Slovenia

Wow - we went to Slovenia and were blown away! What a country!

It didn't start well when we were refused entry at the border. We had seen the long holiday queues at a major border crossing when we came into Croatia and decided to cross at a smaller border to avoid the wait. The problem was that the small crossing we chose couldn't process my Australian passport. We had to turn around and go to another crossing which didn't end up having a queue anyway. Not really a big deal.

We crossed the border and headed straight to Skocjan Cave. This was supposed to be Slovenia's second-best cave. We could have gone to the best one but the crowds are supposed to be horrendous. As we were still in August holiday time we chose not to go there. As it was, we joined 250 people for our tour of this cave! They split us up into five groups of five. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos until right at the end so I've pinched these from the internet to give you an idea of what it was like. It was incredible!

 I loved seeing the original paths that the first explorers took. You could still see old handrails and footholds high up on cliffs inside the cave. They must have been tough people!

The main cave was simply enormous. The track we walked along was lit up and it was so beautiful. We crossed over this fantastic bridge.

We were only allowed to take photos as we left the cave.

The area is riddled with caves and the walks in the forest nearby were beautiful

Next stop was Predjama Castle. This castle had all defences happening - it was built on a cliff and was backed inside a cave!

It was a striking castle.

Like most castles, this one had a series of owners but the most famous was one guy called Erazem who holed up in it for years avoiding his pursuers. Unbeknown to the pursuers, there were caves and tunnels from the rear of the castle that led outside so the people in the castle were able to sneak out for food supplies. Consequently, they could live there for ages. The cave below was accessed from the back of the castle.

Unfortunately, the castle had one weak point - the toilet! Even more unfortunate for Erazem was the fact that he had a traitor amongst his servants. After the siege had lasted several years, the servant made a pact with the pursuers. When Erazem went to the toilet, he waved a candle in a window and the pursuers promptly fired a cannon directly at the toilet. It was all over, red rover!

Our first night in Slovenia was spent in the Vipava valley. We went there for the wine (of course) and had fun doing a great tasting. The tasting place was right next door to our accommodation which was very convenient! The lady who ran our B & B was absolutely lovely. 

One thing about this area is that it is really windy in winter. The tiles on the roofs are weighed down with stones! A storm came through while we were there and we got soaked going out for dinner.

The next day we moved on to Lake Bohinj - and I fell in love! This was such a special place. On our first day we went for a bike ride. The area looks very much like Switzerland - beautiful timber houses with flower-boxes, nestled in perfect, green hills.

Our ride was so gorgeous.

A unique aspect of this area is the stands of racks where they dry some sort of plant. I never found out what they dry as it obviously wasn't the right season for them to be used. Maybe it was hay?

We met up with an English couple and rode part of the trail together. It was wonderful!

The next day we explored around the lake. It was such a beautiful place. The church was perched picturesquely on the water's edge beside a gorgeous old stone bridge.

This has to be one of the most stunning lakes I've ever seen.

We rode our bikes alongside the lake to go to a waterfall. The forests were so green and beautiful.

After a long ride uphill we dropped our bikes at the car park and walked the rest of the way up. It was hot and sticky. I was hoping the bloody waterfall was worth the sweat!

Unfortunately the waterfall was underwhelming!

On the way back we found a gorgeous little beach and I went for a swim. The water was crystal clear and I swam way out to the middle of the lake. Fantastic!

The water was cool and refreshing.

There was another great church on the way back. They have frescoes painted on the outside.

There was a lovely track that led back to our hotel and the scenery, even in this little patch of semi-suburbia, was still rural and stunning. These barns were beautiful.

The Slovenians seem to be incredibly neat. Most of the woodpiles were meticulously stacked.

I then hired a kayak and went out on the water for about an hour. I'm not much of a kayaker and was in serious danger of drowning my camera, but it was great to be floating on that clear water. There were some huge fish there!

I love that most things are built out of wood here. I would hate it if they ever discover Colourbond! Even the bus stops are made with wood and have flower boxes!

On our last night, we were eating at our hotel when I thought I saw a familiar face. In one of those amazing coincidences, it turned out that two teachers from our kids' school, who are also the parents of one of Courtney's friends, were there! Deb had a lot to do with Courtney's and Connor's career and uni choices so we had a fair bit to do with her over the years. We all caught up for breakfast the next morning. It was great to see them!

We sadly left Lake Bohinj and headed past it' more famous twin - Lake Bled. This was much fancier but busier.

We just drove past Lake Bled though as we had a big drive ahead of us. We were heading over the Vrsic Pass. This road is famous for having over 50 hairpin bends as it winds up to over 1,600 metres and back down again.

I loved this mountain that had a heart-shaped hole in it!

It was a misty day but the views were still amazing. Even more amazing is that this has become a popular ride for cyclists. As a car driver, the narrow, twisting road was not ideal for bike riding if you ask me!

It was interesting to see the first of the autumn leaves starting to show. Summer has only just finished but I'm excited to see a European autumn.

We arrived at our destination, a town called Kobarid. This town is famous for one thing - a very nice restaurant called Hisa Franko. John booked this months ago. We had to take a 5pm sitting but it was wonderful because we got a lovely view over the garden to the mountains. The food was very interesting and we had a lovely night. The variety in the courses made it more like a fun night out than a meal!

Would you like a small selection of wine to go with your meal?

That night a thunderstorm came through and rain hung around most of the next day. We visited a museum and learned about the huge battles that were fought there during the First World War. In the afternoon I ventured out and did a vigorous walk to some local sights. Incredibly, there are over 7,000 Italian soldiers buried under the memorial below.

All across Europe they seem to have these enormous slugs in the bush but this was the largest I'd seen!

In another sign of the changing seasons, I saw lots of tiny cyclamen flowering. I'd been waiting for these to flower since I saw them in Turkey about 4 months ago!

On the walk I saw ancient villages and trenches where Italian soldiers fought.

What blew me away though was the river Soca. The turquoise colour was stunning!

So that was Slovenia! We only had five days here but we sure packed a lot in. I am definitely coming back to spend more time here.

Hooroo!
Heather and John