Splendid Slovenian Spiral

Dober dan, Chester here to write on our ten days in Slovenia. This was a country I have been itching to visit for a long time and I am so happy we got a chance to on this trip. We spent three days in the capital city of Ljubljana and then a full week with a rented car bopping around exploring some of the most beautiful spots around this small country. I've described that time below, and also included some reflections and further context on Slovenia at the bottom of this post if you are into that.

On with it! 

Ljubljana 

From the train station to our hotel, our first walk in Ljubljana had already crossed the heart of old town. Suffice to say, Ljubljana was not the same scale of the other capitals we had visited so far on this trip. The small city center was leafy, with car-free streets clustered around a languid bend in the Ljubljanica river. Our hotel was positioned at the bottom of it and that gave us good access to the rest of what we wanted to explore, we got by entirely on foot.

What Ljubljana lacks in world-class museums and historical sites it makes up for in urban liveliness and spirit that we indulged in over our three full days in Ljubljana. We were lucky enough to be there on Friday when the Odprta Kuhna or "Open Kitchen" was on. This weekly event has restaurants from all over the city set up stalls and sell the best dishes from their menu, all in one compact square. We were able to try some traditional Slovenian dumplings and dessert, as well as more international fare like Paella and grilled Egyptian chicken.

A dumpling dish from the open kitchen.

 

Another special event that was on was the "Volleyball on Water" competition, which was a volleyball competition played on a slightly submerged platform in the river. We can't tell you why this is a thing, but it was very popular and drew big crowds in the evening to watch the players splash around and occasionally dive into the river as they dove for a ball. We were able to get up close to it when we did a little boat trip one afternoon and they were practicing. 

It's volleyball, on water! In the day.

 

It's volleyball, on water! At night.

 

Other than those special events, we explored Ljubljana at an easy pace as our three days was certainly enough. We did two walking tours, one to get oriented to the city and a more academic one that discussed the communist times under Tito and the impact on everyday Slovenian life along with the changes since the fall of communism. Tivoli Park was another nice exploration, a lovely city park on the west side of the city where we played a spontaneous round of minigolf to kill an hour.

Exploring an open-air art piece in Tivoli park.

 

More Tivoli scenes.

A public outdoor reading area. We enjoyed a similar one on the river.

 We did some other minor things that I don't think I need to go into detail on, but that was the lovely spirit of Ljubljana - there were a lot of low-stakes things to, all easy walks from each other with plenty to explore in between. After the cities of Italy which often felt overwhelming, Ljubljana was a different kind of city that met us right as we needed it to. 

Sunday flea market

 

From the hill

Bled Summer 

After Ljubljana, it was time for a planned switch-up: from Slovenian cities to Slovenian countryside, and from trains to a driving. Also as the heatwave over central Europe finally broke, we had another switch-up as in significant cooler temperatures and days of thunderstorms instead of unrelenting sun. A welcome relief for sure.

We drove our rental car out of Ljubljana in the rain and headed to Slovenia's most famous lake, Lake Bled. If you Google Image search Slovenia, images of the idyllic Lake Bled take the majority of the results. For Slovenia, it is a pretty big deal. As we drove by it for the first time on our way to our hostel, we could see why: cascading hills of emerald green met deep blue waters, and an island with a prominent steeple in the middle like a cherry on top. 

 

Our home in the area was Second Station Hostel which deserves a special shout-out as probably the best hostel I've ever stayed in. It has everything you want in a hostel (warm hosts, a social atmosphere, good breakfasts) with none of what you fear from a hostel (nasty facilities, noisy rooms, rampaging Australians). It was well located between Lake Bled and it's alpine brother Lake Bohinj so perfect for exploring the area.

 

Bohinj valley

Those explorations were a bit dampened on the first day as heavy thunderstorms rolled through the area and hydrated things liberally, but we still able to get out in the afternoon for a walking loop around Bled, and another loop after more rain in the evening. We both enjoyed the serene atmosphere of rural-ish Slovenia with traditional farms, forest, and rocky hills.

 

 

Hello!

 

The island on Lake Bled

On our second full day, things were dry and warm enough to swing a bit bigger and head out for a bike ride. This was an idea that had been scouted by our friends Nathan and Czarina after they had been in the area after we saw them in Rome, and it was excellent intel. We took their notes and picked up rental bikes for a loop up to Lake Bohinj from near our hostel, about 11 miles in total. The route followed a never-built train track, so it was mostly smooth sailing on prime bike paths cutting through farms and forest without the interference of traffic.

 

Scenes along the cycle path

 

River Bohinjska

Cyclista Nikita

Lake Bohinj itself was the alpine counterpart to Bled, surrounded by rocky peaks and fed by streams of high-altitude snowmelt. After returning the bikes we ended up going back to Bohinj to read at probably the nicest lake beach I have ever seen in my life, even though it was still a bit too chilly for a dip.

Clear as glass.

The best photo of a duck I have ever taken. Look at that pose!

Lake Bohinj

 

Our final act in the area was a stand-up paddleboard session on Lake Bled. I've become a fan of stand-up paddleboarding in the last few years, and with every shack and snack stand in the area offering SUPs for rental, we decided to try it. We were a bit limited on time but were able to get to the island on Bled for a close up look, with enough time to bliss out on the gently bobbing boards before turning back to the dock. Back in our rented Ford Puma, we changed back into our dry clothes and gassed off to our next destination.

 

Sailor Nikita on Lake Bled

Crystal Clear Soča

Heading out of the Bled/Bohinj area, we cut through Slovenia in a counter-clockwise spiral before hitting a fairly large obstacle: the Julian Alps. These are the subset of the larger European Alps that spread southeast through Slovenia with the country's highest point, Mount Triglav. To Nikita's dismay, I chose our route through Vrsic Pass to get to our final destination of Bovec. Vrsic Pass is a pretty classically gnarly mountain pass, only open in the summer and filled with dozens of switchbacks up and down the rocky spine of the alps. It was a thrilling but intense drive that required laser-like focus, paid off in some pretty stunning views that we mostly did not get photos of as there were very few pull-offs. 

 

Exploring along the way.

 

The Julian Alps and Vrsic Pass arise in the distance

The only photo from the pass.

 

 

Another digression before I continue, this time on Slovenia's water. Simply put, I've never seen water like Slovenia's water. Every river seems to have a crystalline glow to it and is so clear it is like looking through a window at the bottom, even from a distance. In direct sunlight, the rivers have the same hue as tropical beaches. From what I heard the white limestone rock dust suspended in the water acts as a reflector, saturating it with the natural blues and greens that surround. Long story short, Slovenia's rivers and lakes are out-of-this world stunning. 

 

Some of that crystal clear in a small hydroelectric reservoir.

 

If there is a queen of Slovenia's rivers though, it is undoubtedly the Soča River. That was where we headed next, out of the high alps and down to a glampsite in the Soča valley. Nearby was Bovec, Slovenia's version of a mountain town abounding with rafting, mountain biking, and trekking outfitters. Our main goal here was to raft, and the property we were staying on was also a rafting outfitter so they were a natural choice.

 

Our glamping setup in the Bovec Valley.

 

Soča

 

Contemplating the clearness of the water.

  

We started early on Friday and did not have time for coffee before we got on the river. It turns out coffee was unneeded as the first splashes of the cold Soča woke us up just fine. We were paired with a German family with three boys, and it was fun watching them go bananas as we bounced through the rapids. I've done a fair bit of rafting and I would not say the rapids on this section of the Soča were the most thrilling, but the sheer otherworldly pureness of the water and the green towering mountains was something special. We also got to do some extra-curricular jumps and swims on the river that were quite a bit more risky than anything I've seen in the states.  Unfortunately, we could not bring our phones so we can't share any pictures from rafting, but we have plenty of the river which was impossible not to photograph.

 

Special evening view near our accommodation.

 

The same spot, looking south.

Tolmin Gorge, a feeder stream to the Soča River

Wine and Caves

As we learned on one of our tours, Karst is perhaps the only word from Slovene that has made it into English language, meaning "a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks". Southern Slovenia is karst central, and the caves and wines produced by that karst landscape would be the last stop on our trip. 

Škocjan caves were the first we caves we visited. The cave is a massive underground cavern carved out in limestone over a millennia, a jaw-dropping sight. The coolest bit for me was crossing over the canyon on a narrow bridge, the depths below dimly lit by only a few lights. Photography was not allowed, but I will just share the bridge with a photo from UNESCO.

 

Cool bridge!

 

 

Photo I did take at the cave mouth.

The other cave we visited was Postojna Caves, which are a huge tourist operation, at least by Slovenian standards. These caves have been wowing tourists with their stalagmites and stalactites for centuries, and is quite built up with a small train bringing you the first few kilometers into the cave. This is neat, but felt a little Disney World to us. The cave walk itself was worth it though with thousands of twisting and otherworldly rocks to gape at. As always, being deep under the earth with these rocks that take literally millennia to form is a good reminder that the natural world moves at a very different pace than we do. 

 

Nikita poses in the underworld wonderland

 

Stalagmites climb towards the ceiling

 

Sometimes, it feels like gazing up at an alien

 

Finally, wine! Slovenian wine is not a huge star on the international scene, but it is slowly gaining more global cachet. More than 70% of Slovenian wine is white so it is a bit out of our usual tastes towards reds, but we enjoyed two evening tastings at Lepa Vida and Fervin Wineries. In particular, we enjoyed a local grape called zelen that was super interestingly herbacious and very nice to drink with a view of the landscape.

 

Slovenian wineries offer very generous spreads to go with the tasting.

 

Vineyards in the Vipava Valley

Vineyard life at Fervin Vineyards

Reflections and Projections

(Boy, that's a good section title!)

 

First, to wrap up Slovenia it will not come as a surprise that we loved it. I think it is still underrated even if it has been described as such by the travel media for the last decade or so. It really packs so much in such a small area, with lots of friendly people and good travel infrastructure. Our itinerary was pretty loose and could easily be trimmed and compacted from ten days down to six or seven easily. 

 

If anything surprised me in Slovenia it was how little there was to surprise me, which was a surprise in itself. Perhaps because of my own expectations of a former Yugoslavian country, I expected a bit more in the way of that era, whether in the architecture or the cars or the people. What I came to learn though was that history runs deep, and Slovenia is defined as much by its deep connections to Austria as it is by country that ceased to exist three decades ago. 

 

Allow me to yap at you for a minute

 

A relatively young country, Slovenia gained its independence from the larger Yugoslavia in 1991, making it just a few months older than I am. The "former Yugoslavia" is just the most recent of a series of larger powers that have historically claimed Slovenia, and perhaps among the least coherent, given it was a loose assemblage of countries with sorta-kinda similar languages and not much else. 

Not soon after the death of the strongman Tito, the old divisions that existed prior to socialist Yugoslavia - religious, ethnic, linguistic - rose again to the surface and led to the horrible wars of the 1990s. However, Slovenia was lucky in that it was religiously and ethnically homogeneous, so the same currents that tore the other countries in 1990s did not arise within Slovenia. There was a half-hearted war with the collapsing Yugoslavian state when Slovenia initially declared independence but it only lasted ten days.

That meant, throughout the 1990s, Slovenia was able to pivot its orientation towards Europe and a market economy a decade before the other former Yugoslavian countries and joined the EU in 2004. In addition, Slovenia already had much better infrastructure as a legacy of its 19th century control by the Austrian-Hungarian empire, as opposed to other parts of the Balkans formerly ruled by the Ottoman empire where infrastructure had not been as developed. Thus, the stark divisions in income and development that existed prior to and within Yugoslavia between still continue today, perhaps even more extreme as a result of the war. Slovenia is lucky in this regard.

Perhaps it is because of the low expectations of a former Yugoslavian country that have led to the endless "This Hidden Gem of a Country in Europe Will Blow Your Mind!" clickbait articles about Slovenia, but from what we found they are all well deserved. 

At least one legacy of communism in Ljubljana

 

Speaking of, we are coming up on two months of travel, which also neatly marks about a third of the trip as a whole and roughly half of Europe. We are steadily cruising now, no longer in early exuberance nor finding ourselves homesick and jaded. We do occasionally find ourselves sore about the constant figuring it out that even small things require and sometimes wish for an evening of leftovers and Netflix, but Slovenia was a great reminder of what can make travel worth it.

 

Until next time!