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Geographically, The Balkan Headland Is Considered As Southeastern Europe - The Landmass South Of Austria And Hungary And East Of Italy, It's Famous For Rough And Remote Mountains, Impressive Shore And Fiercely Partisan Populations.
Stumped? It's essentially a little bit of a trick query. Geographically, the Balkan Spur is thought of as Southeastern Europe - the landmass south of Austria and Hungary and east of Italy. It's known for craggy and remote mountains, impressive coastline and furiously partisan populations. The Adriatic is to the west, the Black Sea to the east, Greece at the southernmost tip.
But politically, the answer depends on the year. Five centuries of war, oppression and ethnic conflict have melted and made countries on the Balkan Cape many times over. If you answered Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania or Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) - A-plus! All of them have shore on the Adriatic Sea. If you thought Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, or Kosovo - C-plus. Balkans, although not Western Balkans. Yugoslavia? No go. It slumped over a decade ago.
The good news for travelers? An increasingly stable array of independent countries based slightly on ethnic populations, but also on the commercial imperatives of new-found autonomy : capitalism, development and tourism!
Dubrovnik, Croatia, is now a top destination on Eastern Mediterranean cruises, like the one Bud and I did in 2003. Our Dubrovnik guide lived thru the 1991-92 Serbian siege, and bullet holes were still everywhere. But Maria's optimism was contagious. "Come back," she encouraged. "After the roads are fixed and borders opened, you'll adore it."
Seven years later we landed in Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia, on the 1st leg of a four-country Western Balkan trip. Customs and immigration were smooth and efficient and our rental automobile, a Czech Skoda Fabia, waited just steps from the terminal.
We would drive northeast thru Slovenia's Julian Alps, south along coastal Croatia and down to Montenegro's beaches. We would finish over Montenegro's legendary mountains and into BiH to end in Sarajevo. Maybe best, we were flying solo - no package tours, no booking agent. Just us!
Euro-GPS
We brought a GPS with a pre loaded Eastern EU chip. First stop : classic Lake Bled. Our GPS let us select : back roads or road. We took the littlest roads and were straight away smitten. Each home sported lush window boxes. In the foothills of the Julian Alps, each town reached higher, with taller traditional pines, and roads narrowing to single lanes, frequently weaving thru steep pastures. Around one corner a spotless church sat atop a brilliantly green hill.
Lake Bled's Grand Hotel Toplice was magnificent and historic. It housed Fascist Officials during World War Ii, and was so celebrated that the officials had to pay for rooms, even though they were the occupying forces. The Toplice was full of chatty Brits and sporty Germans, and life revolved around the lake - shaded walkways along the coast, swans paddling about, boats with brightly coloured covers to ferry visitors around. Beautiful!
Our next stop took us even higher, to a sporthotel in Kranjska Gora. Sporthotels are distinctly European : spare decoration, few luxuries, but large rooms to hold skis and bikes. At the Toplice we were told that Northern Americans visit on occasion. In Kranjska Gora, USA citizens aren't common. We were treated like celebrities and urged to go to the ski jump at nearby Planica where the world record for ski-flying was set in 2005 : 717 feet "airborne" coming off the end of the jump.
We were warned about the drive over Slovenia's 9,300-foot top, Mount Triglav, at the eastern end of the Alps. It was wet and foggy. The route was really steep and narrow with fifty or more switchbacks. "Follow a bus," they said. "It will lead you."
Great guidance! We arrived at our next stop, Lipica, in fine shape and prepared to go to the famed Lipizzaner Stud Farm in its 430th year of breeding and training the enchanting white stallions. We caught the dramatic "Airs Above the Ground" equestrian show and marveled at the chic facility with dressage faculties, lodging, cafes and wedding chapel as reported tagza.com.