the
Slovenia/Croatia border, a sense of nervousness came upon me. Were my passport and CT drivers license going
to be enough, or would I be asked to provide my international drivers permit,
which expired 1 year ago. If my documentation
fails, would I no longer be able to drive in the country? Even though the permit is required in some
countries, it is really just a small book written in multiple languages which
says the license I have is valid. I do
not see much value you in it but I guess you never know. Success!...they did not even ask for anything
more than a passport which they scanned and stamped. Proceeding through the checkpoint, the nerves
re-emerge as another checkpoint is upon us, this time the Croatian. Even though Croatia joined the European Union
as their 28th member state on 1 July 2013, border controls still exist because
they are part of the Schengen Agreement.
Good for me, because that means an additional passport stamps.
Driving through the northwest part of former Yugoslavia, you
are surrounded by history and beautiful landscape. Formed in 1918 after World War I as the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes, it was commonly referred as "Versailles
state" but later renamed in 1929 to Yugoslavia. At the conclusion of World War II, Yugoslavia
modeled itself after the Soviet Union, establishing six republics, with the federal
capital as Belgrade. Following the fall
of communism in the rest of Eastern Europe, Slovenia and Croatia voiced their
demands to ties within the Federation in 1990.
The Yugoslav Wars between the different republics soon followed. On June, 25 1991, Slovenia
and Croatia became the first
republics to declare independence from Yugoslavia. During the next three
months, the Yugoslav Army completed its pull-out from Slovenia, however, in Croatia, a bloody war broke out in
the autumn of 1991 due to pro-Serbia resistance. Soon after, the Republic of Macedonia
declared independence, and the war in Bosnia followed shortly thereafter. As the Yugoslav Wars raged through Croatia and Bosnia,
the republics of Serbia and Montenegro, which remained relatively untouched
by the war, formed a state known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in
1992. As a result of the conflict, the
United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution in November
1991, which paved the way to the establishment of peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia. Today, the former Yugoslavia
has been split into 7 different countries: Slovenia,
Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia
& Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Kosovo. While numerous countries have recognized it,
Kosovo has no official recognition due to ongoing sovereignty dispute.
While the trip would not take me through all 7 places, I was
looking forward to exploring the natural beauty of Slovenia
and Croatia. Located about 2 hours south of the Croatian
capital of Zagreb near the Bosnian border, Plitvice Lakes is the oldest
national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. Formed by runoff from the Mala Kapela and the
Plješevica mountains, Plitvice is comprised of sixteen interconnected lakes at
different levels from one another, with limestone and trees creating natural
dams and forming incredible waterfalls. The
altitude drop from the first lake to the last is 133 meters or 436 feet. Although the trip was in late October, the
weather was absolutely perfect, and the park was not as crowded as the summer
months.
In route back to Slovenia, the combination of the
sea and mountains brought in fog, which made the driving conditions tough, but
probably better for me, as I would not be distracted by the scenery. Crossing the border again was uneventful, and
I was on my way to Bled, a small town smashed between the Alps
Mountains, which runs across 8
countries in Europe (France,
Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany,
Austria, Italy, Monaco,
and Slovenia). Bled is a hot spot for hiking, where you can lose
yourself in the picturesque setting of lakes, trees, and rolling
mountains. The lake surrounds Bled
Island, the only natural island in Slovenia. The island has several buildings, with
the main one being the pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of
Mary. Walking around the lake takes about
2 hours, and perched high above on a rock overlooking the lake, with the
mountains providing a beautiful natural background, is the iconic Bled Castle. Located a short distance from the lake is Vintgar
Gorge, a 1 mile path carved by the Radovna River, with the canyon walls measuring
160 to 330 feet high.
The final stop on the trip was an afternoon in Ljubljana, the capital and the large city in Slovenia, with
just under 300,000 people (which is basically classified as a town). The symbol of the city is the Ljubljana
Dragon. It is depicted on the top of the tower of the Ljubljana
Castle in the Ljubljana
coat-of-arms and on the Ljubljanica-crossing
Dragon Bridge
to symbolize power, courage, and greatness.
The city has numerous small bridges which span across the Ljubljanica River.
The Triple Bridge is a group of three bridges, connecting two
parts of Ljubljana's
downtown. Originally one bridge that linked
Central Europe and the Balkans, two additional
pedestrian bridges on both sides of the central one were added avoid a
bottleneck.
One place which I did not visit on this trip, but have in
the past and would definitely recommend is Dubrovnik, Croatia, a UNESCO site
and one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean and also
plays King’s Landing in the HBO series Game of Thrones. The city suffered a lot of destruction during
the wars, but following the end of the war, damage caused by the shelling of
the Old Town was repaired. One important feature of Dubrovnik is its six meter thick walls that
run almost 2 km (1.24 mi) around the city.
The system of turrets and towers were intended to protect the vulnerable
city.
No comments:
Post a Comment