Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter Five
“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”
—African Proverb
I
remember once reading a lecture that the great writer Joseph Campbell gave at the begin-
ning of World War II. In it, he reminded his students, “Permanent things, of course, do not
have to be fought for—they are permanent. Rather, it is our privilege to experience them.
And it is our private loss if we neglect them.”
My own grandfather fought in World War II, and I remember my father telling me stories
about how at one point, many Brits truly believed that London would be destroyed, a city
left in rubble, its people cowed under the tyranny of the Nazis. But though many brave men
fought during those years to save the ones they loved, those permanent things—their histor-
ies, their cultures, their homes—could not be destroyed.
As I rode across Europe, heading out of Italy—the Alps to my north—and entering Slove-
nia, I couldn't help but think of all the wars that had marked this land. In many ways, there
was far less history in America by comparison. Of course, war had happened—people had
died on its soil—but the history of Europe was filled with centuries of turmoil. Too many
people, too many nations fighting over their histories, their cultures, and their homes.
I made a pit stop in Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia. There, I stayed with a school-
teacher and his family. The only request was from his eight-year-old son, Janek, who asked
that if I ever chronicled my journeys I would mention him. So, here you go, Janek. Thanks
for letting me sleep on your parents' couch, and don't forget to be nice to your sisters!
From there, I continued on to Croatia, arriving in its capital, Zagreb. Again, I felt like
I had left the modern world. Though new cars and trucks passed me along the road, the
wooded forests and the hawks flying above were persistent reminders that, despite this coun-
try's history, the land beneath us had never changed. Driving into Zagreb, the old world was
mashed right up against the new. Russian Orthodox church spires and leftover communist
buildings mixed with the modernization of twenty-first-century Europe.
