Sunny Easter in Slovenia

I'm sitting in Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport with a 5 hour stopover (everyone who ever had a stopover at this monster of an airport knows that it's better to have a too long stopover than a too short stopover here) and thought: why not use the time to write a blog? I've never written a blog for just a weekend trip. But as I enjoyed writing my blog for Jordan quite a bit and make use of the blogs now as well in my photo books, I thought why not? So here we go!

For this Easter two friends had asked me if I want to go on a long weekend trip. Johanna, my friend from studying in Karlsruhe and Olga, my friend from Rotterdam. So we decided to do a girl's trip and after some discussion the choice was made: we will go to Slovenia. I heard a lot of great things about the beautiful nature and was really excited. All three of us made our way to Ljubljana (why do I always feel drunk when I say that?) on Thursday night. Olga and I arrived around the same time at the airport and Johanna, who had taken a train to get there, met us in the evening there. We picked up our car and drove to the little city of Kranj (pronounced Kraan), where Johanna had already checked us in. Like this it was very easy, we parked the car, walked into the pedestrian area and straight to our room. We had decided not to go into Ljubljana that night as it would have been 25 minutes drive into the wrong direction. After a short discussion we decided not to go out anymore as it was already 11pm and we were all tired. So after a relaxing tea and some talking we went to bed early.

The next morning we had a great breakfast and followed the owners advice to do a little stroll to a viewing point. It was quite impressive as it went straight down about 50 meters and that in the middle of the city! We were all really excited about our holidays: it was already beautifully sunny, the town was really cute and we could already see the snow capped mountains in the background. After this we checked out and made our way to the first highlight of the trip: Lake Bled. On the way we saw a sign for a castle, where Putin and George Washington Senior once met and decided to have a look. It didn't look that great and we weren't really inclined to pay the 25 Euros, so we decided to move on. When we arrived at the lake we were blown away: by it's beauty and the masses of tourists. We parked our car as soon as possible not caring about the high prices. At the lake there are a couple of options what to do: stroll around the lake (roughly 1 hour), go up 20 minutes to the castle on a rock or row across to the little island with a church. I had found a recommendation online to go to a nice view point, where you get a great look on the lake and the castle, so that was what we decided to do first. It was a steep 40 minutes walk through a beautiful forest. Olga decided to do only the lower view point and so after 30 minutes we split and only Johanna and me conquered the nearly 800m high hill. We were treated with an excellent view and nearly no one there. It was so beautiful! After some pictures we made our way back to the lower view point and where surprised not to find Olga there. After some searching and sending of locations back and forth via whatsapp we found each other. Olga had found a nice viewpoint, but with no lake view! So we brought her to the lower lake view point and made some more pictures there :-)
Once back down at the lake, we followed the shore to where our car was. We sat down at a café and enjoyed the sun. Unfortunately the famous lake bled cream cake was sold out there, but from the reaction of the waitress ("you can get that shitty cake everywhere here, don't worry) our excitement was a bit toned down and we were OK with just an icecream. We decided that we had seen enough of Lake Bled and drove over to the second amazing lake: Lake Bohinj (Bohiin). We had booked accomodation for two nights at that lake and I was very happy about it. People had told us that it is way less touristy and even more beautiful/natural as Lake Bled. We arrived at our Appartment and it was gorgeous. The lady there was super nice and helped us out with our many questions. Olga and I made the way back to town as we had decided to use the barbeque in the garden, right next to a lovely river. While we did the shopping, Johanna enjoyed the deck chairs and relaxed in the garden. The lady even helped us then to start the barbeque as she didn't like the chemical starters and showed us how to do it just with paper and a bit of wood :-) We had a great dinner and when it got cold finished the evening with a great game of cards in the common room. Then there was the tough part: what do we do tomorrow. The lady explained us a couple of great options and then it was up to us to decide. We decided to do a hike up mount Komna in the morning. As Olga wasn't too excited about a steep/long hike, she decided to sleep in and have a relaxed morning in the garden. Then we would meet later and visit the waterfalls together.

So Johanna and I got up at 8 and drove to the starting point of the hike. It was still cool, but not too bad. The hike was 2,5 hours with quite some steep uphill loops. It started in beautiful forest with some views back on Lake Bohinj. We had already expected some snow when we got closer to the top, but were a bit surprised that there was still plenty of snow. The last hour we basically walked in snow. Most of the time it was fine, not too slippery and you could walk nicely in other people foot steps. But from time to time you would brake in knee deep :-) A bit tiring but still OK. We were both very happy when we arrived at the hut, where the lady from our appartment had promised great local food. So there we were sitting in the sun, enjoying the great view down on Lake Bohinj and trying some great food. Johanna chose a very yummy Appel Strudel and I tried the cottage cheese dish (Topfstrudel). Hmmm.
After a little rest we texted Olga that we were on the way down and expected to be at the meeting point at the entrance of the waterfall in 1,5 hours. Olga walked there from the appartment, which was a nice 45 minutes walk and met us there. We were only about 10 minutes late, not bad for a in total 5 hours trip to be that well on time :-) After another little break (ouch, the way down really was tiring) we entered the waterfall. It was a 20 minutes walk, with many, many stairs uphill. Johanna and me felt like old people and suffered our way up, while Olga was doing it very easily. Pfff.
On top we were rewarded with the view of a very cool waterfall. Unfortunately you couldn't go there directly due to a fence, but still very cool spot. After many pictures (from the waterfall and another view back on Lake Bohinj) we made our way back to the car park. There we stopped for some food and drinks at a very touristy place. We were enjoying the sun until we couldn't bear it anymore and then went back to our appartment. There we rested again a bit and decided to make spaghetti in our kitchen and not go out for dinner.
I decided to see how far away the lake is and did a little walk with my camera, while Olga and Johanna prepared the dinner. The lake turned out to be just 5 minutes away by foot and I spent quite some time taking pictures there. On the way back I also found the little wood bridge that we drove over every time to get to the appartment and that was another nice picture spot. When it got dark I returend to the appartment and we had diner together. The family that ownes and runs the appartment had a barbeque and sat out in the garden quite late, but as it was already freezing cold we decided to stay inside and ate there. After dinner, Olga and I put on all our clothes to take some night pictures of the lake. Unfortunately it was a full moon and therefore not many stars were visible. We still got some great shots and the family from the appartment was very impressed when we showed them afterwards :-)

The next morning I woke up early and decided to go to the lake again. I wasn't fully awake, so it was great to walk there, sit at the lake, read my book and do one or two more photos. I returned for breakfast with Olga and Johanna and then we already packed and said goodbye to these lovely people. We had decided to follow one more of their advices before we make our way to Ljubljana: visit the gorge of Voje. After a little search we found the right parking lot and started the walk. It was a very easy walk, but it took us a lot longer than the one hour to get to the hut at the end of the trail as we were taking a lot of pictures. Such a beautiful place! At the hut we followed the advice to try the pie and it was really worth it. Blueberry pie and cottage cheese with forest fruit pie, yummy again! The way back we were really happy we had started reasonably early. We walked back on the other side of the gorge and saw so many tourists on the path we had done in the morning!
Back at the parking lot we got an unpleasent surprise. We had written to teh AirBnb host that we would arrive in the early afternoon and got back an answer that there seems to be an issue with the toilet of the appartment that he wasn't sure how to solve yet. As we had no other option we drove there anyways and hoped that during our one hour drive he would find a solution. When we arrived he explained us that a plumber would come in the early evening and they are very confident that they can solve it. The only alternative he could offer was a hotel 20 minutes outside of Ljubljana, everything else for a reasonable price was sold out. We were not excited about this option, so decided to hope for the best. We left our suitcases at the appartment and went to explore the city. The location of the appartment was perfect: right at the bottom of the old castle, the appartment was even a part of the old city wall. So we hiked up the 20 minutes to the castle and walked around it, enjoying the beautiful view. We werent't to keen on going inside and after learning that it costs 20 Euros, we decided to just visit the free inner courtyard and the toilets :-)
Then we made our way back down and strolled a bit through the city. Ljubljana is not the biggest city, and the city center is car free, how great! We had a late lunch/early dinner at a tourist restaurant and then walked a bit further around. After having some experimental ice cream (the Mint/Straciatella was great, the IPA beer one not so much) we went to a rooftop bar. The prices for drinks were actually reasonable and the view just amazing. I loved the snowcapped mountains that were not too far away. After a while the wind got quite cold so we went back to the appartment. Our little rest turned into not leaving the house anymore at all.

Going to bed early had the advantage that we managed to get up early the next morning. We wanted to go the the beach, which is a bit more than one hours drive and I really wanted to visit a cave on the way. While the others were not so excited to visit a cave, I convinced them as I had heard great things about them. We decided against the biggest cave, Postojna, as it was meant to be very busy and it was Easter Monday after all. So we chose the Skocjan caves, which were also recommended by our host from Lake Bohinj. When we arrived there we were a bit shocked. About 250 people had signed up for the first tour of the day. Luckily we were split into 5 groups: 1 in Slovenien, 2 Italian and 2 English groups. It took more than 30 minutes until we finally entered the cave. But it was so worth it. The caves were unbelievable. I've been too many caves, but never that big ones. There were halls that were more than 100 meters high. The first part they called the silent caves as they are the "dry part", with many great stalactites and stalagmites. They said that every 200 years even these huges caves were flooded, which we could not imagine at all. Then we came to the "wet part", with a river flowing through. We crossed a bridge that was 45 meters above the river and were told that just 2 months ago there was a flood which had put this bridge 15 meters under water. It is really hard to imagine that!!! We loved the tour, despite the one big disappointment: it was forbidden to take photos! I saw that a german guy was taking photos with his phone anyways, so after the tour I asked him and he shared them with me :-) Not great photos obviously, but still a nice memory :-)
After the 12 degrees in the cave it was great to get back out and into the sun. It was again a beautiful day. Olga took the lift back up to the visitors center and Johanna and me walked up the 20 minutes. Then we got back in the car and in just 30 minutes we made it to the sea. We walked around the cute town of Izola and sat down at a nice restaurant directly at the beach. We had some lovely pizza and I tested the sea with my feet. I have to say it was not as cold as expected, definitely warmer than the North Sea in Holland, but it definetly didn't motivate me to follow the two people we saw swimming. After some more strolling through the little alleys and a visit of a nice little church and clock tower we went back to the car and drove back to Ljubljana.
There I went for a little walk along the river and sat down to read my book. After a while I went to a nice alternative bar at the river and the girls joined me shortly after. They had really good (and cheap) craft beer and after the second one I realised that they serve 0.5l beers and I didn't have any dinner yet. So we went to a nice restaurant in the main street. After dinner we were all exhausted and went back to the appartment again.

The next morning we woke up and unfortunately the weather forecast had been right: after four amazing sunny and hot days it was raining. So we took it easy, slept in, packed our stuff, put it in the car and went for a late breakfast. Johanna and Olga tried the highly recommended icd cream (Olga was happy, Johanna not convinced) and then we made our way to the car. The rain didn't really motivate us for sight seeing so we only made a little stop to visit a church and then went straight to the car. As we still had some time spare, we drove to a little cultural/artsy center and walked around and took some photos. Crazy alternative and quite cool photo spots. Then it was time to say goodbye and we drove to the airport.

All in all, I can only recommend to visit Slovenia. The people were unbelievably friendly and the country is just beautiful. You can find cute little cities, historical places and castles and most important an unbelievably beautiful and mainly unspoiled nature. Gorgeous mountains, lakes and caves. I could have spent much more time there hiking, cayaking or just relaxing in this beautiful place.