Before I start my Slovenia blog, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to read my first ever blog post. The support and feedback I got from it was way beyond what I could have imagined!! I hope you continue to enjoy my blog posts!! xxx
For years, my sisters and I have wanted to organise a holiday together. However, with university and other commitments, it's been hard to find the time - until this year, where we took a 4 day trip to Slovenia in July.
We wanted to go somewhere that isn't as well known as other tourist destinations. We decided that 3 days in Lake Bled and a day in the city Ljubljana would be perfect.
WARNING - LOTS OF PHOTOS!!
For our time in Lake Bled, we stayed in an Air BnB a 20-minute walk from the centre and lake itself. After settling in early afternoon, we took a trip down to the lake and had a walk around to get a feel for the area. Let me get one thing straight...
Photos and videos don't do this beautiful place any justice, its honestly a real-life fairytale land.
We hired rowing boats and took a trip to the island in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, the glistening, turquoise water was very deceiving to us all as it was absolutely freezing so we couldn't take a dip on the journey. Its safe to say Frankie did all the work whilst Georgia and I relaxed... Whilst walking around the island, we were exposed to more amazingly beautiful views (and obviously photo opportunities!!). The Island has a church on it which is known to bring good luck to couples who kiss and ring the bell at the top- cute...
By the time we had finished around the island it was evening time, so we headed back to the apartment to get ready for our evening out.
Luckily a perk of living so far out from the lake, in the middle of nowhere!! - was that we were able to use bikes free of charge thanks to our Air BnB! So we cycled back to the lake and had a meal looking over this beautiful place. We didn't want a late night, as tomorrow we wanted to have a filled day... So we headed home to bed shortly after dinner.
Day two was an early morning start and what's better for a bunch of tired sisters? Not a bike ride, and especially not a 5 mile one (all uphill on the way). Was it worth it when we got to Vintgar Gorge? 10000%. A 1.6-kilometer gorge, with wooden walkways and multiple waterfalls, pools and rapids. The sounds, smell and views were amazing. Additionally, this was another location that photos can't do justice. The colours and textures just aren't the same - even without the editing!!
Taking us over an hour to reach the end, the walk back brought us anticipation for the bike ride back, but luckily for us, it was all downhill, and we got to finish it off with Bled cake.
Bled cake is the traditional cake of Slovenia, and trip advisor sent us to the best place for it. It was filling, sweet and delicious!
After our cake-stop, we then took a hike up to the beautiful castle, little did we know that there were going
to be so many stairs after a painful bike ride... but again, we made it and again, it was so worth it. The castle was the perfect opportunity for us to look over the whole lake and take in the beauty of Slovenia. This was one of my favourite moments of Lake Bled, because as I was looking over, watching the boats go by, watching people living and loving, I realised how lucky I was to be there.
After the castle, we headed back to the room. Before we headed out to dinner, a power nap was needed after a lot of walking and biking today.
Once ready, we went for dinner to a Mexican themed restaurant. The food was nice, and the cocktails were nice... but not nice enough as we then went for drinks after. We had the most amazing view of the castle and of a night time it had its lights, so it was truly a fairytale castle. We finished the day with a relaxing drink overlooking the lake and it was perfect.
Day three was a long, but action filled day with activities around the Slovenia/lake area from 8am to 8pm. The company provided transfers throughout the day so it was a case of enjoying different elements of the day with no stress of transportation.
Instead of naming all of the activities we did, I'm going to talk about the highlights and quickly as possible as I could probably go on forever.
The first stop was the lake, where the 'lucky golden goat' was.
This gave us an opportunity to learn about the history, myths and
get a photo with the goat. - 1st Photo
We then drove to the Vrsic mountain pass where we took a hike
to the top of the mountain - due to being thousands of ft up, it was
too cold to even listen to what the instructors were saying so
unfortunately, I can't provide any history of this step!! - 2nd Photo
Continuing to more hiking, we travelled through forests by waterfalls,
and were able to get close to the action of the beginning of the
waterfall - Georgia wasn't too keen on this... - 3rd Photo
Then for a shortstop by the Emerald River Soca. The water was such
a beautiful emerald colour (funnily enough due to the name), and if
it was safe to do so, I would've jumped in without hesitation; but
unfortunately only photo opportunities.
Then for the most exciting part, WHITE WATER RAFTING!! Having
done it before in Boston we were excited to experience it again in
a different part of the world. It was sooooooo fun, but soooooooo
cold. Having experienced the rapids of the river and massive rocks
that sent our raft flying and spinning, it motivates me more to
recommend this to everyone if you get the opportunity.
Forever having troubles getting into cold water when arriving at the
Kozjak waterfall the view was impeccable and to have the opportunity
to swim in it, I had to push through the freezing water.
The day then ended with an open train ride, whereby we were allowed to open all the doors of the van and take it the views of beautiful Slovenia whilst we travel back.
What an amazing day. We met some lovely people, saw so much of the surroundings around Lake Bled, and experienced some amazing things. The company we travelled with was 3gav- in case you ever go!!
The adventure day was our last day in Lake Bled, as we made our way to the capital 'Ljubljana' for the last day before we flew home. Our focus for our time in Lake Bled was to actively see the area, whereas in contrast to Ljubljana it was more relaxed and aimed to focus on seeing the culture of the city.
After checking into our Air Bnb, our host was kind enough to sit us down and advise us on the best places to go in such a short time.
We made our way to the centre and sat down to have smoothies whilst we discussed our movements for the rest of the day. Firstly we headed up to the castle which looked over the whole city and it was such an amazing sight. Unfortunately, it wasn't the nicest weather so whilst dodging the rain we didn't explore as much as we would've liked.
Whilst making our way back down into the town we decided to walk through the streets rather than taking the primary route, which gave us the opportunity to wander back streets with arty cafe's and beautiful scenery throughout.
We then headed to the food market which had 30+ stools of different types of foods, ranging from crepes, to Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Lebanese and many more. We were then able to eat in communal seating with others as we appreciated the atmosphere of this city.
Our last day stop was to Metelkova which is an urban squat that's been adapted from abandoned army barracks. This arty environment has so many different elements to it, I could've stayed here for longer than we did, there was so much to see in such little time...
Ranging from sculptures to graffiti to creative architecture it was the perfect photo opportunity spot.
We ended our trip with strong, fruity cocktails, a big meal and lots of card games, before heading back to get some sleep before our flight home.
Slovenia is such an amazing place and is way too underrated. I advise everyone to seriously contemplate going to this amazingly beautiful and cultured country.
With big thanks to my sisters for putting up with me being tired and getting drunk on one cocktail, but also making this holiday one to remember...
xx
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