To sit in the balcony of a hotel, overlooking a scenery and
have a cup of coffee ,in the morning ! Or a glass of wine in the later part of
the day .. I wouldn’t do both ! Infact I have never sat in a balcony before !
But today I had to just sit here to feel this place for one last time. Writing
is not what I would ideally like to do from here ,but then to voice the
thoughts about Slovenia in general as I leave it today was what I had in my
mind since I wrote about Vienna.
In the tourism world, when the place is beautiful and
accessible likewise ,it doesn’t take long for hoards of people to arrive and
spoil its serenity. Lake Bled is one such place. With a population of just over six thousand inhabitants ,and double the number of people visiting ,every week,
it should’ve lost its charm over the years. But then I would’nt be sitting in
the balcony if it did.
Slovenians are friendly ,the most friendly I have met in
this part of the world. I usually interact more with receptionists ,waiters
,the old woman at the ticket window etc. Here I have spoken to the shoe maker
,the fruit seller and the honey vendor to name a few and they all talk with the
same warmth and friendly attitude. A country where the language Slovene is
always hard fought to be spoken ,first under the German’s ,then under the
former Yugoslavia ,where everyone had to learn Serbo – Croatian and would be
punished if not spoken in Government institutions, English comes quiet
naturally to the guy on the road.
The cream cake is the most famous export of Bled and even
today the guys who invented it are proud to serve it to every person that’s comes
in. When the conversation extends beyond just a cup of espresso ,then the talk
about Slovenia joins the recipe for the cake. ‘You can make the cake home’ he
says but you can never feel the same at home as you feel here by the lake in
this air.
Yes .. the air ! That’s what I was looking for. The air in
Slovenia is different .. The air is inviting ! Travel to Slovenia once in your
life time and you would understand what I am talking about ..
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