Mystified? It’s actually a little bit of a trick query. Geographically, the Balkan Peninsula is considered as Southeastern Europe – the landmass south of Austria and Hungary and east of Italy. It’s known for rugged and remote mountains, spectacular coastline and fiercely partisan populations. The Adriatic is to the west, the Black Sea to the east, Greece at the southernmost tip.
But politically, the answer relies upon the year. Five centuries of war, oppression and ethnic conflict have melted and made countries on the Balkan Cape several times over. If you answered Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania or Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) – A-plus! All of them have coastline on the Adriatic Sea. If you presumed Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, or Kosovo – C-plus. Balkans, although not Western Balkans. Yugoslavia? No go. It crumpled over 10 years ago.
The better news for travelers? An increasingly stable range of independent countries based rather on ethnic populations, but also on the commercial imperatives of newly found autonomy : capitalism, development and tourism!
Dubrovnik, Croatia, is now a top destination on Eastern Mediterranean cruises, like the one Bud and I did in 2003. Our Dubrovnik guide lived through the 1991-92 Serbian siege, and bullet holes were still everywhere. But Maria’s optimism was transmissible. “Come back,” she entreated. “After the roads are fixed and borders opened, you’ll love it.”
7 years later we landed in Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia, on the 1st leg of a four-country Western Balkan road trip. Customs and immigration were smooth and efficient and our rental automobile, a Czech Skoda Fabia, waited just steps from the terminal.
We’d drive northeast through Slovenia’s Julian Alps, south along coastal Croatia and down to Montenegro’s beaches. We’d finish over Montenegro’s legendary mountains and into BiH to finish in Sarajevo. Maybe best, we were flying solo – no package tours, no booking agent. Just us!
Euro-GPS
We brought a GPS with a pre-loaded Eastern European chip. First stop : iconic Lake Bled. Our GPS let us choose : back roads or highway. We took the smallest roads and were immediately smitten. Each home sported lush window boxes. In the foothills of the Julian Alps, each town reached higher, with taller ancient pines, and roads narrowing to single lanes, regularly weaving through steep pastures. Around one corner a pristine church sat on top of a brilliantly green hill.
Lake Bled’s Grand Hotel Toplice was wonderful and historic. It housed Fascist Officers during World War Ii, and was so renowned the officers had to pay for rooms, even though they were the occupying forces. The Toplice was full of talkative Brits and sporty Germans, and life revolved round the lake – shaded walkways along the shoreline, swans paddling about, boats with brightly colored covers to ferry visitors around. Beautiful!
Our next stop took us even higher, to a sporthotel in Kranjska Gora. Sporthotels are distinctly EU : spare decoration, few luxuries, but large rooms to hold skis and bikes. At the Toplice we were told that US citizens visit occasionally. In Kranjska Gora, Americans are rare. We were treated like celebs and urged to go to the ski jump at close by Planica where the world record for ski-flying was set in 2005 : 717 feet “airborne” coming off the end of the jump.
We were warned about the drive over Slovenia’s 9,300-foot top, Mount Triglav, at the eastern end of the Alps. It was wet and foggy. The route was really steep and narrow with 50 or more switchbacks. “Follow a bus,” they exclaimed. “It will lead you.”
Great guidance! We turned up at our next stop, Lipica, in fine shape and ready to visit the famed Lipizzaner Stud Farm in its 430th year of breeding and training the enchanting white horses. We caught the dramatic “Airs Above the Ground” equestrian show and marveled at the elegant facility with dressage colleges, lodging, cafes and wedding chapel as reported tagza.com.
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