Day Fifteen

DAY FIFTEEN

We woke to the coldest morning yet. It was -12.4 degrees when we woke at 6.30am. The weather had started to clear and we were then able to see the mountains that surrounded us quite clearly. I had bought some bacon – costing R 70 for a small packet of streaky bacon and decided to make it for breakfast with some Fried banana and mushrooms. The bacon shriveled up almost immediately upon being put in the frying pan and the nett result was that we each had about 4 thin strips of bacon about 5cm in length. Needless to say, we won’t be having bacon again and I have decided its sausages for breakfast from now on. We left the campsite outside Bled at around 8.30am for our trip straight across the length of Slovenia to our proposed campsite near the border with Hungary.

The roads were very busy along the way and just like Germany and Austria, the roads are full of long haul trucks travelling from countries such as Italy, Croatia, Czech republic and Poland as well as Austria and others. The one thing that struck us along the road today was the huge investment that has gone into infrastructure and buildings in Slovenia. The country is clearly prospering greatly from its joining the European Union. We could hardly see a street the entire way that didn’t have at least one building recently completed or in the final stages of construction. The road users of Slovenia are by far the friendliest and most courteous I have come across thus far. We have now clocked a total of 2 300 kms since we started our adventure in Frankfurt and we have an expected 2 250 still to go. The country is so developed that I would say that you could very easily be mistaken in thinking that you were driving in Austria instead. The mountains of Slovenia are spectacular even though they are the last portion of the Alps as it makes its way to the ocean.

We decided to plot our route passing through the town of Ptuj. The town is the oldest in Slovenia and dates back to around 1 000 AD. The town boasts a quaint city centre as well as a castle and lots of charm. We drove through the town several times and thoroughly explored the alleys and byways to get a complete feeling for the place. Okay, the real reason for the detours around Ptuj was that Lorraine has started to suffer from Amnesia that has resulted in her getting somewhat confused as to where she is from time to time. This started to get a little out of hand around the town of Ptuj that I feared that she may have developed a permanent case of Alzheimer’s and may need to be replaced. I feel the threats to replace Lorraine may have paid off since she has seemed to have recovered nicely and has us back on route.

We then proceeded from Ptuj after a morning’s cappuccino – a definite must – to the springs in Moravci. This was recommended to us by the lady at the previous campsite and Glenn was desperate to experience a hot mineral spring. We arrived at the mineral springs only to find it partially closed for renovations and decided to give it a miss. We then proceeded en route to the planned camp site for the evening at Terme Banovci. The drive to the camp took us through the most stunning wine route I have seen outside of Stellenbosch. I wouldn’t have believed that a vineyard could survive in a country with such severe winters but the photos prove otherwise.

We have never failed to be surprised on a daily basis by the scenery that has surrounded us on our trip through Europe. The homes in Slovenia are mostly painted in beautiful bright colors. It would seem this is a Slovenia tradition and gives the impression that life in Slovenia is both a happy as well as prosperous one. I would say that our experience of the people who live in Slovenia lead us to believe that they are positive and have a good outlook on the future of their country.

We are still trying to learn the local language and therefore didn’t realize that the evening campsite was planned at a hot spring resort – IE: Terme (Hot Springs). We soon realized this once we noticed that we passed at least three springs in the area of about 10km surrounding our campsite. We arrived at the campsite at around 1.35pm and it didn’t take long for Glenn and I to make our way to the Hot Springs.

It was completely surreal having a swim in an outside pool where the temperature is barely above zero in the afternoon and the water in the pool a warm 39 degrees. We lazed around in the beautiful warm water and pondered the meaning of life, the universe and everything until I had decided that if I stayed much longer my skin would wrinkle permanently and since I plan on finding a wife some day soon, the younger I look, the better chance I may have of getting married. I returned to the Van and cooked us our first home cooked dinner of Gnocchi with tomato and bacon sauce. Glenn had never eaten Gnocchi before and it was a great hit. It is now 5.10pm and the temperature outside has fallen to -6.7 degrees and we expect it to be a really cold night at the spa.