25 August 2007
Quote:
"He was a stranger to himself, a
spy in his own camp, and his money was his health - all thrown to the dust
by his very own hand. But we loved him."
(Sandy Denny)
Maribor
Slovenia looks pretty, hilly, green, and much like Austria. Wine seems to play an important role. There are lots of vineyards, vineries, wine bars etc. It's pity I won't sample any of the local wines.
I arrived in Maribor on the Ryanair flight on time, but missed the train to Ljubljana by 2 minutes. But that meant I had time to take a look at Maribor as well. There were lockers in the station where I could leave my luggage. The town was very picturesque, and very quiet on this Saturday afternoon. Not many people around, but then maybe there simply aren't many people in Maribor? The brand-new Ryanair flight seems to be a blessing for the local tourism industry however. There were lots of visitors around, and the town has made a real effort of putting up signs and maps and making everything trilingual. But everybody here speaks German and/or English anyway!
They have ice-cream here! Really good one, Italian-style. The first thing I did was buy on off men who spoke perfect German. They make it too easy! Then I walked around for a while, looking at the churches and taking in the weekend atmosphere with people sitting in cafes and in parks, enjoying the balmy summer's day. It is hot here, around 30 degrees.
Slovenian landscape
Glass
window in Maribor cathedral
Wurst!
Ljubljana
At 5 PM, I successfully bought a train ticket to Ljubljana and boarded the shiny, modern train to the capital. When I arrived it was already past 8 and the sun had set. The town looked very pretty with all the lights and bars and restaurants around the river in full swing. I dumped my stuff at the hostel and went to grab something to eat. I had a horse burger, and then a fired kitten for desert... no, honestly. Horsemeat burgers are a speciality here. It didn't taste much different from beef though. I walked around town for a bit but was too tired to do much more, so I went back to the hotel, obtained a wireless access code uploaded some of the Turnmill photos and went to bed.
In the hostel, a young man from the Ukraine introduced himself. He had just had his wallet stolen in an Italian club, had no money for cigarettes, desperately needed to wash his clothes, and used to live in Kensington with his boyfriend. He managed to tell me all of this in the first minute of our conversation. He also gave me a quick run-down of the current situation regarding gay rights (or the absence of them) in the Ukraine. I was tempted to ask if he would be interested in going to a Submarine base back home in the Ukraine to see George DJ, but I didn't. I also didn't give him money for cigarettes, but I helped him operate the washing machine.
The next morning, I checked out, left my stuff in the lockers at the train station and went for a sightseeing tour around Ljubljana. I had breakfast in a cafe, and visited the Modern Art Gallery and the Contemporary History Museum which were fab. I have realised that Ljubljana is Laibach! Arne would have known that, of course. I know shit. But at least I'm here and trying to learn...
At 2 PM I took the train to Zagreb, Croatia. I basically had the compartment to myself, and the only interruption was the passport control at the border. Most train attendants and policemen look quite smart in their uniforms. They all look strangely familiar, but I guess that's because I have seen most of them in B-Rude fashion shots and on YouTube! Haha.
Dragon bridge in Ljubljana
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in Ljubljana
Today I've embarked on my trip to Eastern Europe, or rather the ex-Yugoslav countries. Not even all of them, because the do keep mushrooming (or rather splitting up). I simply couldn't fit them all in.
I don't know much about the
region even though I should because its history is so closely connected to
the history of Western Europe. Large areas have been part of the
Austro-Hungarian empire, and that's why German is still so prevalent.
World War I started in Sarajevo, and I'm sure that was part of my school's
history curriculum. But did I ever understand the connections, or even
where it was? No.
World War II was also fought here, and they had concentration camps and
all. Never heard of them.
Still, as an "average" German I have more in common with this region that, say, any place the UK: Historically, culturally, and genetically. My grandmother was Czech, or Polish, depending how you look at it.
There's so much European history here: all the peoples have passed through. It's all very old. The Iron Curtain almost made one forget that the Adriatic region is also part of the "Mediterranean" cultures. Differentiating between "the West" and "the East" is big here however, and one of the underlying reasons for the war. The Christians see themselves as "Western", the Muslims are seen as "Eastern", basically Turks. I'm not sure how the Muslims see themselves. Probably as just as "European" as the others. Technically they are of course all "Europe". But how ironic that people identify themselves so much with their "Westernness" that they would kill their neighbours, and now the West just sees them all as scruffy Eastern Europeans anyway.
Only a couple of years ago the war was raging here and everybody was slaughtering each other. How bizarre! They all seem pretty normal and nice. And for what? To be able to live in a state that consist only of people of the same faith? That would never work anyway. They even all speak the same language, basically. And "ethnicity" can't be such a big deal anyway after centuries of happily mixing. How scary to think that this ethnic cleansing thing can simply happen everywhere. But it does need some madmen of course with megalomaniac ideas of world domination that incite hatred in the rest of the people, like Slobodan Milosevic. It's always the few idiots that spoil everything for the rest, isn't it?
In the end, they will probably all split and form their own little countries, if they can afford so at all. It would of course be a disadvantage if a new independent country cannot survive economically. I used to think: "Stupid separatism, why can't they all live together?!" But if they don't want to, then forming independent states is definitely better than killing each others. Now I begin to see the advantages of independent states as well. I wonder how it feels to live in a brand new republic. The citizens must be more enthusiastic about democracy. They are probably more interested in politics and are voting and such.
