It has been more than a year since I made a trip through some of the Balkan region countries, Starting at my actual hometown Göteborg and with cheap connection to Budapest the route of the trip include 5 countries: Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro And Serbia.
The trip started with a wizzair flight from Göteborg to Budapest, the original idea was to go straight ahead to Ljubljana by train, However the timing was tight and i missed the train, so the alternative was to take the night train, that was a lot more expensive, or stay a day in Budapest, I decided to stay, I had my backpack with 10Kg and a small traditional Colombian cross shoulder bag, I got into an Internet cafe at the railway station to search for a last minute host in couchsurfing, and to inform my host in Ljubljana that i will be 1 day late. So, with the hope of getting a host i decided to go and know the city center, walk around and meet the Danube river. In the evening I checked again but unfortunately there wasnt any reply to my post, It was starting to get dark so i started to check youth hostel and everything was full, at the end I found a small home hostel and i stayed that night in a dormitory. It was just a matter of time, after few paying for it i receive some sms´s of people willing to host me for that night, but it was too late. However, we manage to hang out together and I tried the traditional goulash soup and met many locals, in the night coming back to the hostel a heavy rain made me take off my shoes, they were the only ones I had for the whole trip and I didn’t want them to get wet, bad or smelly.
Next morning I didn’t wat to be in a hurry, specially after seeing the day before the crowd in the train station. so I just took a walk in the Citadella and then I went towards the rail station, it was a pretty long trip, but once in Slovenia the mountains, river and castles made the trip just a blink, and I was there in Ljubljana. An old known guy picked me up there in his car, we went to the center had a drink with his friend and a walk in the valley where the downtown is located, next to it as expected, a castle in the top of the mountain. I had my rest at the near Ljubljana town of Skofja Loka.
Next day we visited the Bled and Bohinj Lakes, beautiful landscapes, coloured water surrounded by high mountains, in the evening we had some drinks at the pub in the center of Ljubljana and then we went up to the castle, that was the last taste of Ljubljana. Next day we would start a journey towards the Adriatic cost. In the way there we made stops at a very cold waterfall, as cold that even the hot summer didn’t motivate me enough to go in. Later we stopped at the place where the ski jump competition is organized at winter. That afternoon we arrived to the Soča river, another turquoise color river in the mountains, really beautiful place. we camped there and next day we continue our journey to the Postojna Cave.
The Postojna Cave is a very large cave inside the mountains, the temperature inside was like 10 degrees versus the 35 that were outside, certainly the most interesting in the cave is that it is the home a very particular animal called proteus, an amphibious that can live up to 100 years and can survive 12 years without eating, very long times and slow life. Going out from the cave we did a high ropes circuit and then we drove to Piran were we stayed at the summer house of some friends of my friend.
Piran is small town in the Adriatic cost, there we had agood time playing and swimming, It completed the Slovenian part of the trip and I am very thankful with all the people I met there, they made my days wonderful, before taking the bus from Koper we had a last blast of speed with a go-kart race! Next stop would be Croatia.
Oliver's Mind 