See you to Slovenia and the Cebelas

After the resort town, I woke up sore as usual from the camping on uneven and hard ground. We had a big plan for the day to go to Slovenia’s largest rock festival, but surprisingly we stopped in at home for a few hours in the middle. Just enough time for his dad to shove us with a massive meal, take a shower, and head out again.
We met Andrej’s friends Anya, Nina, Ana, and Petra at this massive French grocery store I have never heard of (which apparently is big in some parts of Europe), and picked up some food and drinks for the festival (called Rock Otocec). It was to be a long festival. Our tickets lasted Friday night until 10am Saturday morning, and we had not purchased camping passes, so it was either stay up the entire time and listen to the music, or sleep in the car. A combination of the two was the end result.

In unfortunate timing, there was a massive downpour during the main acts of the festival, and it proceeded to rain the majority of the time. When we headed into the ground it was not raining, so after awhile it began to rain and a few of us decided to make the 30 minute trek back to the car to pick up our rain jackets. Those that didn’t feel like spending 6 hours soaked and getting sick. We went back, watched the main act in the rain, then moved underneath a huge tent where the majority of the festival goers went. After some music and dancing, some of us proceeded to the cars around 4am. On the heels of camping the night before, it was quite the rough morning waking up in the front seat of the car at 9am. Tired and sore. But quite the fun evening.

Some food and drinks before the festival:






Of course Andrej had another plan for after this. The 8 of us headed in the two cars to a river an hour or so away. Well, we made a quick stop to check out some random American war plan that was sitting in some field along the way. So anyways, this was a pretty secluded area with a nice small restaurant bar. The river was interesting because on one side was Slovenia, on the other side was Croatia. So, swim to the other side, leave the European Union 

Croatia on the Opposite Side:


Shwarzenegger poses by the river:


Brecht is a big boy:


We relaxed here for a good 6 hours, and drove home (with a stop at another castle along the way). However, the day certainly was not done. After just enough time for cooking dinner and showering, we headed out to one of the weekly summer gatherings in the area of his town. The fire department in each neighboring town throughout the summer hosts a bit of a party/festival and invites all the other towns. There is socializing, some beer drinking, and some traditional Slovenian polka dancing.

We won a fishing hat!



Mark & Anya trying some Slovenian Polka:


I spent two final days relaxing on Andrej's farm. Talking to his dad and sisters, eating great food produced on their land, and just enjoying the beautiful scenery and amazing hospitality. His dad presented Mark & I with hats and coin pouches when we left. Really, incredibly kind family and awesome experience.

I'd love to go back to Slovenia some time and if anyone is looking for a beautiful place to visit someday with unbelievable scenery, varied terrain, and kind people, this is it. Hfala Slovenija!