Journal de bord 3 : Slovenia

Sat 22sd Apr 2017 – Tue 24th Apr 2017 // Written by Clément

Video of the country : AroundEarth: Slovenia

* 22/04

Around 1pm we reached Nova Gorika and met Polona (cf end of the Italy Journal). She offered us to come to her place, eat and take a shower. For the first time in 3 days we could have a shower and a proper meal that she cooked for us (pastas with a typical sauce from there and a mushroom soup). Polona has been so welcoming with us, and after eating and showering, she offered us wine, clothes and some contacts for the evening that will enabled us Jordan to play some music tonight in a restaurant of one of her friends. She explained us that they were not so many poor people in Slovenia but that we will find many of them further in Croatia, as there are many refugees there. We listened to her advices carefully, and discovered that indeed there was a refugiee camp on the east side of Croatia. People there could probably really benefit from our help and we decided that we would go there as soon as possible.

But for the moment, we were heading to her friends' restaurant for the night, and after waiting for a while, we finally could meet the guys. Mladen and Jaka had a small café restaurant in the center of Kanal, a small but charming village, with great landscape and nature all around. The owners of the Atija Ostarija were really cool and immediately indicated us where to park to play some music. 5 min later, Jordan was spinning near the terasse and curious people were coming to see what we were doing here. After a while we had to make a break for a Christian concert (the country is very religious) and Mladen used that time to offer us a free homemade dinner and beer. Jordan played from 9:30 to 12, when neighbours started to complain about the noise. During these few hours, we met several Slovenian guys that came to talk, and Mladen also offered us to stay there for the night and to take the breakfast here on the following morning, which we accepted without hesitation. Exhausted by the road, it was not long before we went to bed and as the place was probably the quietest we had in several days to sleep, we knew the night will be pleasant.

* 23/04

The night went without trouble, and we woke up already thinking to the good breakfast ahead. We sat on the terasse where the sun came to warm us up after the cold night and enjoyed the moment while our hosts were cooking. Breakfast was good (eggs, ham, tartare, jam and bread) and after playing some more music until 12 and meeting new people again, we left Atija Ostarija for good. Polona had come back and offered us to come say bye and eat at her place with her husband who just came back from Russia, which we accepted, but at the condition that we cook this time. She agreed, and we cooked the only French specialty we know: crèpes obviously!

Around 3pm we were back on the road and heading to the Slovenian capital: Ljubljana. The town center is nice yet quite classical: big castle, nice cathedral, big parcs. But there is in this city a very particular atmosphere as soon as you leave the very center. Tags cover almost every wall of the city, and art meets the revolutionary ideology in Metelkova, a former military area now converted in a huge squat zone entirely decorated by Slovenian artists where big underground parties are organized every evening. Around 7:30 we felt like we had done most of the city (it’s not very big), and Metelkova was asleep, as it was Sunday evening. We thus decided to head to Maribor for the night, the second city of the country, where one of my friends, Lucas, is studying this semester. The road took us through more mountains and valleys, and we agreed to say that Slovenia really was a beautiful country.

* 24/04

After a good night in a real bed at Lucas’ place, some food, a shower and washing our clothes, we went to discover Maribor. The city is quite small yet very cool, as most of the town center is pedestrian and there are lots of terasses. Summer must be fun in this place. After walking a bit and chilling a lot, we decided to go up the nearest hill and see the sunset on the city from there, with some sloveninan beers obviously (1€ each). The climbing was quite exhausting but the view was awesome. As the country is full of moutains and hills, any landscape immediately take a legendary tone. After some pictures, the 4 of us (Lucas, Maeva and us) sat on the hill and enjoyed the moment with our precious drinks for a few hours.

When we decided to go back, it was already 10pm, and after a few more glasses and some food at Lucas’, we went to bed, as Lucas and Maeva had to leave the place at 10 on the morning, leaving for Sarajevo for a week of holydays with some friends. For us, the next step was Austria. We haven’t much to do there, but it’s really near so it would be a shame not to take a glance at it !