Slovenia and Croatia: Travel Details
This is a quick and handy source for details on the sights, hotels, tour guides and restaurants featured in the Slovenia and Croatia show. For much more (and updates), see this year's edition of Rick Steves' Best of Eastern Europe guidebook.
Korcula
The long, skinny island of Korčula runs alongside the even longer, skinnier Pelješac Peninsula (famous for its wine — see page TK). [Avalon, refers to wine info in Croatian Food] The main town and best destination on the island — just across a narrow strait from Pelješac — is also called Korčula.
Korčula town's compact, highly fortified Old Town (Stari Grad) is on a little peninsula jutting into the Adriatic. Most tourist facilities — ATMs, travel agencies, Jadrolinija ferry office, Internet cafés, Konzum supermarket — are where the Old Town peninsula meets the mainland.
Plitvice National Park
Plitvice (PLEET-veet-seh) is one of Europe's most spectacular natural wonders. Imagine Niagara Falls diced and sprinkled over a heavily forested Grand Canyon. There's nothing like this lush valley of 16 terraced lakes, laced together by waterfalls and miles of pleasant plank walks. Countless cascades and water that's both strangely clear and full of vibrant colors make this park a misty natural wonderland. Years ago, after eight or nine visits, I thought I really knew Europe. Then I discovered Plitvice, and realized you can never exhaust Europe's surprises.
Plitvice deserves at least a few good hours. Since it takes some time to get here (2 hours by car or bus from Zagreb), the most sensible plan is to spend the night in one of the park's hotels (no character, but comfortable and convenient) or a nearby private home (cheaper, but practical only if you're driving). If you're coming from the north (e.g., Ljubljana), head to Zagreb in the morning, spend a few hours seeing the Croatian capital, then take the bus (no buses 17:30-22:00) or drive to Plitvice in the late afternoon to spend the night at the park. Get up early and hit the trails; by early afternoon, you'll be ready to move on (perhaps by bus to the coast, or back to Zagreb). Two nights and a full day at Plitvice is probably overkill for all but the most avid hikers.
Lipica Stud Farm
The Lipica (LEE-peet-suh) Stud Farm, a 10-minute drive from the Škocjan Caves, was founded in 1580 to provide horses for the Hapsburg court in Vienna. Horse-loving Hapsburg Archduke Charles wanted to create the perfect animal: He imported Andalusian horses from his homeland of Spain, then mixed them with a local line to come up with an extremely intelligent and easily trainable breed. Charles' creation, the Lipizzaner stallions — known for their noble gait and Baroque shape — were made famous by Vienna's Spanish Riding School. Italian and Arabian bloodlines were later added to tweak various characteristics. These regal horses have changed shape with the tenor of the times: They were bred strong and stout during wars, frilly and slender in more cultured eras. But they're always born black, fade to gray, and turn a distinctive white in adulthood.
Until World War I, Lipica bred horses for Austria's needs. Now Austria breeds its own line, and these horses prance for Slovenia — a treasured part of its cultural heritage. Tour the stables to visit the magnificent animals (labeled with purebred bloodlines). Unlike in Vienna, tickets to see the horses perform here are cheap and easy to get. Visitors thrill to the Lipizzaners' clever routine — stutter-stepping sideways to the classical beat.
There are three activities at Lipica: Touring the farm for a look at the horses; watching a performance of the prancing stallions; and, on days when there's no performance, watching a training session. If you're coming all the way to Lipica, you might as well time it so that you can do both the tour and a performance (or a training session). Call ahead to confirm performance and tour times before you make the trip.
Cost: Stud farm tour only-€6, tour plus performance-€12, tour plus training session-€8. Tel. 05/739-1580, www.lipica.org.
Tours: April–June and Sept–Oct daily on the hour 10:00–17:00 except 12:00 (also at 9:00 and 18:00 Sat–Sun); July–Aug daily on the hour 9:00–18:00 except 12:00; off-season daily at 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, and 15:00 (plus 10:00 and 15:00 Sat–Sun in March).
Performances: April–Oct Tue, Wed, Fri, and Sun at 15:00, none Nov–March.
Training Sessions: April–Oct Thu at 12:00. Note that on days when there's a performance, you can tour the farm before (14:00) or after (15:40) the show; for a training session, the tour is before (11:00).