SATURDAY 2 AUGUST
Good morning from Slovenia! Time of writing is 6.15am. I’ve been up an hour, sorting through some images to show my last 24 hours. Arrived safely yesterday afternoon, and spent the night with colleagues from Slovenia and Croatia. This morning we leave for the mountain camp http://www.velikaplanina.si.
Morning in Brnik, Slovenia
This is a very short post. I am not fully awake.
Friday morning in Madrid, went for an early walk towards the Prado Museum (Museo del Prado), the main Spanish national art museum. I’ll visit the Prado on my return trip. I passed the sculpture of ‘un pintor para el prado’ by Julio Lopez Hernandez, in the gardens, and continued on to the massive Parque del Buen Retiro, the ‘Park of the Pleasant Retreat.’
Un pintor para el prado
El Retiro once belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century. It is now one of the largest public parks of the city of Madrid, and is completely surrounded by the city. It is so large in fact, that I could not hear any traffic or noise apart from birds, water sprinklers and the earth coming to life. The few photos of the park include a very sculptural cypress tree that Van Gogh would have loved, to boats on the lake – I can see this in Grand Etang.
Boats on the lake at El Retiro
By late Friday night I was in Madrid Airport. I so love this space. More on that in a future post. My flight to Barcelona was an hour late, but grateful I got there in one piece and without incident. I slept on floor, along with several passengers who needed to be there to catch the 6am flight to Italy… it was just easier. Barcelona airport is a huge mall – most of the shops were shut, except for a 24hour McDonald’s… so I gave in and bought breakfast at 2am. By 830am I was in Bologna Italy. I just walked off the plane, and into the baggage claim area. No immigration. So liberating! One outside, I knew I was in Italy, not only because of the language but because of the cars… and this one was on display inside the airport.
Lamborghini welcome to Bologna airport
Can you say Lamborghini?
Robert from Go Opti http://www.goopti.com collected me on time and we began the long drive from Bologna to Ljubliana. I confess I slept most of the way, waking in fits and starts to take a photo or two, then back to sleep. Robert is a great driver. Then all of a sudden we took a brief rest stop at a gas station with a drive in casino. We had just crossed the border into Slovenia. As we sped along, I counted well over 30 church steeples… every village has a church.
Robert from Go Opti
Slovenian countryside
Another 2 hours and I was with my friends, wandering through the capital area, marveling at the architecture…and enjoying a chocolate gelato (no photo of that, sorry).
Seriously beautiful architecture
Back at the house, I picked plums, pears, raspberries and apples from their garden. Supper of local sausage, fingerling potatoes raised by the neighbours, vegetable ragu, and Radler – a grapefruit and beer mix – an Austrian shandy made in Slovenia. Bed.
Off to pack for the mountains. We leave shortly.