Dear
All,
Sorry,
I am a classified bum to get little late (actually lazy) in writing about my
dream called as sLOVEnia but as they say the more you wait is the more you going
to gain. After all I too had waited around fourteen years to visit this
beautiful country and now I am very much satisfied that each and every year of
my waiting period has been proved worth off.
So
what do we expect from a perfect holiday?
Flying
over high rise mountains seeing beautiful landscapes, roaring loud in wide
spread silent valleys, seeing shining fishes in crystal clear rivers and lakes,
feeling to be part of the calm canvas of mother nature, enjoying driving on a amazingly
systematic road system, enjoying sudden splash of water from a sky high
waterfall, experiencing the mysterious underworld of crystals in mountain
caves, early morning walk on a silent sand beach, getting lost in time while
wandering on the streets of a ages old beach town, the warm feeling of being a
part of the colorful European culture, listening to the sound of the
jungle while walking on the shredded leaves of the autumn trees, greeting
wildlife in its arena ,eating amazing local cuisines, tasting various flavors
of honey wines , exploring an new world accompanying your best friends and
finally most important of all :- Meeting with your childhood again which has
been very well preserved by your overseas friends from around 6000 km far land.
The same friends once you had referred as foreigners and now you travelling as a
foreigner in their country.
Day One:
I
reached to the capital of Slovenia, a city named as Ljubljana at 4:00 PM in the
evening and the first impression of the city I got was from 10000 thousand feet,
a green carpet with Alps as its borders.
First
Slovenian guys I met were the custom people on the Airport and they were pretty
curious to know the exact reasons of my visit as they are not very used to of
seeing Indian tourist in this part of the world and if asked Indians must be
ready with their paper work to show to them, once convinced they are friends.
I
answered all their queries in detail and left them little surprised with the
fact that I am visiting from India to meet my Slovenian friends for fourteen
years. (Still believing in childhood stories).
Mojca
was waiting for me outside the airport with a wide welcome smile on her face.
Actually she is my first friend from Slovenia and to be honest the one who
motivated me to make this trip. We walked to her car in the parking area and
then I did the first compulsory common mistake which every INDIAN or BRITISH
does in Europe i.e. trying to sit on the driving side of the car. This broke the
ice between us and we ended busting in laugh standing on the same side of the gate
and she said to me, “Welcome to Europe”.
Then
the journey to Celje started. Celje is around 70 miles from Ljubljana and it’s
Mojca’s hometown and also was going to be mine for next three days. On the way
Mojca explained me a lot about Slovenian culture and they way country has been
formed. She showed me wooden architectures in the fields which are used to
store grains.
Late
in the evening my all friends from Slovenia had planned to host a dinner for me.
It was in a restaurant near to the city centre of Celje. So we all drove to the
main city and met every one. It was really the quality time, talking to all long
time old friends, remembering old day’s stories and experiencing mixture of best
dishes from Italian and Slovenian cuisine. Eating all kind of foods is one
thing which should be on top of your list in Slovenia; these guys have all the flavors
of the world getting cooked in their kitchens. We passed around three hours
over there, and then went for a short walk in the city. I tried “Costa”, cheese
nuts from a street stall and they too were amazing.
Then
we decided to come back to home to have some rest as Mojca had already planned
the full trip and we were suppose to start our travel next day in the
morning. At
the home we sat in the living room for some time and she used the time to show
me some old pictures of mine from India, also she showed me a visiting card of
ours which contains address of our old house, the one from where we had shifted
around 10 years back and finally she showed me a painting which I had gifted to
her during her visit to India probably the best canvas work done by me during
my entire childhood in India.
Have to start early tomorrow morning , We are going to the Blade Lake.
Good
Night Folks.