CHAPTER 29
HRV
Bilo je vrijeme da se nakratko vratim u Hrvatsku. Dugo je vremena prošlo od zadnje avanture po Hrvatskoj.
Javila mi se Nika (cura koja je s nama putovala po Rijeci i Učki) i dogovor je pao. Idemo u Velu dragu! Nisam znao puno o tom području ali u razgovoru s Abandoned Croatia (za domaću zadaću potražiti na društvenim mrežama), shvatio sam da je to upravo savršeno mjesto za sljedeću avanturu. Vela draga je kanjonska udolina ali i spomenik prirode smješten upravo u podnožju Učke, onom sjeverozapadnom. To područje glasi kao jedno od najljepših reljefnih područja na ovim prostorima, ali također skriva i neke tajnovite prostore poput napuštenih željezničkih tunela kroz Učku!
ENG
It was time to briefly return to Croatia. It has been a long time since the last adventure in Croatia.
Nika (the girl who traveled with us to Rijeka and Učka) contacted me and the deal fell. Let’s go to Vela draga! I didn’t know much about the area but after talking to Abandoned Croatia (for homework look it up on social media), I realized that it was just the perfect place for my next adventure. Vela draga is a canyon valley but also a monument of nature located at the foot of Učka mountain, the northwestern part. The area is known as one of the most beautiful relief areas in this area, but it also hides some mysterious spaces such as abandoned railway tunnels through Učka!
Kao pravi putoholičari, nismo odlučili proći kroz Učku – tunelom, nego smo tunel zamjenili brdovitom i vijugavom cestom preko same planine. I kao i uvijek, putovanje nad zemljom je uvijek bolji izbor, posebno ako, kao i mi, voliš gledati u prirodu i nebo nego u betonske zidove tunela (iako su meni, i oni, kao arhitektu pomalo privlačni).
Parkirali smo nedaleko od glavne ceste, iskočili iz vrućeg Žućka u još vruću prirodu i krenuli se lagano kroz šikaru spuštati prema tajanstvenom tunelu.
As real travelholics, we decide notto go through Učka – the tunnel, but instead we replaced the tunnel with a hilly and winding road over the mountain itself. And as always, traveling over the earth is always a better choice, especially if, like us, you like more looking into nature and the sky than the concrete walls of the tunnel (although to me, as an architect, they are a bit appealing).
We parked not far from the main road, jumped out of the hot Žućko into the even hotter nature, and started walking slowly through the bushes down to the mysterious tunnel.
Dan je bio sunčan i vruć, previše vruć. Najgore je bilo ipak Zuluu kojeg je grijalo ne samo sunce nego i njegova dugačka dlaka.
Dok smo se pomalo spuštali niz planinu, pogled se polako otkrivao prema kanjonu. Neopisiva arhitektura prirode koja je, čini se, izgubila borbu protiv same sebe. Cijeli kanjon izgleda kao da je nekada davno bio velika pećina, čiji su krov držali veliki, debeli, kameni stupovi te se taj krov jednom davno urušio pred silovitom snagom zelenog mora, šume, koja je lagano počela utjecati u nekada predivnu špilju.
The day was sunny and hot, too hot. The worst time had, however, Zulu, who was heated not only by the sun but also by his long hair.
As we made our way down the mountain a little, the view slowly revealed towards the canyon. An indescribable architecture of nature that seems to have lost its struggle against itself. The whole canyon looks like it used to be a long cave whose roof was held by large, thick, stone pillars, and that roof collapsed a long time ago in the face of the mighty power of the green sea, a forest that slowly began to invade the once beautiful cave.
Poneki od tih velebnih stupova su stajali točno na mjestu današnje pruge te su za vrijeme gradnje iste bili uništeni. Sve se to događalo davne 1951. godine, a 12 godina nakon, 1963. godine je ovaj kanjon ipak proglašen rezervatom prirode.
Nekada je ovom prugom prolazio život. Danas je ona napuštena i života više nema. Osim nas naravno, jedinih živih bića koja su spremna usred ljetnog dana planinariti po strmim stranama kanjona i upijati ovu ljepotu. Ali jesmo li uistinu jedini?
Some of these magnificent pillars stood exactly where the railroad is today and were destroyed during construction. All this happened back in 1951, and 12 years after, in 1963, this canyon was declared a nature reserve.
There used to be life on this strip. Today it is abandoned and there is no life left. Except for us, of course, the only living things ready to hike in the middle of a hot summer day on the steep sides of the canyon and soak up this beauty. But are we truly the only ones?
Onaj tko se dobro zagledao u sljedeću sliku već je sigurno primjetio još jednog luđaka poput nas, koji je za razliku od nas danas odlučio popesti se na jedan od najvećih stupova u kanjonu. Vidiš ga? I meni je trebalo malo vremena da ga primjetim, iako sam gledao u njegovom smjeru.
Anyone who has taken a good look at the next picture has already noticed another lunatic like us, who unlike us today, has decided to climb one of the largest pillars in the canyon. You see him? It also took me a while to notice him, even though I was looking in his direction.
Trebalo nam je neko vrijeme ali uspjeli smo pronaći put do tog misterioznog tunela i onda smo shvatili da nije jedan nego dva tunela! Onaj u smjeru Rijeke nismo istraživali. Zašto? Jer su se Nika i Lana bojale šišmiša (ja nisam jer sam ja hrabar). Zato smo krenuli u drugi tunel, onaj u smjeru Istre. U njemu nije bilo šišmiša (toliko), ali je zato bilo paukova. Zapravo nismo vidjeli paukove ali smo vidjeli mreže veličine onih ribarskih. (Ako su mreže tako velike, tko zna kakvi su tek pauci…).
Iskreno. nismo znali što nas čeka na kraju tunela. Zapravo, nismo znali ni što nas čeka u tunelu. Nekakav zaključak do kojeg smo došli hodajući sve dublje i dublje u tunel je bio taj da nema životinje koje bi se trebali bojati da bi mogla biti u ovom tunelu. Jedina ‘vrsta’ koje bi se trebali paziti je, da, pogodio si, čovjek. U zadnje vrijeme svi pričaju o opasnim izbjeglicama koji samo tebe čekaju u mračnim djelovima šume (u ovom slučaju tunela). Ne, nije bilo nikakvih opasnih izbjeglica u tunelu. A da je i bilo izbjeglica sumnjam da bi bile opasne. Život nije svima jednostavan.
It took us a while, but we managed to find our way to that mysterious tunnel and then realized that it was not one but two tunnels! The one in the direction of Rijeka we did not explore. Why? Because Nika and Lana were scared of bats (I’m not because I’m brave). So we headed to another tunnel, the one in the direction of Istria. There were no bats in it (at least not so many), but there were spiders there. We didn’t really see any spiders but we did see nets the size of those fishing ones. (If the nets are so big, who knows how big are the spiders…).
Sincerely. we didn’t know what awaited us at the end of the tunnel. In fact, we didn’t even know what was waiting for us in the tunnel. The kind of conclusion we came to, walking deeper and deeper into the tunnel was that there were no animals we should fear that might be in this tunnel. The only ‘species’ to look out for is, yes, you guessed it, man. Everyone is talking about dangerous refugees, just waiting for you in the dark parts of the forests lately (in this case tunnels). No, there were no dangerous refugees in the tunnel. And if there were any refugees, I doubt they would be dangerous. Life is not easy for everyone.
Kada lutaš podzemnim zdanjima, najveća sreća je kada napokon ugledaš svjetlost. Na početku ti se samo čini da je vidiš ali svakim korakom si sve više siguran, sve do onog trenutka kada te, nakon 15-minutnog lutanja tunelom, napokon zabljesne ne samo svjetlost na izlazu nego i ona vruća, vruća ljetna sparina.
Naravno napuštenim građevinama ovdje nije kraj. S druge strane tunela nalazio se, nekada, kamenolom. Zapravo taj kamenolom u isto vrijeme izgleda napušten ali i korišten. Odavno su nestali tragovi po kojima bi osoba zaključila da se to zdanje koristi, a opet, novi uređaji (poput kamera) su tu. To nas nije smetalo i nastavili smo naše istraživanje.
When wandering in underground buildings, the greatest happiness is when you finally see the light. At first you just seem to see it, but with each step you become more and more confident, until, after 15 minutes of wandering through the tunnel, at the exit, there is not only the light, but also that hot, hot summer air is finally there.
Of course, abandoned buildings are not ending here. On the other side of the tunnel, there was a quarry once. In fact, the quarry looks abandoned at the same time but also used. Long gone are the traces with which a person might conclude that the building is being used, and yet, new devices (such as cameras) are there. It did not bother us and we continued our exploration.
Kamenolomi su savršeno bojno polje za fotografe. Nika i ja smo to iskoristili. Fotodvoboj.
Quarries are the perfect battlegrounds for photographers. Nika and I used that. Photoduel.
Jedna od najzanimljivijih stvari ovog kamenoloma je definitivno bio stari, odavno napušteni vatrgoasni kamion koji, kladim se, ima podosta priča koje bi mogao ispričati. Koliko ljudskih života je spasio? Koliko hektara šume ugasio? (Čak se i rimuje gle).
Ja uvijek u takvim prilikama sanjarim o svim mogućnostima, da je to moj kamion, kako bi ga obnovio i što bi od njega napravio.
One of the most interesting things about this quarry was definitely the old, long-abandoned fire truck, which, I bet, has quite a few stories to tell. How many lives did he saved? How many hectares of forest did he extinguished? (It even rhymes here [only in Croatian version]).
I always dream of all sorts of opportunities on such occasions, if it this was my truck, how would I restore it and what would I make out of it.
Vratili smo se istim putem nazad, kroz tunel pa planinarenje po strmim stranama kanjona. Žućko nas je čekao na istom mjestu, samo što je ovog puta temperatura u njemu bila puno veća nego vani. Tako ti je to kad ne parkiraš u hladu. Nije ga bilo.
Dok smo se vraćali vijugavom cestom prema Rijeci stali smo kraj izvora hladne, kristalno čiste vode. Izvor se zove – Voda Josipa II. Taj izvor je davna ostavština cestovne arhitekture Austro-Ugarskog carstva. Takve stvari se danas više ne grade. Ali nema boljeg osjećaja od prvog gutljaja hladne izvorske vode nagon dugosatnog planinarenja i istraživanja tunela. Takve stvari su usitinu neprocjenjive.
Tako da ako želiš iskusiti lokalnu gastro ponudu, definitivno ti predlažem da i voda bude lokalna! Ponavljam, ledena je.
We went back the same way, through the tunnel and hiking on the steep sides of the canyon. Žućko was waiting for us in the same place, except this time the temperature in it was much higher than outside. That’s how it is when you park your car on the sun. There were no shadow there.
As we drove back along the winding road to Rijeka, we stopped at the spring of cold, crystal clear water. The spring is called – The Water of Joseph II. This spring is a long-standing legacy of the road architecture of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Such things are no longer being built today. But there is no better feeling than the first sip of cold spring water after hours spent hiking and exploring tunnels. Such things are truly invaluable.
So if you want to experience the local gastronomic offer, I definitely suggest you to try the local water too! I repeat, it’s icy.
Do sljedećeg puta,
istražuj više.
Žućko & Filip.
30.6.2019.
Until then,
explore more.
Žućko & Filip.
30.6.2019.