The Trip to Ljubljana

This post is a bit after the fact, as we have been in Ljubljana for a few days now. But I thought it best to document this voyage for posterity.

Our trip to Ljubljana (pronounced loo-blee-AH-nah) from Istria last Saturday was full of strange happenings. We woke up to the sound of thunder and lightning striking the city of Rovinj, where we were staying in Istria. This was the type of lightning where you see the flash and immediately hear the clap. It was then followed by torrential downpours, the kind where you can't see for ten feet. That was the first rain we had seen in Croatia beyond a drizzle.

The rain calmed while we packed and ate breakfast, and we headed out for the 15 minute walk to the car. On the way, the rain of course picked up again, though just a steady rain this time, no longer torrential. I left Courtney with the bags under an awning as I ran the rest of the way to the car. I noticed people still going about their business, riding Vespas, wearing summer clothes, etc. They were clearly caught a bit off guard by the weather.

While driving out of town, we learned the hard way that Croatians don't have much experience driving in the rain. The guy behind us, in an older compact car, decided that the line of cars wasn't going fast enough. He realized too late that his car did not have the power to pass before the oncoming cars arrived, so he slammed the brakes, and skidded over to the shoulder on the opposite side of the road while the oncoming cars laid on their horns. No harm done, but a harbinger of events to come.

The same guy, not a minute later, failed to notice when the line of cars slowed. He hit the brakes again, but too late. He skidded right into our rental car, still going quite fast. It was the last day we had the rental (the last hour really), and we were hoping to return it without incident. It was not to be.

The guy spoke a bit of English, but not much. I let him know that we would need a police report, since it was a rental, and he got on his cellphone. He was upset, as were we, standing out there beside the road in the rain, but we managed to keep it civil. Our car had minimal damage, just a plastic panel out of place on the rear bumper. His car was pretty smashed up, was steaming heavily, and had lost all of its coolant as the radiator had been shoved back into the engine. At least he was not going to just drive off.

Ten minutes later, his mother showed up. This was clearly their only car, as she showed up on foot, walking along the highway in the rain. And she was clearly not happy with him.

Ten minutes after that, the policija appeared in a van. As I walked up to them, I asked "Govorite li Engleski?" to which they replied "no." Not a word of English between the two cops. The only one who spoke any English in our little party was the 23 year old kid who hit us. This was going to be an adventure!

I spent about 45 minutes in the back of that van, wedged on a small bench between a significantly overweight cop and an angry little old Croat lady. On the other side of the table sat the other cop and the kid who hit us, also known as my translator. Courtney stayed in the rental car (probably for the best). After some hand waving and gesturing, the cops pretty quickly came to understand what happened. We both blew into a portable breathalizer test, and we were both at 0.0 (it is illegal to drive with any alcohol in your system in Croatia. It will land you in jail. They are quite strict about it). It was quite a harrowing experience, but in the end the cops gave me a copy of the incident report and told me to give it to the rental agency. There should be no problems, my interpreter said.

We made it back to Rijeka an hour or so later, and found the rental agency next to the bus station. The rental car guy took a look at the damage and immediately popped the plastic part back into place. "All fixed," he said. He took a look at the incident report, made us write down a statement of what happened (in all capital letters, strange), and let us go. No extra charges or anything. It was easier than I thought it would be. I think he was just happy to have his car in drivable condition for the next guy.

The next bit of luck came in the form of a train schedule. We were next to the bus station, so we looked at the bus to Ljubljana. We found they run twice a day, at 8AM and 2AM. Out of luck (it was noon by this time), we wandered to the train station a half kilometer away. We looked at the schedule and the next train was at 11PM. Eleven hours of walking around Rijeka (an industrial port city without much for tourists) in the rain with our backpacks sounded unpleasant, considering how our day had started. We decided to ask the information guy, just in case. Yes, the next train was in 15 minutes. Two hours later, we arrived in Ljubljana, with time to explore the beautiful city in the afternoon. A stroke of good
luck!

The final remarkable thing that happened to us on this strange day was on our walk from the train station to our hotel. As we walked, the rain started picking up again. Perhaps a hundred feet from the entrance of our hotel, it started coming down quite hard. So we ducked into this little restaurant called "Le Petit Cafe" to wait out the rain spell. Well apparently that storm that had hit Rovinj in the morning had made its way to Ljubljana in the afternoon. We watched and ordered some lunch as all the people at the sidewalk tables (covered by umbrellas) frantically came inside. Then came the massive thunder and lightning strikes, along with marble sized hail, torrential rain, and wind. A large branch of a nearby tree came down on an umbrella just outside the window, due to the high winds. The hail flew in the windows and doors before people finally figured to shut them. We watched all this from our spot in the corner while munching on a lovely toasted sandwich. Our server assured us that she had never in her life seen weather such as this in Ljubljana, and that we were witnessing the storm of the century right here in our first half hour in town. Well, a few minutes later the storm subsided, and an hour later there were blue skies and a bit if sun.

We have been back to Le Petit Cafe several times. The food, atmosphere, and people were delightful. What a way to find such a hidden gem.

So that is the account of our eventful journey to Ljubljana. We have since fallen in love with this city, due to its friendliness and charm. But that is a subject for a different post.

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