Category: Ljubljana

Part of the hike are also any and all acessories pertaining to “Yugo-nostalgia”, such as the old socialist flag…

Good morning, comrades! 🙂 What promised to be a huge army to liberate Ljubljana dwindled down to a small, but dangerous commando force. Jean, Iva, Lisa, Jay and yours truly have just passed KT-8 (check the map in Thursday’s post) and are advancing rapridly on KT-7. The picture is from KT-8, which also serves as a start of several shorter races. Next report will follow shortly. P.S.: just passed former president Milan Kučan 😉

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!!

Start of the Saturday’s hike is rescheduled for 8 AM.

That is 0800 hours on Saturday, May 12th.

This means that you ought to be there at least around 0745, to complete the formalities.

The location of the start remains the same… Oh, and do bring some clothes for rainy weather… some rain is forecast.

See you there! 😀

These guys are just incredible… They usualy give an impromptu performance on Prešeren square in Ljubljana and if you’re lucky you might catch them on a Saturday morning, drawing crowds of people coming from and going to the Central Market. The only problem is that noone knows when they’ll give the next performance. I suspect they don’t either 😀

But if you happen to catch their show, remember… They are The Poušters 🙂

Directed and produced by Pengovsky, of course

A raw map of Liberation day hike route – click image to enlarge – and see below for details

Good morning, comrades! 😀

As you know, the hike around Ljubljana with Pengovsky on 12 May is now officially on and as promised, I’m posting more details about the event and on how to sign up.

SIGN UP

Well, that’s easy… You can find my email on the about page, so just drop me a line confirming you’ll be there, but please include the following: Your name (if you’re a blogger, a link to your blog as well) and your mobile phone number, so I’ll be able to contact you in case of an emergency. You’ll receive a confirmation and my phone number in return.

DEADLINE

The deadline for signing up is Sunday, 6 May (inclusive).

START

I propose we start the hike at 0700 hours. This is not a given, as I expect fierce opposition by some late risers and I also imagine that those of you who are not living in Ljubljana might have a bit of a problem making it this early. Any thoughts on this, Jean? 😀

In any case, there will be a 20-30 minute window for you to make it to the start of the hike.

So time of departure is yet to be comfirmed, provisionally it is set at 7. AM, but bear in mind that the checkpoints close at 1700 hours, so we cannot start much later.

WHAT DO YOU NEED I.

A hat or a cap. You don’t want to get a sunstroke. A spare pair of socks. Better yet, make that two. Band-aids or similar for blisters. Good sneakeres or hiking boots. This is a seven-hour hike. True, it’s mostly flat terrain, but belive you me it can be a real killer if you can’t take care of your feet. Oh, and terrain is mostly sand and rubble with some concrete.

WHAT DO YOU NEED II.

Liquid. And plenty of it. You yourself know how much will you need, but do pack some extra just to be on the safe side.
Chocolate or something similar to replenish your energy.
Some fruit might be in order (apples) and an odd sandwich. But don’t expect to eat too much along the way. This is not a picnic, but a hike to comemorate liberation of Ljubljana 😀

WEATHER

As I said in my first post on the issue, I’ll do it regardles of the weather. If it goes bad I don’t expect anyone to actually come. But if you decide to come nevertheless, I’d be thrilled.

Oh, and just so there is no misunderstanding: “weather going bad” in this case means “heavy rain and worse being forecasted”. If you bail out due to “sporadic showers” forecast, I’ll think of you as a pussy (only kidding, the decision if of course yours to make).

CANCELATIONS

Obviously you can cancel by just failing to show up. But I’d hate that. So if you think of canceling, please do so via email until noon on Friday, 11 May.

LOCATION

We’ll start the hike at “Agrotehnika Gruda”, which is just across the street of the final bus stop of line No. 6, direction Dolgi Most, (not Črnuče). See this Google map for more details:

Click image to see Google map with directions

We will then proceed in a counter clock-wise manner, finishing where we started approximately seven hours later.

MISCELLANEOUS

It is strongly advised that you bring any war-time, easy-to-carry paraphranelia, if possible of course. Most likely candidates are partisan caps or hats, things with red stars, old socialist flags etc, etc… They will not make you walk any faster, but you might get a curious and approving smile or two along the way 😀

The hike around Ljubljana on May 12th is now officialy on! So pack a spare pair of socks, clean up your sneakers or hiking boots, run out to buy a couple of bottles of water, a chocolate bar and some bateries for your camera.

Details will be forthcoming some time next week – no later than next Saturday. In the mean time, applications are welcome!

One of the peculiar things about Slovenes (apart from wearing copate) is the urge to have their own speck of land. Most of us would like to have a speck of land somewhere in Croatia, prefferably close to sea, but during the off-season Slovenes (and Ljubljanchans are no exception) tend to have their own garden – prefferably in the middle of an urban area.

Be it just a reflex (the fact is that most Ljubljanchans have peasant/farmer ancestry), a need to be somewhat self-sufficient, or just trying to make ends meet… the habit has grown waaaay out of proportion in the last decade or so. Those, who will join me for the hike around Ljubljana on Liberation day, will have the unique opportunity to see just how many of these small gardens (vrtički) are there around Ljubljana. In fact there are so many, that people who own them, are commonly called vrtičkarji, or The Gardeners… (Sounds like The Klingons 😀 )

The Mayor has recently decided to put a stop to it (for which I applaud him loudly). Being as gentle as a T-34 tank on a bad day, he issued “a request” that The Gardeners tear down all the shacks they illegally errected during the years. Now these shacks are a curious thing… They usually start as nothing more than a storage facility for tools and some fertilizer, but pretty soon – seemingly out of nowhere – they start sporting electricity, tap water, an occasional refridgerator, a porch and a grill. They become a home away from home… And as a rule they look ugly… Really ugly.

Thus Zoki “requested” (meaning: ordered) that owners tear them down – otherwise he’ll do it for them and send them the bill. Some have heeded his calls without further a-do, others have done so reluctantly, whereas still others flipped him the bird.

And when I say “tore down”, I don’t mean “disassemble and take the material to the junk yard”… No, sir. For this is Slovenia! Nay, this is Ljubljana! Who the fuck is this mayor character to tell us what to do?!? OK, we’ll do it, but we’ll send a message! Like Vinetou we’ll send smoke signals to Zoki saying that he can go stick his head in the lavatory for this….

Ljubljana burning

We send message to big white warrior: you burn our huts, we burn your hut

Those of you who are somewhat familiar with medevial Slovene history know of peasant rebellions… And of course you know of last week’s City Hall Brawl… The problem is that the last time around the protesters were armed with walking canes, whereas The Gardeners, when they stage a protest, will be armed with stick and shovels.