Travel Adventures continued

We decided to take the train from Split (Croatia) to Ljubljana (Slovenia). The trip from Split to Zagreb was pretty and pretty uneventful. Unlike most trains we`ve expereniced that travel along valleys, this route went over the mountains! We were so high up and the views were stunning. The train was a "tilting" train - the tracks were banked into the ground and the train could sway back and forth in order go faster. Of course it also makes for more motion sickness, so we were glad for an hour break in Zagreb.

Slovenia is in the foot of the Alps, so we were looking forward to the scenery for the next leg.

Then we experienced the border crossing.

Slovenia is part of the European Union. Croatia is not.

There was about a 40 minute delay on the Croatian side of the border while the guards checked all our passports, some passengers` luggage and escorted at least one person they didn`t want leaving the country off the train. It was a little eye-opening for us, but we were settled in for the lovely trip to continue.

When we stopped on the Slovenian side of the border for another 40 minutes or so, the guards were much more interested in us than we were expecting. One nice, large, armed young man took our passports. We didn`t understand a lot of what he was saying into his radio, until the words "Elizabettah Martin", shortly followed by "Katerina".

10 very long minutes later, he came back, stamped our passports and gave them back to us.

We have 2 cool new stamps now (with trains on them instead of planes), and a new appreciation for border crossings.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Countdown begins.

Image
Let's start with the title. Originally, when we were booking this trip, we were going to have a 10 hour layover in Amsterdam, between Toronto and Glasgow. We thought it would be fun to pop into downtown Amsterdam, grab some lunch, maybe a whirlwind tour of Anne Frank's house, and race back for our connection. If nothing else, it would make a great title for our travel blog! Long story short - we ended up with a direct flight into Glasgow (which lands at 5:00am, but that's a story for another post) in July, and directly home from Paris at the end of September. Our mission between now and departure day (July 11 th ) - how do we fit everything we need and want into these two, small bags, for a 3 month trip through: Scotland, Wales, England, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain and France? Suggestions? Tips? Cautions? 3 months. 8 countries. 1 carry-on bag. Each.
Read more

Jet lag? What jet lag?

Image
We arrived in Edinburgh around 11am local time, found our hotel (thanks to Beth's navigation and map reading prowess), dropped off our bags and headed for....breakfast at "Two Thin Laddies". They didn't get thin with the portions - amazing lattes and the biggest bacon, egg and sausage sandwhiches ever! The highlight of Edinburgh (other than the fact the sun came out while we were at the castle) was the tour called "The Real Mary King's Close". A Close is small alley that runs between 2 tenement blocks. Mary King's Close was leveled in the late 1800s to build the Royal Exchange, but due to geography of the city, several flats were preserved underground, becoming the foundations for the new building. The tour took us through several levels of these medieval town alley, and our guide Agnes (aka Karen - who was a character and a half!) told us stories of life of ordinary people from the middle to lower classes, in the 1600s to 1800s. There were stories o
Read more