Three countries in a week

The marketplace in Lubljana


Tito still dominates Velenjie


Ruth and I on the border between Slovenia and Croatia before eating dinner


The caves


The amazing mushroom soup


View over the city of Zagreb


The roofs of Koper


The ladies of waiting in Trieste


Enjoying the coffee of Pilan


Lake Bled

My first proper geography field trip, and three new countries; all this and I had no idea of what to expect. In the past twenty years we have all heard about the Balkans and the former Yugoslavia. Slovenia and Croatia would appear to have fared the best of the former Yugoslavia countries, with Slovenia's fight termed the Velvet Revolution due to the lack of bloodshed. Slovenia is also often referred to as the economic success of the states, where employment figures are relatively low, and immigration is almost 0%. Now that you have the historical and economic context for the details of the trip! To cover the entire week I would have to write a 20,000 word essay, and none of you would have the time to read it; so I divide the account into sections:

Cities:
We were mainly based in Lubljana, the capital of Slovenia, but we also visited the capital of Croatia, Zagreb; the port city of Koper, the planned city of Vilenje and the medieval towm of Putj in Slovenia, and Trieste at the Southern most part of Italy. Each city held different interest points for me, and I would have to say that I enjoyed them all in very different ways.
Lubljana is pristine and reminded many of us of a movie set rather than a city – that is the central area, not the entire city. The areas surrounding the central zone were fascinating and completely different. We toured some of the socialist blocks built between the late 1940s and the early 1980s. Lubljana also has a very unique periphery where the rural and the urban simply merge. On one side are the towering blocks and on the other are the rolling farmlands. There was even the situation of the famer who refused to move, and now lay in the shadow of the buildings. The farmers make a good living out of selling their fresh produce in the daily market in the city centre.
Vilenje was amazing, not in the beautiful ‘conventional’ sense, but it perfect symmetry is so powerfully moving. The towering statue of Tito remains standing in the city’s central square, a symbol to the remnants of socialism that still lie beneath the city’s new place in capitalist Slovenia. In Vilenje one is hard pushed to find the names that we have grown so accustomed to seeing in many cities around the world. Someone pointed out that even the ladies lingerie shop contained purely ‘functional’ items, with no room for the frills.
Putj could not have been more of a contrast later that day. A medieval town, no blocks frame its skyline. Instead the town flows out from the perfectly in tact medieval town. The winding cobbled streets draw the pedestrian back in time. The medieval town reminded me very much of La Cite in Carcassonne for those of you who have been there, but without the tourists. Putj seems a forgotten gem in the Slovenian landscape; in a country digesting the economic and political shifts there seems no room for the cultural past.
Zagreb is vibrant and alive; and a city of cafes specifically designed for hours of people watching. People were everywhere, and the shops and market place was buzzing with life. The 18th century area felt like it had been transported from Vienna, which was not surprising as the architects had all been trained there. It was only on the top of the medieval city that one finally was drawn to the skyline of socialist blocks on the horizon.
A couple of days stay away from our base in Lubljana involved visits to the two port cities of Koper and Trieste in Italy. Koper is a gem on the side of the Adriatic sea. A growing city of sea trade, with only a border dispute confining its continued growth in importance. The socialist blocks on the waters edge, a symbol across the water to the once ‘foreign’ Italian coast, were icons that left me speechless. The staff of Koper, who then accompanied us to Trieste, were also inclined to leave some of us speechless with their knowledge and charm.
Trieste, the home of Illy coffee, is a tribute architecturally to the diverse cultures of its shores, and of the region in general. The city itself though seems to be in a slow decline, suffocated by the regional nature of the Italian political system. I see an interesting future in what was termed ‘the new immigration wave’, but that investigation is for a future date.
The night of the port city tours was spent in the wonderful peninsula gem of Pilan. A city of narrow tunnels, breathtaking views, and a sleepy disposition; although I am told it is a major tourist destination in the summer.

Landscapes:
As we were on a general geography fieldtrip we had the physical as well as the urban and cultural geography to digest. The fantastic underground caves of Postojna were our first destination. The undergrounds network weaves for miles and contains some of the most breathtaking rock formations including massive stalactites and stalagmites. The caves were formed thousands of years ago as the water of the river cut through the rocks leaving its mark. We also visited the lake of Cerknicawhere the same underground cave formation process was going on beneath our feet.
The peninsula of Istria is one of the richest regions of modern day Croatia, but there sometimes seemed to be little evidence of this. The limestone hills covering the majority of the region provides little opportunity for agriculture, and the housing market opportunities for foreign investors seems to be a major source of the regions income.

Food:
Obviously I ate – a lot!! I just wanted to mention a number of items and places that left their culinary mark on me. We visited two farms during the course of the week. The first was on the South Eastern border with Croatia, where one could stand and eat in two countries at once. The food was amazing and all grown or raised on the local farm. The second place is also a farm, but this time just outside the Slovenian tourist town of Bled. The local farmer has made his farm into an organic farm, where people can stay, work and eat on the farm. The final mention is for a very special bowel of soup that I had in Zagreb. It was fantastic mushroom soup (not as good as yours Anna obviously!), but the best part was it came in a bread bowl – yes the bowel was entirely made of dough!

People:
I went with 35 other people – 31 of whom were 3rd year undergraduate geography students. I believe that all 36 of us thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company during the course of the week, adding that little extra spice into the already fantastic time we were having.
With regard to the people we meet along the way – the various staff members from the three universities were a wealth of information. The people of Slovenia and Croatia are both welcoming and so hospitable. Everyone was always so willing to engage with us all, and were interested by us at the same time.

So in sum, IT WAS A FANTASTIC EYE OPENING EXPERIENCE. These are just a few of the pictures - for the full album see facebook.