After hiding the whole hot summer under a rock, unfortunately only figuratively speaking, and still not playing enough of Hunt: Showdown, we are back in action… kinda! We got an invitation to visit Slovenia. My cousin Vida and her boyfriend Boris, who is a trueborn Slovenian, which means he was born a hiker, invited us to Rogaška Slatina, just around 80 kilometres from our apartment in Zagreb. When I think about it, my hometown, Varaždin, is further from Zagreb than Rogaška Slatina. Who cares about distances when you have a good car and willpower?!?

Our hiking/playing ground was Donačka gora, also called Styrian Triglav amongst fellow Slovenians. It sounds like a joke and it kinda is because the highest peak of mount Donačka is only 884 metres high. So Sljeme or the highest peak of Ivanščica are higher. Okay, this is not a „moj tata je jači od tvog tate“ (my father is stronger than yours) contest! We are just trying to put those numbers and peaks in a context. Almost instantly, right after crossing the Croato-Slovenian border, my companion Ana and I felt that Slovenia is somewhat more lively than Croatia. Styria (yes, I know, you were wondering what the heck is „Styrian“ in Styrian Triglav, right? It is Slovenian Štajerska, a region in north-east Slovenia) is practically a mirrored Zagorje. Tell me about Zagorje in just three terms: wine, drunk but nice people, beautiful hilly nature. I bet it is always like that when crossing a border; people and nature are similar but those arbitrary lines in the sand that our ancestors fought for, yes, you know. Let’s just say they have more cows. Really huge amounts of cows.

We parked our vehicles in a village called St. Jurij, near the local pokopališče (cemetery). In the start, my companions were reluctant to tell me we won’t be able to order beer because there is no mountain hut along our designated path. We will have to hike for around one hour and forty-five minutes to reach the top (Donačka gora, 884 m). But first we need to make our way to the peak Resenik (735 m) after which we have only fifteen minutes to the highest peak of Mount Donačka.

There is also a third peak (thus „Triglav“ – Threeheaded monster in the Styrian Triglav) called Ženčaj (616 m) which we didn’t visit this time. Our physical condition is not so good at the moment (except for Boris who is born ready because he is a bloody Slovenian) so I would say it was not so easy but that is always really a subjective feeling. If you can climb to Sljeme through Bikčevićeva staza without any effort, this will be easy for you. We had to stop a couple of times to catch our breath and the track was mostly relatively steep.

At the end, we had to pass through a little ferrata. Nothing too difficult just be careful if you go there after rain, it is slippery. Arriving at Resenik, we had a second breakfest and were looking in the distance, dreaming about our next endeavours. Boris told us the local folk-lore, something about the dragon who will wake someday and punish people for all their sins. We saw a couple of lizards, distant cousins of dragons, and one of them wanted to hijack my backpack – he certainly knows a sinner when he sees one. We learned that they call this small lizards Martinčeks.

We had a great view of Mount Boč which I have decided is our next destination and training route in Slovenia. Boris also told us that there is gold somewhere hidden in or at the Mount Boč. Dragon? Gold? Beings who like mountains, beer and are willing to dig too deep to acquire it? Hm… sounds suspiciously familiar.

There is a monument at the highest peak and a bench of love (ljubezen is such a nice word, slovenian for love). We rested a little bit and the main dwarf in our little fellowship started to make a plan, a diversion in our path, to reach beer afterall. Rudi’s hut was our next destination. All we needed to do is walk downhill. It is easy to think good about yourself and your capabilities when going downhill. Rudi offered us cold and original Laško beer and we accepted! Cheers!

Now it is only a matter of returning to St. Jurij and our cars. Luckily, there is a nice forest path around the mountain. It is a longer way back but easier. We had a nice stroll through the forest, talking about this and that but mostly, if I remember correctly, about (Fortnite) kids and new generation(s). You can write about Fortnite generation in two aspects: one is videogames (as a part of screens which bombard young brains with eye/brain candy which later causes some lack of concentration when performing some calmer, more meditative activities like reading for example) and how it influences modern kidz and the other is the education and modern upbringing in general. I will cover this topics in another blog post, in another place because this should be about soulhiking, about SPORTS! as Viagra Boys teach us. Actually, there are some people who consider videogames as (E)sports so it could actually be possible to write it here… I will check with the main editor!

At the end of our little trip we managed to deroute and came to some shack in the woods which looked a lot like some setting from a horror movie. There was no killer, only a sight of a chained dog which infuriated us and we really hope that somebody is taking care of him/her! Back at Rogaška Slatina, Boris made a delicious vegetarian (yes, we are still raping cows) barbecue and we met Lola – a handsome and cute Dogo Argentino. Thanks to Boris and Vida for having us, it is always such a great time with you two! Anyway, please do visit Slovenia, even the lower and closer parts. You will not regret it!