A road trip through Croatia and Slovenia in late November seemed at first like an iffy proposition. What would the weather be like? Would attractions and hotels be shut down?
But I went. How could I resist an impromptu mother-daughter adventure in a place neither of us had experienced?
The weather was pretty much like home. Temperatures ranged from -1 to 14 degrees, but with less rain. And the timing let us experience the Christmas lights and street markets that opened in both Ljubljana and Zagreb with the first of Advent.
The locals were out in full force with toddlers on their shoulders, enjoying crafts, pretzels and mulled wine from the market stalls. Lights gleamed from little boats beneath the twinkling bridges. From a nearby hilltop, the Ljubljana Castle was illuminated in shifting colours above the pleasant Slovenian capital of 280,000.
But if Christmas markets were the culmination, our trip was a feast of surprises.
We had started in Split, Croatia, 400 km south on the Dalmatian Coast. That first day we strolled the palm-lined harbour just as a cruise ship glided into port while bells tolled from ancient cathedrals. The far more ancient remains of Diocletian’s Palace formed the seafront façade of shops and sidewalk cafés where families and a sprinkling of tourists enjoyed espresso in the sun.
Driving north from Split, we found orange groves mingling with autumn leaves. Despite being liberally scattered with Roman ruins, Croatia seemed well in tune with its EU modernity. Wind turbines lined the ridges, and highways were wide and smooth with clear signage. In the distance the Denaric Alps loomed white, eventually bringing us into a winterscape that had us marvelling at how well-cleared even the winding mountain roads were, how well-lit the long tunnels.
In Krka National Park we hiked along a boardwalk amid waterfalls of every size. In the coastal city of Zadar, we fell in love with the Sea Organ – wide waterfront steps inset with pipes activated by waves to produce a low and oddly soothing murmur. In Pula, at the bottom of the Istrian peninsula where Tito had a summer palace, we admired the well-preserved remains of a Roman amphitheatre.
Everywhere were feral cats, looking surprisingly well-fed and healthy.
Crossing into Slovenia, we left behind Mediterranean foods and architecture to enter a land of schnitzel and Austrian-style chalets. It was also a land of caves – big, deep ones. My daughter explained that one set of caves had a Disney-style train to carry us through the stalactites, but the real challenge would be the Lord of the Rings style Skocjanske Jame, with its steep descent into chasms where narrow footbridges spanned underground rivers below. So naturally we chose the latter – although it nearly finished me off!
At the mouth of another cave, the Predjama Castle was once the stronghold of a Medieval outlaw named Erasmus. The soldiers besieging the castle were powerless, until they blew up the latrine he was visiting! Ignominious end, but Erasmus became a folk hero anyway.
Unexpectedly we came upon the famous Lippizaner horses in their breeding and training grounds at Lipica. We admired scores of them grazing in large paddocks. Jet black at birth, the foals nuzzled the white mares until they all took off at a gallop to the far end of the field – a beautiful sight for travel-weary eyes!
