A Hidden Treasure... shhhhh

Slovenia was an unexpected jewel on our travel here through Europe. Kevin and I had a lack of knowledge about this hidden treasure as we began to roam through this big country. I say big country in regards to the vast amount of forest and mountains we were riding through in this untouched landscape.

Oh my, fresh air.... imagine that, I was saying to myself as we left the heavily populated Italian countryside. We could breathe deep and enjoy all that extra oxygen that was not tainted by pollution. It`s always a welcome sign to see large green spaces not molested by industry and ahem... progress. Slovenia and Croatia is one of the few areas left in Europe that bears still inhabit as well as other large forest mammals. The biodiversity in the country was extraordinary as we encountered the largest salamander Kevin and I have ever seen. It was as big as a hot dog bun. We saved it from getting smucked by a couple cars. We ended going up this short cut that turned into an 600 meter ascent with a killer grade... but what a detour. It was some of the most pristine land we have seen in Europe thus far and we caught a glimpse of an eagle maneuvering like a Top Gun pilot through the forest.

We were hosted by a great dude named Robin in the capital city Ljubljana. We found out he was also an avid cyclist who has probably rode more kilometers in his life than Kevin and I both. He has traveled to 85 countries... whoa and get this, he is entitled to 9 weeks vacation! It took me 10 years to get 4 weeks of vacation when I was slaving at my old job ouch! . The city was totally set up for cyclists as it had mulitple bike lanes for us to cruise through to miss all the traffic. The city's population was about 300,000 which was perfect. The population of Slovenia is only about 2 million which was awesome from the overpopulation we have encountered in Western Europe.

Ljubljana was very similar to the rest of Slovenia, full of natural beauty like the countryside. We arrived in town and there were a tonne of police around. We found out there was a NATO convention. There were no protests this time and the city was pretty chill. We got some great pictures around town and they should be posted shortly.

On our way to Croatia we were taken in by another Slovenian couple, Brenna and his wife Tatiana. The Slovenian hospitality was great. We enjoyed some wine and the most delicious strudel. They had a Maltese dog that reminded us of our family dog when we grew up. I'm missing Slovenia already.... what a great bunch of people.

Ok... don't ever plan a cycling trip into Zagreb (Croatia).... it was the worst experience so far on our bikes. The drivers were unbelievably rude as we were honked off the rode more times then I could count on my hands. There was literally no room for cyclists anywhere... we were shooed out of a gas station by some rude employee as we needed to stretch our tired legs. We decided to do a count of single occupancy vehicles and it was pretty much the same as North American metropolitan cities... about 80 percent of the cars. I hate big cities...

Zagreb's downtown core was amazing compared to the unfriendly rodes. The downtown core was full of pedestrian friendly walkways and patios that lined the middle of the city streets. There was a great urban park where we stopped for lunch and many amazing sites to see. I even got a photo of (in my opinion) one of the truly greatest minds of the 20th century Nikola Tesle. If you don't know what this guy has done in his career he is worth researching, almost everything he has done effects our daily lives immensely We could definitely see a difference in the public transportation as the busses were old looking but the infrastructure was great as they had many tram lines in and out of the city.

We are now in Hungary and I'll provide an update on this country soon, I'm going to end this post for now, we will be in touch soon.

Update, pictures are now online!!!! I have sent out a photo album from Croatia send me you're e-mail address if you have not received an e-mail from our yahoo account. :)

Steve