Last two months have been quite busy, but mostly in the sense of traveling and meeting people. While at the same time I’ve tried to stay away from computers as much as possible. And it’s been great.

I’ve spent whole June traveling throughout Slovenia and Croatia and made two trips to Venice. As you can imagine one month’s time is enough to visit a lot of places. Thus I’ll mention only those that have really made a lasting impression on me.

Istrian peninsula in Croatia is a gem. I especially like the northern part which is dotted with small, picturesque villages on hilltops. The towns of Motovun and Grožnjan are an absolute must if you are in the vicinity. Both have served as a settlement since the medieval times and still retained some of that spirit within narrow, cobbled and winding pathways between stone houses.

Another great place I’ve visited in June is the Croatian coast with its thousand or so islands. The nature is absolutely fantastic and in spite of the often unfriendly and even plain rude service, I’ve really enjoyed island hopping on the northern islands of Krk, Cres, Lošinj, Ilovik and Murter. The sea on all these islands is crystal clear and since I’ve been there in off-season period in most of the places I’ve visited it was not hard to find a quiet spot and a private beach.

On this same trip I’ve also managed to visit National parks of Plitvice lakes and river Krka. It’s simply unbelievable how much water runs through these places and how green both of them are.

And the result of the similar geological processes and strucutres in Plitvice lakes and river Krka waterfalls is Križna cave in Slovenia. Now, in Slovenia there are around nine thousand caves of which I have visited only a few, but Križna cave is something special. As they want to keep the cave in as untouched state as possible, they only let in four people per day. And since it’s a water cave it is not possible to enter it if there’s been much rain in the preceding days. So it’s not exactly easy to get in, but it was definitely worth the effort and schedule juggling.

You enter the cave in caving overalls, rubber boots, with a helmet and a head lamp, which all make you fell you’re ready for a real adventure. And that’s exactly what it was. In the cave there are more than a dozen lakes, so practically the whole four hour trip is done in small rubber boats. Besides plethora of stalagmites, stalactites and columns, you also get a chance to experience moments of total darkness and total silence. And believe me, such a place is a treasure today. Once you are 70 or so meters below the ground there’s no way any light or sounds would get in … except for those you bring with you. Although the feeling could be nerve racking (imagine being lost there!), it is absolutely relaxing.

I could go on and on about this and other places, but I’ll rather let you enjoy some of the pictures from these short trips I’ve made in June–you can find them in the gallery.

Now I’m back in Finland ready for new adventures, so come back soon.

Mladen

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 11:00 am and is filed under Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, Travelogue. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.