People in the US will be hearing a lot more about Slovenia in the future as the US and Slovenia are in the same World Cup qualifying group (along with England and Algeria).  Don’t be surprised if Slovenia advances and the US does not.  The former will let it all hang out and go for broke from the get go.  The US has tons of injuries and has yet to show much team chemistry.

What’s this have to to do with biking?  Nothing…just when you’ve been there a few times, you begin to take notice of a place that has it’s sports crazy act together.

The Real Olympic Champs: Norway, Austria…and Slovenia – BusinessWeek.

It seems that, in addition to having a coffee in  one of the many sidewalk cafes, we can now have a glass of raw, unpasteurized milk dispensed from a street side vending machine.  This seems down right un-American.  However, it does seem completely appropriate for Slovenia which is dotted with beautiful dairy farms and picturesque haystacks.

I don’t profess to know the pro’s and con’s of raw milk for general consumption.  I do know that I would be more likely to drink some in Slovenia than in the US.   Most people actually do a lot of thing overseas that they would not do at home….swinging above and plunging 30 feet into the Nam Song river outside Vangvieng and eating cicadas and a lot of other things come to mind.

We’ll have to check it out next time we are off to Ljubljana….

Raw milk on tap — in Ljubljana « The Bovine.

Part of the deal is food. It’s not always fine dining with white table cloths (although, at night, it usually is).

Everyone is on their own for lunch. Who would have thought you could find big ol’ burgers in Slovenia? Once we found them, it was tough to resist. Especially when they are man sized burgers that have you contemplating what life without burgers might actually be like. As it turned out, given the “bunnage” to meat ratio of these, life might actually be a lot better. It was kind of like eating a loaf of bread, with a side salad. It did take two hands though.

Slovenia Cycling

Slovenia Cycling

Slovenia Cycling

It isn’t all big burgers. We had some great fish and seafood including these trout on the ride into Tolmin. The restaurant is right above a pen where they have live trout. Slovenia is known for world class fly fishing for trout.

Slovenia Cycling

Slovenia Cycling

After a long day in the bike saddle, what might be better than to stop in the lounge at the hotel and relax with a cup of coffee or a tall cool one?

….it certainly is not, however, to spend more time in the saddle…..a horse saddle. But that is exactly what we did in Tolmin. Giddie up, cowboys (and cowgirl)!

Slovenia Cycling

Slovenia Cycling

Slovenia Cycling

Sept 6

One of the great things about Ljubljana…..the doors. The entry ways to buildings are more than a little interesting. Usually they are big and often ornate. They seem to send a message to anyone who might venture through them that the place about to be entered is not be taken lightly. I had some time today and wondered the city looking for the best of the best; snapping photos along the way. Here is what I came up with.

Door

door

door

Slovenia

Today, we head back to Bled the long way….probably thru Kamnik, where there is a castle.

cow

Cows

Sept 3 – Tolmin to Kranjska Gora

We all rode together up to Kobarid and then I doubled back and got the van while the others toured the Museum. Kobarid is the site of the Miracle of Kobarid during WWI. It must have been hell on earth here for 3 years on a stationary front in the Soca Valley. We pass old bunkers on out bikes.

We had to hang out in bovec for a couple hours due to rain.

There was some excitement on the way up. A Harley Davidson bounced off a wall and went over the side. I have some pics that I will post. the bike went down about 4o feet. I don’t know what happened to the rider.

moto

Kind of cold at the top but that is not unusual. Everyone rode all the way up.  Here is the view from the top of the Vrsic Pass:

Vrsic

The Hotel Miklic turned out to be a great place.

sign

Another big climb today to start the day. The good news is that there is only one. The train atually goes the same direction we do, but it goes through a 15k tunnel instead of over the mountain like we do. There were some good views of the Alps along the way. We stopped at a restaurant that is also a trout farm. Ronni and Brian had the trout. It was gigantic. A likeness of the chef graces the outside of the restaurant and gave Graeme and Brian a chance to ham it up.

In Tolmin 2e stayed at the Hotel Krn. The bar in the place actually had horse saddles as bar stools. Giddie up! We played foosball as well as pool. I also searched all over town to find some internet access only to find out the next morning that the hotel had a wifi antenna. Who would have known?

We also managed to get Ronni a new spoke and her wheel trued up at the bike shop down the street.

Had a great meal at the Rutar across the Plaza….deer in red wine sauce.

Sept 1 Bled to Bohinj

We took the back way. It’s a healthy climb to say the least. Ronni and I did an extra credit loop.

Lake Bohinj a lot more laid back than Bled. There are not as many tourists. After dinner we walked down to the pizza place for after dinner drinks. The waitress was proud to tell us that her grandmother made the liqour we chose. There were wild berries and grass in the bottle that gave it a pretty interesting and not unpleasant flavor. It was strong as well.

August 31, 2008

We needed to sort out a few things on Ronni’s bike….wobbly wheel…a spoke later broke and balky cable connections, but eventually all was well.

The ride to Bled was nice. Kropa (small town on the route) was washed out by some high water though. The bikes could make it through, but the van had to detour about 30 miles. A cafe owner in Kropa showed us pics and explained what happened.

The agroturismo place we stayed at just outside of Bled was interesting. It was a real working farm with 100 cows. Quite an operation. Everyone was served the same thing at dinner…giant turkey legs.

They also had a very friendly talk. Here is a pic. We got on very well.

Group

Dog