A Tale of Dare-doing

Slovenia has the Romantic Period stamped all over it. The forests are of the deepest green... just right for knights to gallop their white steeds at breakneck speed along narrow tracks... passing cascading waterfalls... high on the mountain pass. Many castles were started in the C12th when defense was the prime concern... white castles now hang from the edge of cliffs... perfect for damsels to signal distress and seek rescue from the knight on his white steed. Slovenia gives a match between romance and the actual history of some of these castles.

This morning, we visited Predjama Castle outside of Postojnska (only 4 consonants in a row... not the elusive 5). The history/legend of this castle is set in the second half of the C15th... when a local rascal called Erazem was out of control. Because he is local, he is the hero. His argument was with the Austrian emperor Frederick III who was trying to short-change Erazem's mate, the Hungarian king, Mattias Corvinus. Erazem stepped onto the wrong side of the law when he had an argument with the Emperor's representative... that resulted in a death and Erazem being put on the lists for mercenary killers to execute. Erazem took to his country estate... from which he organised bandit raids on passing caravans belonging to the emperor. In response, the emperor sent the army to sort out young Erazem.

Here comes the interesting bit. Erazem had his country estate built so that it was based in a cave and a drawbridge could offer very good defense. The Austrian army tried in vain to attack the castle... and ended up deciding on a siege... trying to starve him out. What the Austrian army did not know was that the castle was joined to a 12 klm cave system that offered numerous exits to the region well away from castle. Hostilities continued over a long period... the Austrians catapulting rocks against the raised drawbridge... Erazem's troops pouring boiling pitch on Austrians if they came too close. However, in between attacks the Austrians were pleased that no food or water was entering the castle. Erazem, the inveterate show-off, would periodically lower from ropes casks of wine and hampers of cherry pie. This would upset the Austrians no end.

The siege did not end well for Erazem... the castle toilet was high on the wall facing the enemy. One night when Erazem needed some private time, a spy gave a prearranged signal and the Austrians bought up their new improved catapult... threw a mammoth sized rock at the toilet and scored a bullseye. Erazem died with his pants down... not the end he had planned.

The army went away... the maidens in the local village took his body and buried him outside the local church... and planted a tree over his grave as a symbol of growth and hope. The tree is still alive today... just!

What is the lesson from this story of courage and dare-doing??? hard to say... except that indoor flushing toilets have made fighting wars so much easier.

Torture for a Claustrophobic

Tonight, we are in Slovenia... exiting Croatia for a few days... to see one of Europe's prettiest countries... Slovenia. There are multiple reasons to visit this pretty country... but I asked Joye to include it in our itinerary for a very 'base' reason. My friend, Graeme, claims that Slovenian blonde girls show remarkable talent in the way they... wear blue jeans... walk down the street... and chew gum all at the same time... with a style unsurpassed by girls in any other nation. I know Graeme is a connoisseur in such matters... but I wanted to double check his assessment. This afternoon it was raining... further research is needed.

We arrived in time to visit one of Slovenia's leading tourist attractions... a giant cave... Postojna Cave. You think you know caves... how about one that is 22kms long... how about one that has a major river running through its lower level... no my friend, when it comes to Postojna Cave... you have to think caves again... from basic principles... with your imagination restrained.

Family members will be aware that Joye carries a touch of claustrophobia... manageable in most situations... but can bubble to the surface in extreme circumstances. Today, we had extreme circumstances. We had a crowd... we were put on a train and taken 2.5 klms underground. We were offloaded... we congregated into language groups... the English group had over 150 people... outnumbered by the Japanese... and the Germans also put up a good showing... for the 3 PM tour, there were probably 500 people in a congo line shuffling through the cave. We saw caves that were quite spectacular... stalactites and stalagmites aplenty... columns and veils and cathedrals... the works. Shuffling along in a queue was a little off putting... but otherwise, a great experience. Then blackness... utter blackness. All the lights went off.... and there we were 2.5 klms underground wondering what to do next. Joye knew what to do... she gripped my arm with vice strength and started to move forward. I suggested that 2.5 klms was too far to walk in utter blackness and that we should wait for an electrician to sort out the problem. No sooner than I offered such advice... the lights came on again. "Whose idea of a joke was that ", we asked. We trudged another 0.5 klms... starting to relax once more... and guess what??? the lights went off again... Joye seized my arm again... this time more gently... the tourniquet on the blood circulation was not complete this time. Again, after a couple of minutes, the lights came back on. We suspect the first blackout was a fuse failing on the prime system... causing the reserve system to kick in... followed by a replacement of the fuse... and a switch back to the main system. All in all, Joye was not amused.

Slovenia appears quite prosperous... roads are excellent... houses are bigger and better maintained... life looks more relaxed. We knew we had exited the Balkans when we saw our first Aldi store. We didn't need any provisions... but couldn't help ourselves.. .. we stopped for a short period of retail therapy.

Plitvice - Walking the Rapids

Not all waterfalls are the same. Today, we experienced spirituality in a waterfall... here in Plitvice... one of Croatia's top tourist destinations... and that is saying something, given the large number of top ranking sites. We felt the spirituality in spite of 1,000 tourists blocking the path... so the vibes must have been strong.

The start to the walk through the rapids could have been better. The path was narrow and steep. At one of the more precarious spots, I was tackled around the legs, in a style reminiscent of Steve Menzies defensive skills. A Japanese lady... mid-fourties... tripped in her high heeled boots. To save going straight over the edge, she choose to grab my legs... presumably with the thought that if she was going down, she was taking with her as many as possible. Fortunately, reflexes developed during years of training for school boy rugby league, clicked in. I was able to palm-off the tackle and execute a high speed side-step... those of you familiar with Kenny Irvine would have recognised the style. All ended well... the lady fell without going over the edge and didn't hurt herself... I stayed on my feet on the path.

The start had one more incident. We were behind another group of Japanese tourists... one was very keen to get an early shot of the waterfalls... he set his tripod in the middle of the path... went about the intricate business of focus, aperture, white light, etc. He seemed surprised when others waiting behind him tried to hurry him up. "Walk around" he seemed to be saying (in Japanese)... even though we would need to step into the water to do so. He received advice from others in his group that convinced him to move his tripod. Self awareness and tourist groups are mutually exclusive!

The congestion at the start of the trail soon sorted itself out and we were able to focus on the unique landscape of Plitvice... correction... it is not unique... it was very similar to that at Krka. The lakes are built through action from algae and moss. The process is something like this... water seeps through limestone and becomes saturated with calcium or is it calcium carbonate (I'm not sure)... carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere to form a dissolved calcium carbonate... one type of algae loves this dissolved calcium carbonate... it has some symbiotic relationship with the moss that grows at the water's edge. Together, they convert the liquid calcium carbonate into a deposit secreted at the feet of the moss. Over time, this deposited calcium carbonate builds one meter after another... reaching heights of 15 metres... to such an extent that lakes are formed. The water tumbling over the edge of the lake makes waterfalls that have a very manicured appearance.

The tourist authorities have done a great job in building the pathways in the park. For 7 klms of pathways, you wander amongst the rapids and waterfalls... getting very close to nature. The walls of the valley are steep and high... covered with beech trees. The overall effect is magic... yes, a spiritual experience.

The Wetlands of Croatia

Today, we drove through drizzling rain to the wetlands that lie along the rivers Sava and Una. The health of the ecosystems looks to be A1... birds... insects... frogs... all in abundance. There were two surprises for us in the area.

First, we stumbled upon the Jasenovac concentration camp from WWII. Again, displaying our ignorance, we didn't know Croatia had a concentration camp. This evening, we looked up Wikipedia, and its recount of history is set out below.

"Jasenovac concentration camp was an extermination camp established in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. It was the only extermination camp that was not operated by the Germans, and was among the largest camps in Europe. The camp was established by the governing Ustaše regime in August 1941 in marshland at the confluence of the Sava and Una rivers near the village of Jasenovac, and was dismantled in April 1945. It was "notorious for its barbaric practices and the large number of victims". In Jasenovac, the majority of victims were ethnic Serbs, whom the Ustaše wanted to remove from the NDH, along with the Jews and Roma peoples.

Jasenovac was a complex of five subcamps spread over 210 km2 (81 sq mi) on both banks of the Sava and Una rivers. The largest camp was the "Brickworks" camp at Jasenovac, about 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Zagreb. The overall complex included the Stara Gradiška sub-camp, the killing grounds across the Sava river at Donja Gradina, five work farms, and the Uštica Roma camp.

During and since World War II, there has been much debate and controversy regarding the number of victims killed at the Jasenovac concentration camp complex in its more than 3½ years of operation. Gradually, in the 15 years after the war ended, a figure of 700,000 began to reflect conventional wisdom, although estimates ranged between 350,000 and 800,000.[7] The authorities of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia conducted a population survey in 1964 that showed a far lower figure, but kept it a secret; when Vladimir Žerjavić published such lower figures in the 1980s, he was criticized by Antun Miletić among others, but his research has since been considered trustworthy by authorities on World War II. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C. presently estimates that the Ustaša regime murdered between 77,000 and 99,000 people in Jasenovac between 1941 and 1945. The Jasenovac Memorial Site quotes a similar figure of between 80,000 and 100,000 victims."

We visited the Jasenovac Memorial Site and read some of the moving stories from survivors... stories of acts of courage and perseverance. The Croatian government is funding improvements to the memorial and a large area has been set aside for the monument.

The second surprise was the Storks. They migrate up from East Africa for their summer breeding. In Croatia, they favour nests built in the wetlands, and search out electric light poles... chimneys in houses... never anything as simple as a tree! The ones we saw were building nests or sitting on eggs. They were right into turning their heads to the sky and making a 'clacking' in noise with their beaks. The houses in this area are special as well. There are lots of 'Renovaters' delights'... 100 year old dwellings that have never seen a scrap of paint... with a giant stork's nest sitting on the roof... the home is certainly not short of atmospherics.

Putting aside the grim history of Jasenovac, this part of the world offers an ecology that is in excellent shape... and has communities that reflect the old way of living.

Did I just slaughter the last of a Species

We, as kiddies, were all raised to admire the courage of St. George and despise the creepy old dragon. We made George a saint... put him on a couple of national flags... he got the royal treatment. Now in the mature years of your life cycle, you may wish to revise the emotional commitment you have made to George. Today, this important issue became front of mind when looking at a couple of statues the good citizens of Zagreb have raised in memory of St. George.

The first statue creates the child image (see photo below). There is George sitting high in the saddle... well out of harm's way... wielding his giant sword... cool as a cucumber... not getting his hands dirty. The horse is putting in the hard yards... straining every muscle in its body... terrified of those giant claws and gnashing teeth. The dear old dragon has defeated eyes... it already knows its fate... poor thing. You can almost hear it saying, "I knew I should have practiced the fire breathing yesterday. Oh well, too late now". Who is the hero in this scene. Perhaps if George had not stacked the odds against the dragon, he may have been in the running. If he got off his horse... threw away his sword... and attacked the dragon from there... perhaps, then he could claim hero status.

In Zagreb there is a second statue to St. George... one I like better. (A photo of it is also shown below.) It shows George sitting on his horse after the battle with a rather regretful look on his face. He has taken his helmet off... not a hair out of place... no sweat or other signs of exhaustion. The horse looks done in... ready to collapse. The poor old dragon is bad news... just a blog of melting matter oozing into the rocks. The expression on the face of George seems to be saying, "Did I just kill the last dragon left on earth? Am I personally responsible for the extinction of an animal species?" With the benefit of hindsight, we could have said, "George, you cretin... you have just wiped out one of the world's most exciting animals... a lizard that could fly... a lizard that could breath fire... a lizard that was smart enough to put up a good fight with a knight, in a suit of armour, mounted on a horse and armed with a very long sword." We could say to him, "George, you cretin, you had better scoop up some DNA material... keep it on ice until stem cell science becomes sufficiently developed, so that others can reverse your stupid mistake."

Just as well it is only a fairytale... otherwise you could get worked up over such stupidity. However, to be on the safe side, you are encouraged to express your outrage to those nations (regions) of the world who glorify St George in their flags, including : England, Italy (Bologna, Padua, Genoa, and most notably Milan), Canada (Montreal), Georgia, Sardinia, as well as states within the Nordic countries. But, dear reader, do not become too complacent... our first task is to remove George from the flag of New South Wales! For the sake of the kiddies, we can't salute flags that honour a cad!

Zagreb - Vitality and Style

We spent most of today covering 375 klms to get us from Krka to Zagreb. It was a pretty journey... alpine scenery at its best... there were remnants of snow on the mountain peaks... the leaves on the beech trees were fresh and shining... the sun was shining at the right angle... the air was reasonably clean. More on our trip later.

Let's get to the highlight of the day. We were in Zagreb Square just on sunset... there was lots of hustle and bustle as the citizens of Zagreb hurried to make their way home. The street workers were in full force... selling their trinkets... their tours and their entertainment. One ballad singer was in full flight... not attracting a large number of tips. Weaving his way through the crowd came one individual who was very much taken with the quality of ballad singing. We watched him listening... he was well under the weather... which accounted for his weaving ambulation. He took a swig of wine from his bottle cunningly disguised in a paper bag. But generosity got the better of him. He wanted to show his appreciation for such a fine performance. He took his half-drunk bottle of wine out of the paper bag and placed it into the tips hat that the balladeer had lying on the pavement. What greater sacrifice can be made by man. The balladeer was half way through his song... and thought it bad form not to complete the number. But he could see what was happening and knew that a half-drunk bottle of wine in the tips hat would not entice further tips. He started waving his foot to get the gentleman to remove the bottle. The gentleman interpreted the foot waving as a sign of appreciation. With exaggerated gestures that only inebriation can create, the gentleman made it abundantly clear that he thought the half-drunk bottle was only a modest gift in the face of such balladeering talent. So the foot-waving and the humble gesturing continued until the completion of the song. I haven't laughed so much for ages.

As regards the best tourist destination, you are probably aware that Greece established an early lead and has held off a couple of competitive contenders. Yesterday, Croatia's coastline put in a 'diamond' performance... probably edging ahead of Greece in the coastline category on account of Croatia having cleaner air on the day. Today was competition in the alpine category. Greece was pitting its rugged excitement against the gleaming cleanness of Croatian beech forest. We are not comparing apples with apples... and whatever the result there are likely to be protests. So the judges have decided to keep the result of today's competition a secret until police support can be organised.

Krka National Park

No... this is not a spelling mistake... it's just that the Croatians have an economy drive on 'vowels' when it comes to spelling... only to be used as a last resort. We spotted words with 4 consecutive consonants... but we have not given up hope of spotting the elusive 5 in a row.

We left the historical fascination of Split and headed up north 75 klms to enjoy scenic beauty at Krka National Park. Our hire car a VW Golf, had 10 klms on the clock. All our previous hires were purchases from the Japanese second-hand car market... so to 'luck-in' with a brand new vehicle with the latest technology bought a smile to our faces. The drive along the coast excited the senses. The air was reasonably clean... uninterrupted sunshine... the sea radiated its aqua blue... the rugged hills and the stone cottages with terracotta tiles provided a colourful backdrop. Early on in our Balkan adventure, I challenged any countryside to beat Greece for natural beauty. The Croatian coastline puts up a good challenge... in a more polished and manicured fashion. We'll have to see how the Croatian countryside (non-coastal) shapes up.

The crowd-puller in National Parks is at Plitvice... we are visiting it on Saturday. When we enquired about Krka, the locals said, "It's OK... but why would you want to do both?" So we started out walk this afternoon not expecting too much. However, we discovered a surprise that gave us lots of pleasure... we discovered clean water... they must have gigantic filters upstream to remove all particles. I'd love to know why the water is so clean. Either it must come from spring water where sediments have had centuries to settle... or the absence of soil on the hillsides of the canyon through which the river flows must explain the low particle count. My friend Johnny has a special skill for seeing fish under cloudy water... his skill comes from a lifetime of chasing salmon. Today, Johnny's skill would be of no value... everyone could see the fish as clear as crystal to depths of 5 metres... but bad luck Johnny, no fishing was allowed. The ecosystem of the river was in excellent shape. Plenty of frogs... always the ultimate test... dragonflies... a few birds... but lots of fish. Goodness knows what Plitvice will provide to live up to its rating.