So the fine folks at ADP finally had enough of me, and made sure I was on the next bus out of Losinj. It was strange and a bit unexpected, I thought we were all getting along so well. 
But seriously, my stint here had to end sometime. I could have stayed for another month working with ADP, it was that excellent. But life beckons, and it was time to move on. That, and they had four other volunteers due on Monday and needed me to get the hell out.
I had a bus to catch from Mali Losinj early Saturday morning. Annika was nice enough to let me stay at the ADP house a little longer to meet my schedule. Vesna made the suggestion that I go over to Mali Losinj, meet up with her and some friends in town for one last night out, and then get on the bus at quarter to five (AM). On paper, it sounded like a good plan. She even said I can crash at her place if I want to get some sleep before catching the bus.
So later Friday evening, I got my bags from the ADP house, and said my goodbyes to everyone there. Annika, Marta, and Niko were there to say goodbye. It was harder than I thought to say goodbye to them, and I’m someone who’s quite used to saying goodbye.
Annika is a bright, sometimes brooding, but also quite funny person who is passionate about what she does. Everytime we spotted dolphins out there, it would still be like the first time ever for her. She is also adept at making progress and savoring every positive result regardless of what else is going on. The project is particularly having a difficult time right now with funding. It’s an up and down roller coaster ride for them each day, but that doesn’t take much spring from Annika’s step, however draining it all must be. They were hoping to get a large grant from the EU that would have covered things budget-wise for some time. But unfortunately, that didn’t go through. They got the news while I was there. But with Annika at the research helm, she keeps things upbeat and positive, sure that they will be able to carry on the project.
Then there’s Niko. As passionate as Annika when it comes to dolphins and the sea as a whole. She is at a crossroads with the project. She’s getting ready to start working on her PH.D, and would like to stay with the project, but doesn’t know if she will be able to. Hope she gets that worked out. Like me, she lost her dad pretty recently, and we had talked a good bit about that during my time there. It’s interesting how people can be totally different, different culture, different background, and so on, but share a similar experience and be able to relate to each other and bond in a very familiar kind of way. To me, there’s something particularly therapeutic about sharing your feelings of pain and loss with someone who is going through the same thing as you, and letting her share with you. Hope she got as much out of those little talks as I did.
Marta was the person I was paired up with for the project. Still a student in Split, she was with the project for her second intern stint. It was quite fun working at the center, cooking, and most of all, laughing and talking with her over drinks. Particularly on those nights when she would not let me just go home. She left the project the day after me, with every hope that she will be able to work more actively when she finishes school. Hope she gets to manage that.
The rest of the ADP gang, who didn’t live at the house, but were wonderful people nonetheless. There was Andrea, who was actually the first person I ever communicated with at ADP when I decided to sign up for the project. She took good care of me when I got to Veli a day early with no place to stay. A super-nice person with an interesting and surprisingly acerbic personality.
Then there’s Vesna, a cool, intelligent and inquisitive person with whom I had several interesting conversations through my stint. It’s funny, because no matter what subject we talked about, be it social issues, politics, drugs, the war, whatever, we never agreed on anything. But still we ended up liking each other enough to be able to laugh and drink like a couple of blokes. She definitely made my stint a fun and intellectually stimulating one.
And last but not least, there’s Pete. He’s been with the project for a few years now, and is now working on his PH.D full time and working with the project only part time. Didn’t see him as much as the rest of the gang, but whenever I did, it was always good times. He kept the rest of the estrogen-charged center in balance, and always provided the right amount of comic relief. It was fun being there for his 36th birthday, and talking with him about a great many subjects. He expressed interest in possibly crewing on Andiamo in the near future, and that door (or better, hatch) is always open.
Udo was planning on leaving the next day back to Germany as well, he rode his BMW touring bike all the way from Munich, and was heading out the next morning. So I said goodbye to everyone at the house, and caught a ride with Andrea to Mali. Once I got there, I met up with Vesna, who was still feeling pretty rough from the previous night. After hanging out at her place for a bit, we met up with Pete, who incidentally lives right next door to Vesna, and his girlfriend Goga for a drink.
It was Friday night in Mali, but a relatively quiet one. After a good hour or so with Pete and Goga, we parted ways to meet up with Martina, one of Vesna’s friends who I’ve met on several occasions while in Veli. We met up for a time at Zanzibar. After being there about 45 minutes or so, Vesna called it a night. I hung out a little longer, but ended up heading back to her house not long after her, after saying goodbye to Martina. It was close to 3AM, so I figured I’d crash for an hour since my bus didn’t leave until 4:45, and the bus station was practically next door to Vesna’s place. Didn’t think anything of copping an hour’s sleep. I set the alarm on my cel phone and dozed off. I purposely set it for 4 AM, so I can have at least one free “snooze” before having to really wake up.
The alarm went off, I of course hit snooze, and then, well, that was it. I must have gone comatose because I didn’t wake up on the next alarm. When I did wake up, it just after 6AM! So I missed my bus to Ljubljana needless to say. So I freaked out, and went over to the bus station to see what my options were. They had a bus leaving for Rijeka at 6:45. So I would take that bus, and hopefully find a train or other bus to Ljubljana from there.
So I went back to Vesna’s got my bags, and said goodbye to a very delirious and half-asleep Vesna and headed out. I got to Rijeka four hours later, and from there I managed to find a train to Ljubljana that left a couple of hours after that. So all was good again. I even got an email from Natasa, a Slovenian pal I met back in Isla Mujeres, when we invited her and her friends to come sailing with us on Andiamo for a nice daysail. I hadn’t communicated with her in some time, but figured what the hell, and emailed to tell her I would be in Ljubljana for one night. She emailed me back letting me know that she and her other two friends would love to meet up with me. So now I had some cool people to hang out with in Ljubljana.
So yet again, Andiamo helps bring the world closer together.
I got to Ljubljana Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, it was rainy and gray. I managed to get a hold of Natasa, and get checked into a nice hotel for a fairly decent rate. After a good crash session, I was up and ready to move. I only had one night in Ljubljana, so I wanted to make it count. Natasa said she’d meet me in town that evening, and then we would meet up with her other friends Vesna and Gea, later on.
Natasa and I met up at a bus stop in the center of town. The center is the same city center that has been used for centuries. Ljubljana is a city with a vast history, with architecture that goes as far back as the 13th century. The old city is right on the Ljublanica River, which is a narrow river with steep walled banks within the city. It had the same feel as Prague’s old city, but with not so many tourists, which was nice for a change.
There was a festival going on in the city, so the center square was bustling with people. There was music, food, beer, and fun. It was good timing for me I guess. I was quite hungry, so Natasa took me to a good local restaurant. While we were dining there, one of the other friends, Vesna, met up with us. It was good seeing her again too. So we talked over dinner and enjoyed getting caught up on everyone’s happenings. Natasa, Vesna and Gea were all just finishing up their university degrees. Natasa was actually already finished, and was getting ready to start her new marketing job with Brita. Vesna still had a few exams left, and would soon begin her career in travel and tourism, same as Gea.
So, after dinner, we hiked on through the center, to an adjacent square. There, Gea was waiting for us. After saying our hellos, we proceeded to a park that was supposed to be having a pretty big concert. Problem was that when we got there, it was already over. So we headed back to the center square, and enjoyed the happenings there. We met up with several of their other friends, including Luca, Vesna’s boyfriend.
There was a dance party going on at an pavilion close by. So we hung out there most of the night. There was quite a bit of latin and salsa dancing, as well as swing. It was quite the party. We stayed there for as long as it was fun, before moving on to a large club and bar. There we finished off the night, having drinks and sharing laughs. It was a great night.
I particularly enjoyed getting reacquainted with them at a more upbeat time in my life. When we had all met back in Mexico, things were still pretty fresh regarding the horrendous ending of my marriage, so I may not have been at my best form then, needless to say. Yet they were kind and funny, and made me smile many times during that lovely daysail on Andiamo. It was also the first time any of them had been sailing, so it was nice to be their first. Natasa and her boyfriend have been sailing in the Adriatic since then, and according to her, he appears to have been bitten by the sailing bug. She has been bitten as well, even if not as severely as he. That’s the kind of stuff I like to hear though.
So after calling it a night about 3AM or so, Natasa and I agreed to meet up the next afternoon. Vesna was planning on going out of town on Sunday, but Gea said she’d be available. So the next day, I sent out a text message to her and Natasa letting them know that I was first going to the train station to lock in my reservation for that night’s train route to Hasselt, and then I would go on to the center. The weather was still dreary and rainy. So it was a tad wet getting around. While at the train station, I put my big bag into a locker, and took care of my train trip.
Ljubljana is actually not a big city, so it’s quite easy to get around. Within 10 minutes of leaving the train station, I was at the center. Even with the dreary gray blah weather, the city was still beautiful. In fact, I think the weather, HELPED the beauty of the city, if that’s even possible. The wet sheen of the falling rain on the cobblestones, the grey backdrop of the sky somehow brings out the real age and the beauty of the old city. I found myself not being too concerned with the weather. We’ll see how the pictures I took look to see if they support this notion.
That afternoon, Natasa finished up her errands and met up with me while I was sitting at a cafe, people watching, and reading a book I started reading on the train ride from Rijeka (“Pompeii” by Robert Harris, highly recommend it). Natasa said she tried to reach Gea, but her phone did not appear to be functioning. I didn’t hear back from her at all that day, so we figured we’d just carry on.
After a drink and some more wonderful conversation, we started walking. Natasa wanted to show me the castle that was close to the old city, atop one of the taller hills. It was an intriguing walk through the narrow cobblestone streets, before getting to a maintained trail that leads up the rather steep hill to the castle. We walked up the hill steadily as I felt my calves burning like they have so many times on this trip (Don’t even get me started on how many uphill walks I experienced during my time with the project!). After what seemed like a much longer walk than the actual 15 minutes or so that it really took, we got to the castle entrance.
Outside of the castle is an interesting statue commemorating the peasant’s revolt that happened in the 15th century that led to the original nation-state of Slovenia, which since then has been possessed, annexed, or incorporated by Austria, Hungary, Italy, and ultimately, Yugoslavia. In fact, Slovenia has only been an independent state since 1990, when Yugoslavia essentially broke up. There was a 10 day war by Serbia (who was then still calling themselves Yugoslavia), which was won by Slovenia, thus locking in their independence.
On a side note, it’s interesting that old hatreds, feuds and other bad blood exists among the former parts of Yugoslavia. For example, the Slovenians have a strong dislike of Croatians, for reasons which apparently go back hundreds of years. And which has been brought to the forefront as of late, because now Slovenia is accusing Croatia of wanting to take away their only 20 or so miles of Adriatic coastline. If you look at a map, you will see that there is a sliver of Slovenia going between Italy and Croatia right to the Adriatic. Supposedly, Croatia is claiming that this land actually belongs to them. They don’t much like the Serbs or Bosnians either. It’s strange when you consider that until just about 15 or so years ago, they were all part of the same country. But like Natasa says, and it probably applies to more than just her, she knows a lot of good Croatian and Serbian people individually. But as a general rule, the nationalistic divisional lines go very deep.
So, back to the castle. It’s an interesting mix of old and new. The original castle itself was built in the 9th century. It has seen multiple additions and teardowns in its time. At the peak of the Slovenian kingdom, the city was walled and protected on all sides. The castle itself was also considered a fortress, because of its advantageous height, it was able to defend the walled city.
Over the years, the castle evolved into a historical and cultural center for the city. Natasa told me that there are always classical performances in its accommodating courtyard, as well as museum exhibits. There is an impressive virtual tour that takes you through the beginnings of Ljubljana, the Castle, as well as Slovenia itself. Using 3D, Virtual Reality, and computer modeling, it takes you through the centuries, showing what the castle as well as the city looked like through the past centuries. I found it to be quite fascinating.
After the virtual tour, and a walk up the grand tower of the castle for some much needed photos, we walked back down to the center, and decided that it was time to eat. Natasa thought of a nice pizzeria she’d been to on several occasions, and I was sold. We drove to it, not far from the city center. The dinner was excellent, so Natasa made a good call there. My train was scheduled to go about a quarter to midnight, so we drove to a pub close by the train station, and had a couple of beers while talking some more.
One thing I have to say about being here in Europe and talking with so many people, is that the conversations I’ve had here have been so damn interesting! Not to say that I haven’t had interesting conversations with people back home or during my time on Andiamo. But the levels and the breadth of the subject matter of the conversations I’ve had while here have been absolutely, staggeringly, amazing. If I come away from this time in Europe with anything of substance, it will be the wonderful memories of the insight, intelligence and even the exuberance of the people I’ve met and been able to spend some significant brain time with.
Talking with Natasa over that past day or so, only exemplified my feelings about this. To parahprase so many quotes about life, it really is all about the people that you meet.
After our final drink together at the pub, Natasa dropped me off at the train station, where I was to catch my overnight train to Belgium via 2 train changes. It was a comfortable train ride, despite the fact that I spent 15 hours riding.
It was nice to get back to Hasselt, where Raf and Teresa were waiting at the station to greet me. It’s been quite nice being able to spend some time with Mietsie while I’m here as well.
Here I will tie up some loose ends, say goodbye to as many people as I can between here and Holland, and make my way to London. There, my now “old” friends, Steffenie, Rosie, and now Claire, my other Utila friend who happens to be in the UK while working her way to Ireland, await, along with many new friends. Hopefully, I’ll have enough time to see all of them before leaving London just a few days after I get there.
“How far we travel in life matters far less than those we meet along the way.” – anon.