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Triglav, Slovenia’s highest peak. Photo by Stane Klemenc.
American reporter Keith O’Brien decided to honeymoon in Slovenia and the resulting story was published in the Boston Globe. You can read it here: Tackling new heights in Slovenia: Honeymooners attempt 9,396-foot Mount Triglav.
When you read it, you will notice that it’s a bit of a departure from the usual travel reports on Slovenia. In other words, he doesn’t gush over Bled or call Ljubljana the “next Prague.” (In fact, he even takes a swipe at Ljubljana, writing that it’s “not the prettiest city you will ever visit.” And in line with yesterday’s post, he also notes that it is “grafitti-tagged, like many major cities in the Balkans.”)
Regardless, the main thrust of the story is his attempt to get to the top of Triglav, which — it should be mentioned — is not a cakewalk, like Iraq, but rather difficult. And, in the end, too much for the honeymooners.
Link to the story (Passwords and logins here)
(Thanks Alenka!)
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At least he had a sense of humor about it. And he comes out on the proper side of the Bled v. Bohinj question that confounds so many tourists.
Bet they went back to Ljubljana and got a Royale with cheese.
200 SIT for a glass of wine? In Ljubljana? What kind of piss were they drinking ?!?
Grape juice?
A glass of grape juice would cost much more than 200SIT
Honestly, it is a good description of LJ and Bled… that says it all 
Anyway… about their climb… i guess that cannot happen to anyone, and Keith at the end rightfully didn’t believe their slovene host. Why? I firmly believe that they believed that ascent on triglav is a cakewalk and they probably used their everyday shoes…
So: what about it? Is it really true that the ascent from the south can be done by anyone with appropriate shoes? (=high time I become a real Slovenian)…
Alcessa, my first trip to mountains ever was a trip to Triglav. We started from Stara Fužina (the Bohinj lake)and got to the top the first day. Then we had plenty of time left the next day, played some card games etc. It is not very difficult to climb, but you should go there in August. If you are well equipped (shoes, windstopper) the main danger comes only from the over-crowdedness. I wore Italian shoes (Scarpa) - they did a splendid job.
Lale, thank you very much.
It is not difficult to climb, but you still have to climb a bit. There are no wide roads to the top
If you are afraid of heights, get dizzy when walking a narrow airy ridge it might be more of a challenge.
I’ll probably just wait until the install an escalator to the top.
It’s not an especially challenging mountain technically, since permanent cables and pitons have been fixed along the trail, but it still claims lives. Sometimes due to weather (lightning has zapped a few; you can see the memorial plaques high up on the ridges), sometimes due to the inadequate equipment and poor physical condition of inexperienced tourists who think “anyone can climb Triglav.” You owe it to yourself as well as to the members of the mountain rescue service who will be risking their own lives (free of charge) to save you if you get into trouble to be as well-prepared as possible. Be in reasonable physical condition, wear good boots and have sufficient warm clothing with you (not just shorts and sneakers), and pay attention to the weather conditions when you plan our trip and as you’re hiking. Turn back if you feel ill or bad weather threatens, and try for the summit again on a better day.
Writer Christopher Merrill set off in the company of Slovene poet/essayist Ales Debeljak to climb Triglav in the summer of 1992 and describes the experience in “Only the Nails Remain”. As I recall he was wearing tennis shoes without a lot of traction (having abandoned his brand-new bought-for-the-occasion hiking boots because of the cripplingly painful blisters they caused), and suffering mildly from a fear of heights high up on the exposed slopes and ridges. He wisely decided not to go to the top.
I’ve been up Triglav four times, from different directions. So do I get to be an honorary Slovene? The last time (summer 2001) was via Vrata, Prag and dom Planika, with my then nine-year-old daughter. Originally we planned to go from Kredarica (where we spent the night) rather than Planika, but there were really strong winds and poor visibility (low clouds) along the route, so we tried from the other side instead. It was breezy but tolerable, and by the time we got to the upper bit, the wind had blown away most of the cloud cover. Very memorable trip.
Crowds in the mountains are a drag, yes. Usually the second-highest mountain in any given country is the one to climb–just as breath-taking as the highest, but without all the people!
May I have a suggestion for Michael M.?
Perhaps the link from the word difficult (… like Iraq, but rather difficult) should be replaced with this one:
home.amis.net/ibm21/brigalps/triglav.html
The current link points to the page not maintained anymore. It went online way back in 1996 and most of the pictures were actually captured from (oh, well)… videotape. So they’re too small, low quality & hence don’t look very nice.
The new page (see URL above) has much nicer pictures.
Oh yes, and the moral of the honeymooners’ story:
Don’t buy cheap Italian boots!
Michael, escalator? Of course it will have to be equipped with seats! I’m not standing still that long… ;>
I don’t do stupid stuff like climbing big rocky mountains. Not voluntarily. I suppose if I was on some sort of death march there would be no choice.
I can think of way better things to do on a honeymoon! Can’t most of us? What’s UP with those people ANYWAY?!
Katja: you are right! Honeymons are meant to be packed with XXX! I can only imagine taking your wife to teh triglav in case you want to get rid of her ASAP.
XaXaXaXA! good xxx and bad cooking, or good xxxa and trips to good eateries!