Our base of operations was the
Hotel Alpina, a large lodge closest to the mountains and
overlooking the town. Much of the hotel had recently been
renovated, and it proved to be a convenient and comfortable spot
from which to explore the area. While most teachers rode
up on the bus, we hitched a ride with Dawn, the curriculum
coordinator for the school, and caught up with the rest of the
crew at the hotel. The photo at the upper left shows the
exterior of the Alpina hotel, while the photo at the upper right
shows the lobby area. At the bottom left is a look up to the
mezzanine level where we took 2 breakfasts and one dinner, while
the photo at the lower left shows faculty congregating in the
hallway shortly after arrival. We arrived late afternoon and 
enjoyed
a communal buffet dinner 
before
resting up for the weekend activities. While initially the
weather forecast called for rain, we were fortunate that, except
for a brief downpour as we arrived (naturally), the rest of
weekend was sunny and bright. The mountain air proved a
nice break from Zagreb, which was beginning to feel the heat of
summer. What better way to end up the school term than in
a beautiful outdoor setting? 
On Saturday morning our intrepid
AISZ guide, Dalibor, took us on a morning hike to the Martuljek
Falls. After a short bus ride out of town we crossed an open
field, where we were treated to a magnificent view of the Julian
Alps (photo upper left). The path then took us into the forest
in search of the two waterfalls known as the "Pearls of the
Slovenian Alpine world." Our first stop was the lower falls,
where the water drops about thirty meters onto a stream bed
(photo upper right). As the water levels were low, the stream
bed below the falls were nearly dry. Hikers had created a series
of stone sculptures with the rocks. The photo at the lower right
shows head of school Paul Buckley surveying the artwork. This is
clearly 
performance art, as
the spring rains will eventually wash away the remnants of
these stone sentinels, creating a blank canvas for the next
group of hikers. After a fairly steep and slippery climb, our
group arrived at a bridge spanning a gorge that afforded us a
view of the upper falls (photo, lower right). Here the water
cascades in three stages down the 110 meter rock face, a
spectacular sight, and well worth the effort it takes to climb
the mountain. The entire course of the falls from bottom to top
is captured in the video below, created by Reinhard Biller.
Hiking and contemplating nature
are bound to work up an appetite, so after we returned to the
Hotel Alpina to freshen up, we headed down the hill to get
something to eat. Passing by the Church (photo to
the left), we headed to the main square,
which hosts any number of restaurants with outside covered
terraces, much like those in Zagreb. We had to walk a fair ways
down into the town, as the restaurants and taverns were filled
with people (more on this later). We finally found a nice
Italian restaurant with a single open table and had a rewarding
lunch of pizza and calamari. Sated ,we strolled back toward the
town center to see what all the fuss was about.
Even before traipsing
down the hill for lunch we noticed that things in Kranjska Gora
were bustling. When we went to breakfast, the place was
absolutely bursting with people. Why? Well we happened into
Kranjska Gora on the weekend of Red Bull's Goni Pony
Rally! The Pony, pictured in the photo to the left, is a
distinctive bicycle manufactured by ROG Industries in nearby
Lubljana from 1952 to 1991. The dimunuitive bike has long
extensions for seats and handlebars, so that it can be ridden by
adults. Apparently once a year,
these bike enthusiasts descend upon Kranjska Gora in all manner
of outrageous dress, and parade around the city. Given that
production of the bike ceased 31 years ago, it is a safe bet
that most of the bikes we saw were more recent, as a company by
the 
name
of Gor kolesa has resumed production of the bikes. The point of
the Goni Pony event is to cycle from Kranjska
Gora all the way to the Vrsic Mountain Pass (at an elevation of
1,611 metres (5,285 ft.), which is the highest pass in Slovenia,
as well as the highest in the Eastern Julian Alps. If that is
not challenge enough Pony bikes have only one gear. The
other requirement of the rally seems to be to dress in "retro"
fashion, in keeping with the Pony's heritage. We can only
surmise that the crowds circling around the downtown area had
finished the arduous climb and were now decompressing.
Below is a video from the most recent Red Bull Goni Poni
Rally by T Lafluria.
All day we heard
persistently loud music, and it was only when we were walking to
dinner (our bus ride cut off by the bike route) that we located
its source. The Pony expressers may have had to pedal their
single gear bikes up to the highest peak in the Julian Alps, but
they were still ready to party. Below is a video that
Tracy made of the festivites as we returned from dinner.
Saturday evening we
dined at Bunarica Kosobrin, which offers traditional Slovenian
fare. For us, this turned out to be a dried sausage appetizer,
followed by two soups. One was a cabbage soup with sausage and
the other a stew with veal, both delicious. The soups were
served buffet style and we were each brought a bowl of buckwheat
laced with pieces of bacon. (Apparently cardiologist do not dine
here) And, for desert, (as if we needed it) there was a
blueberry strudel with ice cream. The entire repast is shown
below. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Dried
Sausages |
Cabbage
Soup with Sausage |
Buckwheat
with
Bacon |
Veal
Stew |
On Sunday morning as Dale
recovered from probably way too much meat at last night's meal,
Tracy took a walk to Jazero Jasna, a nearby lake. This lake
consists of two interconnected artificial lakes at the junction
of the Velika Pisnica and Mala Pisnica streams. It is enroute to
Vrsic, the end point of the bike rally the previous day.
Although peaceful when she visited, it is a very busy area with
swimming, diving, kayaking, and sunbathing all attracting large
crowds in warm weather. For quiet mornings, there is a trail
around the lake. Below is a brief video
tour of the two lakes by Mateja Travel and Outdoors