The Definition Of Idyllic

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This isn't the first time I have been to Slovenia, although the preposition "to" is perhaps misleading. Back in the days of 2007, I travelled through Slovenia en route from Venice to Pula, but never set foot on Slovenian soil - i.e. I never got off the bus. Therefore, as per my own rules about visiting countries, I have never been to Slovenia. Until now.

I had always heard that Slovenia was a beautiful place - Bled in particular (I had seen the photos) - and was great for outdoor activities.
This holiday would be a little different, as Davies and I wanted to try some of the sporting activities on offer.

Getting to Bled was a bit of a mission - flights to the capital Ljubljana are fairly expensive because Ryanair don't fly there, but they do fly to Klagenfurt, Austria, for just £40 one-way.
Although they annoy me, I've never really had too much of a problem with Ryanair - but this however, had to be my worst Ryanair flight so far; try being stuck on the tarmac for thirty minutes before finally taking off, only to realise you can't breathe because the air-ventilation system isn't working properly, and that you're really hot because the air-conditioning system has gone bust too. We then fly through heavy turbulence for most of the flight, before I look out the window and see flashes of lightning.
"What happens when lightning strikes a plane?" asked Davies.

It was stiflingly hot when we arrived in Klagenfurt and I had a post-flight headache - from a lack of oxygen this time rather than a hangover as was usually the case.
We didn't have time to wait forty minutes for a bus to the hauptbahnhof so we got an annoyingly overpriced taxi to the main train station instead. Klagenfurt didn't seem like anything special from my taxi window.

As our train passed by the Wörthersee, I was slightly mesmerised by the Listerine-blue of the water before we arrived in Villach, where we had an hour to wait for our train to Lesce-Bled.
We spent our one hour doing a mini-tour of this Southern Austrian town which was pretty boring - it has a nice pedestrianised main shopping street and a big church, but that was about it. For a Saturday night, the place was dead as. The weather had turned cold and wet too, although I appreciated getting refreshed by the cool wind after the heady flight over.

On the train to Slovenia, you pass through a never-ending tunnel under a mountain - you are in Austria when you enter it, and you are in Slovenia when you exit it, the signs having changed from German to Slovene.
Quite a few tourists alighted at Lesce-Bled where there was another half-hour wait before the next bus to Bled. Two massive taxi vans then rocked up and we managed to squeeze into one of them - 5€ got us straight to our hostel door.

By pure coincidence, we had found out a week before we left that our old school friends Mike and Kylie were going to be in Bled at the same time as us while on their Euro-Trip. They were even staying in the same hostel. It was great to see some old faces from home that we hadn't seen in a while, catching up and sharing our travel experiences over a couple of beers in the hostel bar.

Also by pure coincidence, was the fact that the World Rowing Championships were taking place in Bled that week.
After finally finding a cafe in town the next morning that actually served food for breakfast, we pulled up at the start line to watch several races get under way.
I have to say the whole thing seemed a bit of a shambles. There was a small crowd gathered on a small grandstand and loud music (including Bloc Party's "Helicopter" funnily enough) blared out of the speakers. Just before each race a steward would hold up a sign to the crowd reading "Quiet Please", even though the music was still blaring out and the bells of the nearby church were still ringing. Those church bells were incessant, and I can only imagine how it might affect the rowers trying to hear the start gun.
The big screen wasn't working either, so once the rowers started, they just rowed into the distance, leaving us with no idea who was actually winning. There was some commentary in several languages, but it was drowned out by the music and those bloody bells. A shambles I tell you.
We ran out of patience after a while and we bid Mike and Kylie farewell, as they had to go pick up their rental car and make their way to nearby Bovec.
Davies and I opted for an idyllic walk around the lake.

As you can see from the photos, whoever came up with the word 'idyllic' probably made up the word after visiting Bled. The scenery is quite stunning.
Walking around the lake, we kept walking past groups of massive rower dudes with tree-trunk thighs and lots of toned, athletic women (hmmm...) running around the lake to warm up.
At the finish line, there was a massive grandstand and press box, as well as the main athlete base and boat shed. There was a sizeable crowd cheering the rowers home, including a rather vocal Dutch contingent.
We watched the finish of a few races including a few New Zealand crews, our world champion men's pair among them. I think we won four of the heats that day.
Although it was pretty cool to be here for the rowing, I felt in a way that it spoilt and disrupted things a little. Parts of the lake were closed off, including the main beach which would have been awesome to chill out at.

After a pasta lunch at a lakeside restaurant with, get this - a glass toilet door - we found out that getting transport over to the Church Of The Assumption on the little island in the middle of the lake was exorbitantly expensive. We luckily managed to talk a chilled-out boat hire dude to let us rent his only two kayaks for just 5€ for an hour.
It's been a while since I've been kayaking and it showed. I simply couldn't control direction and ended up going round in circles whenever I tried to pick up speed. A fun, relaxing kayak was anything but.
I eventually managed to get to the island, which doesn't have too much to it apart from it's prettiness. There was an art exhibition inside the church but the main feature is the 99 stone steps that lead up from the water to the church. Weddings are often held on the island and the tradition is that the groom has to carry his bride up all 99 steps. So while it one of the most romantic places to get married, unless my bride is a lightweight, I ain't getting married here.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just chillin' in the sun and swimming in the lake along with many of the locals and tourists. It had been quite chilly in the morning but now the sun was out and the water was actually pretty warm. The swim was refreshing and it was nice to go swimming without swallowing a tablespoon of salt for a change.

Our hostel bar is called the George Best Bar and it was the best place in town to catch Manchester United vs Arsenal. I wonder if old Bestie ever knew about this place named after him, filled with old football memorabilia. He would have been proud of the result - let's just say I would 8-2 be an Arsenal fan.
With a weakened Arsenal team, I expected United to win, but I didn't expect that we'd kill them like that.
Enjoying a rather-nice local "Union" beer (pronounced like 'onion' but with a 'u'😉 in the sun, it was just about the perfect afternoon.

I had picked out a restaurant where we could enjoy some Slovenian fare for dinner, but it's location was a little strange. As we walked up an unlit road past some ropey-looking garages, we felt like we were in a scene from Hostel. When we eventually got to the lonely hotel/restaurant at the top of the hill some ten minutes later, we found out that it was not a Slovenian restaurant, but a pizzeria.
We were too tired and sunstroked to walk back into town so we settled for the huge pizzas on offer here. The menu was quite extensive, although this was a bit misleading as all the pizzas sounded identical bar a topping here and a topping there.
I was stuffed at the end of it - the pizza defeated me, which is a rare occurrence.
I don't think there is really any nightlife to speak of in Bled - the George Best Bar is probably the liveliest joint in town.
In any case, we needed to reserve our energy and have an early night.

That was because the next morning we were going to try canyoning!
It is basically a mix of hiking, rock climbing, abseiling and swimming, through a canyon. We originally wanted to go rafting but the low water levels meant that it might've been shit. Therefore, we thought we'd try something a bit different.
Either way, we wanted to make the most of Slovenia's natural resources.
By coincidence, it turned out that our Aussie dorm-mates Gabby and Josh were also booked on our canyoning trip along with another Aussie, Abby.
During the twenty minute drive out to the canyon, our guide noticed that we were all very quiet.
"You're not all nervous are you?"

After changing into our wetsuits and wetsuit boots, we donned our helmets and harnesses and made our way to the rocks. I regretted not having a waterproof/shockproof camera.
We followed a 30-minute track through the forest that lead up into the hills and down a rope into the dry riverbed that went through the canyon.
After the safety briefing, the guide then told us that the biggest jump we would have to make was from eleven metres high. Eleven metres! Now I was a little nervous.
The first two rock jumps were baby steps - the first one was
two metres and the second one was five metres - easy peasy. I was more nervous about how cold the water would be.
Hitting the water, it was cold at first but refreshing - and it was actually fine once our wetsuits got to work.
Then came the big eleven-metre kahuna.
The guide tells us that we can do an alternative five-metre jump if we felt too scared to do the eleven-metre one, and that he wouldn't allow us to jump the eleven-metre one if our legs were shaking too much. Right...so I had to do the jump and look brave before doing it.
Rather than being scared, Josh relished the opportunity and went first. Davies looked a bit nervous and had to think about it for a while, but eventually did it.
Then I was up.
Looking down at the pool, the pool looked tiny. I also had to make sure that I jumped far enough forward to avoid hitting the rock jutting out from below. It was slightly scary, but I thought the most nerveless way to do it would be to just jump without thinking about it too much.
I contemplated the jump for about ten seconds and then got into position to jump. Here goes!
Suddenly the guide grabs me just as I am about to jump.
"Sorry, I can't let you jump" he says, "you are shaking too much". A weird sensation then came over me, a feeling of simultaneous relief and disappointment, along with a loss of manliness - I had made up my mind to jump and was literally about to do it!
But I almost immediately understood his call - a nervous, uncontrolled jump could have disastrous consequences and he didn't want to bear the responsibility. Fair enough.
Sure I was nervous - I mean, who wouldn't be when about to jump eleven metres into a tiny cave pool - but I didn't think I was shaking that badly.
So I did the five-metre jump with the girls...

After clambering over some rocks and climbing across the face of a rock wall, we ended up at a nine-metre jump into another pool. We all managed to do this one although Davies gave us all a scare when he took one vertical step down the rock before falling into the pool.
"What are you doing!" screamed the guide. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"
I have to say that the jumping is definitely a thrill and you have a great sense of satisfaction once you hit the water.
We then abseiled down into an awesome looking cave where you had to swim through an underwater opening in the rock to get to the final part of the course.
Although the wetsuits did a great job of keeping you warm, if you stayed in the water long enough you really did get quite cold.
We did a final abseil down to the end of the course.
I've always enjoyed abseiling and wanted to rappel down the cliff Sylvester-Stallone-in-Cliffhanger-style ("you're not gonna die!") but the guide wasn't giving me enough slack to do it. He then holds me up about two metres above the pool at the bottom before deliberately dropping me into it (he did it to everyone).
It was an awesome, enjoyable morning - definitely 45€ well spent.

Back at the hostel, we all enjoyed some beer and pizza in the sun. The group got on really well and we all enjoyed the relaxed conversation.
None of us had any set plans for the afternoon, so we all hired bikes and made a thigh-busting 4km ride to Vintgar and it's famous gorge. There was a bit of laughter seeing Gabby trying to master the gears on her bike - the poor girl didn't seem to have much of a clue.
It has been ages since I have been on a bike, and my thighs were burning so much that I had to stop halfway through - only to discover that we still had to go uphill for what seemed an eternity up to Vintgar.
"Just think of the ride on the way back down" said Josh.
Once at the top, we then had to ride down a long, steep, winding hill to get to the gorge itself.
"Looking forward to the ride back up?" I asked Josh.

We left our bikes at the start of the gorge trail then followed the wooden bridges and walkways through the gorge (Gabby also didn't know what a gorge was - bless her).
The water was a beautiful shade of turquoise and the colour was intense. The water appeared clear as well, as if you could use it as mouthwash. At the end of the gorge is quite possibly the most romantic waterfall I have ever seen - a perfect photo opportunity.
The whole gorge itself was beautiful and the rocks and ramparts reminded me of The Goonies.
The ride back up the hill wasn't actually too bad and I even had the energy to keep riding on for a bit once I had reached the top. After speeding through the actual town of Vintgar, we stopped for a scenic shot looking across the plains back towards Bled.
We lost Gabby for a while so we waited, and seeing her cautiously coming around the corner with a car of annoyed locals backed up right behind her was a hilarious sight.
We then hooned it down the rest of the hill, the top speed and wind in my hair being the second-most exhilirating thing I did all day.
Back at the hostel we enjoyed another couple of beers before bidding farewell to Gabby, who was catching a bus to Ljubljana that evening.

It turned out that I had got the correct road when trying to find that restaurant last night - we had just walked in the wrong direction.
But Josh, Abby, Davies and I found it tonight, as we readied ourselves for some Slovenian dinner.
The restaurant had cool layout - all the tables were situated under a huge, wooden shelter which had an open air rotunda of-sorts in the middle of it.
The boys and I all ordered the "Duke's Plate" which consisted of a traditional mincemeat pattie, grilled ham, Carniola sausage, sauerkraut, and a bacon-and-bread-infused meatloaf. All very hearty and meaty - fit for a king. Or a duke.
I certainly enjoyed it.

We were having a couple more drinks back at the George Best Bar when we were joined by an Irish guy.
Earlier, we were talking about how the best storytellers are Irish, and sure enough, this guy had a couple of crackers. I think it's the way they tell them, but he had us in stitches.
One was about how he managed to actually slip on a banana skin (and you thought it only happened in cartoons and Mario Kart), and another was about a friend of his who drunkenly fell through the planks of his bed, landing in a puddle of vomit. But the funniest one had to be the one where we accidentally punched an old lady in the face.
Josh had a theory; "the Irish have the best stories because they're always drunk!"
We didn't stay up too late - it had been a long, action-packed day after all - and we all vaguely agreed to catch the 10.20am bus to Lake Bohinj the next day.
Josh and Abbey are really good company and it was enjoyable hanging out with them.

I didn't seriously think that we would actually all get up to catch that bus, but when I got up the next morning, Davies was on a mission to catch it and nothing was stopping him.
I hadn't seen Abby around and Josh was in the shower but it was 10.15am and we had to run.
In my sleepy stupor, I had to make a snap decision whether to go or stay, so I decided that Davies and I had better stick together and so hastily packed my bags and sprinted out of there.
We didn't think we'd make the bus, but we somehow managed to. Neither Josh or Abby were on it though - and we haven't seen either of them since.
It was a bit of a shame that we kind of just ran out on them like that and I felt a little bad. That whole morning was a bit of a shambles.

An hour later, we were in Bohinj.
Arriving at the lakeside town of Ribcev Laz, we grabbed a crepe for breakfast at an outdoor cafe where I was promptly attacked by a horde of wasps. They are everywhere in Slovenia and are a fucking nuisance. They are unbelievably persistent and you always think twice about swatting them away because you know that the fuckers can sting you. We trapped one in a Coke bottle but it all it did was draw out his mates from the nearby bushes for revenge attacks and to try and free him. Highly annoying.

The tourist office recommended a couple of hikes, but we didn't really have the time or the energy, so we settled on just chilling out on the pebble beaches like many of the locals.
The scenery of the lake is quite stunning - the water is a beautiful shade of emerald, and the Julian Alps served as the postcard backdrop. It was peaceful out there and the air was clean - always appreciated after living in London.
With the sun hiding behind the clouds, it got a bit chilly - a word that could also describe the water. You didn't really want to linger in it for long.
Davies then remembered that Mike and Kylie were actually due in Bohinj today. A few texts later, and we were all reunited again enjoying our rather scenic spot on the lake.
We couldn't enjoy their company for long though unfortunately, as we had to catch our bus back to Bled.
I honestly haven't seen Mike and Kylie for at least a couple of years, so it was a great coincidence to catch up with them twice, in Slovenia of all places.

Back in Bled, we still had two more things to tick off.
The first of those two things was to sample some famous Bled cake. We stopped by at Slascicarna Smon, which apparently did the best Bled cakes in Bled.
Like a custard square with a layer of fresh cream beneath to the top layer of pastry, it was nice, but nothing to write home about. Although by mentioning it in this blog I guess I just have.
Slascicarna Smon was en route to the last thing we had to tick off - Bled Castle.
The 8€ entrance fee was as steep as the hill we had just climbed to get there and Davies decided to forego it. I'm not sure that I'll ever revisit Bled so I decided to go in.
Perched upon a cliff overlooking the lake, the views from up there were probably worth the entrance fee alone.
Then, I suddenly hear some music and shouting in the main courtyard - so I go to investigate.
There is a show on in the courtyard where a belly dancer is strutting her stuff to the sound of drums and flute, and is surrounded by men dressed in Aladdin-like clothing.
I then hear some clanking behind me and a group of men dressed as knights brush past me to do battle with the Aladdins. One of the Aladdins is sent hurtling towards me. Watch where you point that sword son!
The knights "win the battle" and perform some medieval dancing with their women to celebrate.
A group of archers then come onto the scene and shoot real arrows at the knights - luckily the knights are all hidden behind the wooden board that archers are shooting their arrows at.
There are several more acts before the show is finally over and I have to say the whole thing was entertaining, if a bit cheesy. It was the story of the history of Bled apparently.
Exploring the castle itself, I discover that very little of the original castle actually remains - but it looks like a proper medieval castle.
The castle's museum on the history of Bled and the surrounding area was quite interesting and impressive. It charts the full history of the place, the people that originally lived here and the archaeological objects discovered around the area. I learnt that Bled was as a spa and natural healing town in the 19th century, and that Tito built his residence here in 1947.
The museum was a perfect way to kill the time before meeting Davies at the bus station for the bus to our next destination - Ljubljana.

I really liked Bled. There is plenty to do and it's so pretty and relaxed - which I guess is the definition of idyllic.

Se vidimo kmalu!
Derek

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Photos

Lake Bohinj
Spectacular.

Bled Island
Picture perfect.

Sum Falls
At the end of the Vintgar Gorge

The Start Line
With Bled Castle & The Parish Church in the background, I can think of less picturesque places to hold a rowing regatta.

Lake Bled
With the finish line grandstand in the background.

Church Of The Assumption
The church on Bled Island

Swimming
Locals sunbathing and swimming in Lake Bled.

Kayaking
Davies shows off his kayaking skills.

Castle Views Over The Lake
Worth the 8€ entrance fee?

Vintgar Gorge
Walking through the Vintgar Gorge.

Rapids
In the Vintgar Gorge.

Bridges & Ramparts
Following the Radovna River through the Vintgar Gorge.

Josh, Gabby, Davies & Abby
On our way to Vintgar.

Slovenian Countryside
Taken from Vintgar. All the farmhouses were these cute two-storey A-frames.

"The Duke's Plate"
A mixture of Slovenian specialities.

Like Listerine
The colour of the water in the Vintgar Gorge was intense.

Church Of St. John The Baptist
Located in Ribcev Laz, which is on the shore of Lake Bohinj.

Me, Davies, Mike & Kylie
I can think of less scenic places to catch up with friends!

Knights vs. Aladdins
Actors play out a battle in the castle courtyard.

Bled Castle
The oldest castle in Slovenia.

Sum Falls, Again
Without me in the picture this time.

Comments

[Susurros somnolientos]

I miss Slovenia...
Hi Derek, nice blog, I visited Bled in 2008 and it seems to have become even more expensive...But I got quite addicted to the Kremšnita, which you refer to as Bled cake. So yummy! Slovenia is a very underrated destination in my opinion. Cheers, Jens