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