I know I’ve been a little uncommitted to my blog recently but I’ve just come back from a week in Slovenia and I cannot wait to share my experience with you!
I really meant it when I used the word ‘enchanting’ in my title, as this place is magical.
You’re probably thinking ‘why Slovenia?’ Well, let me give you a run down of our week and you’ll see why…
Day 1:
We arrived at our apartment just outside of Bled at around 7pm. As we settled down and headed out to eat, it rained…and rained…and it didn’t stop. I grimaced as I looked at the weather for the week on my phone. More rain.
We could see a few cats roaming around the garden when we arrived, we tried to get their attention and give them a cuddle (don’t tell Mojo!). After chatting to an owner of one of the cats, we were told that a lot of families dump their cats in villages like the one we were staying in because they don’t want them anymore. It broke my heart to think of all these abandoned furry friends. The community in this village (Kortino) did something amazing though. They all got together and paid for every stray cat to get neutered as the population was increasing. The strays also get to roam around people’s garden and houses without a care in the world. The owner of the apartment we were staying at even left a little cushion outside her house so they had somewhere to sleep. Cute!
Day 2:
It was surprisingly hot. Actually…it was very hot. The gods must have listened to my prayers the night before!
Today we pick up my hire car. As I go into the shop to pick it up, i’m handed a piece of paper with a list of damages already on the car. It states a few small scratches, nothing too major. I went outside to inspect the car and walked around the back to see two holes on the rear bumper – it looked like the previous person had reversed into a tractor fork (is that the right word?!). Okay, okay…it was still drivable, I guess.
The guy handed us the keys and he was off…it was all very quickly done. And I realised why. After he drove off and we sat in our car, a police officer knocked on our door and asked to see documents and ID. Apparently we were parked in a pedestrian-only zone. Just our luck – we were only picking up the car! Thankfully, our car rental guy saw the officer and came back and somehow blagged his way out of it. Now can we get this holiday started?!
I’d planned a visit to Vintgar Gorge as it was only around a 20 minute drive from Lake Bled, which was a good amount of time to get used to driving on the other side of the road. The Gorge is a natural beauty spot and is a popular tourist attraction, and you can see exactly why! The gorge flows through the centre of rocks and hills, and form waterfalls and rapids. Bridges have been built so you can walk alongside the flowing water.
Honestly, these photos haven’t been edited – the water really is that blue. Absolutely mesmerising, right? I think I entered some kind of trance when I visited as I couldn’t take my eyes off these amazing surroundings!
Day 2:
This was quite a hectic day – some people (a.k.a Matt) may even say I packed in too much in one day but you’ve got to make the most of it!
The main place we were going to was Lake Bohinj but we made a little pit stop on the way. We travelled through windy narrow one-lane roads to get to this breathtaking place:
I actually think sitting here and taking in the view was my favourite part of this holiday. We were miles away from everything, in the middle of nature and it just made me feel so content.
We then headed to Lake Bohinj where I chilled by renting a boat and making Matthew do all the hard work by paddling! 😁
The view as we drove towards the lake was also amazing:
We then headed to the cable cars which took us high into the mountains – these are used in skiing season to take skiers up to the top.
Once we reached the top, we decided to take another cable car which took us even higher:
We were literally at the top of the mountains, equivalent to the ones you can see in the photo.
We made quite a cool time lapse so you can see experience magnificent view we witnessed (please ignore Matthew’s finger which makes a frequent appearance in this video):
So incredible! However, we still had a long day ahead of us with lots to do! Next on our itinerary was Savica waterfall which is the source of the Sava Bohinjka and flows into Lake Bohinj. After an already hectic morning, walking over 500 steps to reach the waterfall felt like a challenge. The waterfall itself was very pretty, but with it being the third most popular attraction in Slovenia, I expected something a bit more…spectacular.
Day 3
Another busy day! Our first stop was to Emerald Green: Zelenci Nature Reserve. I had originally thought of this as a pit stop where I could take a quick photo, hop back into my car and drive off. But once I got there, I was blown away by its beauty and needed a while to take it all it by literally just standing there in awe. This place was incredible – it was like something out of a fairy tale. The lake, which is filled with spring water, was crystal-clear green and felt incredibly magical and romantic! I could have spent hours just sat here looking out towards the lake with the reflection of the mountains shining off the perfectly still water.
We then headed to another lake. Once again, Lake Jasna (a.k.a the Goat Lake due to the goat statue) didn’t let me down. I honestly can’t explain how clear the water was. Let’s just say – i’ve never seen anything like it in the UK! Even when standing high above and looking down at the water, you could see the fish swimming and the bottom of the lake. This country keeps getting better and better. I don’t think I need to say anymore, just see for yourself:
We then drove a little further (which felt like hours due to the very windy, intimidating roads!) and made a few stops when we found good photo opportunities. We just kept getting nearer and nearer to the top of the mountain so I got a bit happy snappy with my camera.
We were surrounded by mountains at the next place. I very regrettably agreed to climbing up it. I had no walking boots – only Vans, and had no water, and on top of that – I hadn’t mentally prepared myself for this as it was a very spontaneous idea! Did I enjoy it, no. I normally love hiking, but this was a very steep hike, and after slipping a few times due to my non-grippy trainers, I was scared more than I was excited. On top of this, my good old friend anxiety decided to attack me half way through – don’t ask me why, as I never know why! So having an anxiety attack half way up a mountain as well as falling flat on my arse definitely wasn’t my definition of fun. Anyway, when we reached our goal, I took a few (unenthusiastic) photos (this doesn’t do the steepness any justice!)
We had planned to visit Virje waterfall. Now this was a waterfall that looked like it was worth going to! As I Googled information, the photos looked lush – you could even go for a swim. But after my ridiculous anxiety attack, I felt a bit exhausted so we ended up skipping this which I was a bit gutted about. However, we did stop off on our journey back where I managed to get a couple of shots of Soca River.
Day 4
It was a new day and I was feeling refreshed and up for another adventure! I was actually really excited for today because we were going on the Slovenian Motorail. We got to the train station in the morning and parked our car, along with around 15 others, on a platform that attached to a train and we then sat in our car as the train took us through the mountains. This cut our journey from 2 hours if we were to drive to just 40 minutes.
We took this journey to visit Tolmin Gorge which is at the lowest point of the Triglav National Park. The national park itself is humongous, you need at least a week to explore different parts of it. The journey of Tolmin Gorge takes you up Dante’s Cave, across the Devil’s Bridge and to the Bear’s Head. Like every other trip so far, the water was so pure and fresh and stunningly beautiful.
Day 5
Today was a more chilled out day. I hadn’t made any plans so we could just explore Lake Bled and see what it had to offer.
The lake is just beautiful. It has such a relaxing and calming feeling about it. Especially in the evening where you can hear the violins of live music being played as you look out towards the lake. I even got to witness the precious moment of two ducklings taking the plunge from the curb into the lake as they followed mum into the water.
That day we decided to do less hiking and go for something a bit more daring. So we tried out the Straza Summer Tobogganing. This was a 520m length track and you went up to 40mph! It’s a great way to let loose and to view the town and lake from up above.
Then we spent a couple of hours canoeing in the lake, with the first 20 minutes or so full of screams (from me) of fear as I genuinely thought I was going to topple over and fall into the water – which wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t raining!
Day 6
This was our last full day in Lake Bled so we started the day off with a walk to the castle where we got a great view overlooking the lake. Okay, so I realised I didn’t take a photo at the viewing spot of just the lake, and I didn’t want to upload a photo with me in it so this will have to do…
This was then followed by a relaxing afternoon sitting on the sun lounger, soaking up some vitamin D and looking out towards the calmness.
Day 7
We took the bus to Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana. This is a quaint little city which you can get around in a couple hours. As we were exhausted from the last few days, we chilled in a café and walked around exploring the streets. A lovely way to spend our last hours before jetting off home.
I absolutely loved Slovenia, more now that i’m home as I felt constantly tired whilst I was out there due to how busy we were. The scenic views are incredible. I love the outdoors, walking, sight-seeing. Being surrounded by nature is my favourite thing in the world. Matthew asked me why I was dragging him to so many sights which involved water, but I absolutely love being near water, be it on the beach, or walking along a river or lake. It makes me feel totally relaxed and content. And it was a bonus that all the sights we visited were stunning!
I would 100% recommend Slovenia to anyone and everyone. I’ll definitely be going back again as I feel like one week wasn’t enough time to visit all the incredible places on offer.
Sorry about the length of the blog, I just wanted to express how magical this place is – and I think you get that now!
You can check out my other travel blogs here.
Thanks for reading!
Junique xx
Single Asian Mama 
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