SUNDAY 3 AUGUST
Velika Planina (big pasture) is about 4500 feet in the clouds. We had three changes of vehicles to get to the top, and we arrived close to 3pm to a fantastic scene out of the Hobbit meets the Sound of Music, later to transform into Lord of the Rings meets The Fog. The weather here can change at the drop of a cow pat.
Lojze, Anna, Katarina, Gaya and Dušan in his studio in Kamnik
Tone Kranjc artist association president and camp organiser Dušan Štrajhar is an avid mountaineer. While we travelled the third leg up the mountain by car, he chose to hike the 4km, and when he appeared, he was barely out of breath. By contrast I was not in as good condition, having done a brief reconnoiter down a gentle incline and across a field, admiring the music of the Velika Planina Cow Orchestra (bells, bells, bells) http://youtu.be/UOy02S4eE1Y and avoiding cow pats. It is an incredible vista of weathered buildings snuggled into a landscape of rocks strewn over wide open fields, surrounded by imposing never ending mountains and lots of wind.
Stans and cows
My colleagues Lojze, Gaya, Anna and Katarina and I went walkabout with him to take photos and see the cows up close. We were invited into a Stan for coffee and biscuits, and took the opportunity to play on a rope swing set. A Stan is a small shepherd house with a severely sloped roof against driving snow and high winds. It is unique to this mountain. It combines living space for people and animals, plus storage for animal feed, wood fuel and an area for cheese making. I had to use the little girls’ room and was directed around the corner to the outhouse. Simple, clean, got the job done. No photos.
The clouds kept coming down to kiss us, but we managed to return to the hotel before the sudden whiteout was followed by lashing rain, some hail, thunder and lightning. A shot of homemade schnapps left me gasping. I was less than thrilled with my half sip of Smrekovec, a medicinal liqueur made from schnapps, sugar and the soft sprouts from the evergreen pine tree. Tasted like sweetened Pinesol. However, I did have an excellent Turkish coffee, with fresh milk.
We found a protected Edelweiss flower (remember the Von Trapp family’s farewell song?)
Edelweiss – so happy to see you!
I really appreciated a hearty supper of typical Slovenian food – sausage, warm potato salad, cabbage, barley with beans, thick bread, wild mushrooms with scrambled eggs. I had completely burned off our light lunch with the trek around the village. Down in Brnik, we had had a decent breakfast, which was put to good use with a spontaneous 8km hike around the corn and potato fields of Brnik, up to a lake with no name, and back to home base. With all this fresh air and exercise, I felt that I deserved dessert as well, but none was offered.
Slovenian Supper at Domzalski Dom
At the moment it’s just us five in the hotel, but by Thursday we expect 25 artists to join us here. Also there is soon to be a festival of some kind, so there will be tourists as well. It will be a full house.