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Published: August 14th 2005
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A eight day visit to Slovenia in the north of former Yugloslavia. Slovenia is a beautiful country full of dense unspoilt forests, clear emerald streams and charming towns and villages set in a backdrop of towering mountains.
Ljubljana
Our flight took us to Ljubljana, a tiny capital city by London standards. Virtually everything can be reached on foot including the various squares (Trgs), the triple bridge and the castle at the top of Ljubljanski Grad. Ljubljana is also a very cycle friendly city with cycle lanes and virtually no traffic so we borrowed bikes from our hotel and made for the Tivoli mansion and park passing the countries parliament, National Museum and Art Gallery on the way.
Piran
Slovenia is virtually landlocked with only about 40km of coastline sandwiched between Italy and Croatia. Although only 113km away from Ljubljana, the bus ride to the coastal town of Piran took 3 1/2 hours (which I worked out to mean that the bus went at an average of 20mph!) and consisted on zig-zaging up and then down mountains and moving on the small road running parallel to the motorway. But a day on the rocky beach in the blazing hot
Piran
A picuresque town along the small Slovenian coastline sun and the view of the dense haphazard orange rooftops made it all worthwhile.
Postojna Caves
The morning before heading off to Bled from Ljubljana was spent retracing our route to Piran to visit the Postojna Caves, an amazing set of limestone caverns containing stalactites and stalactmites formed over thousands of years. A guided tour revealed formations which resembled an ice-cream, a rooster and The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Bled
Then it was on to Bled, a beautiful tourist town surrounding Lake Bled lying on the edge of the Triglav National Park. Tired from the bus ride, I surprised that it only took a quick visit to the tourist office and two more to accomodation agencies to get ourselves two private rooms in a pretty country house for a very reasonable price!
As this region of the country was famous for its adventure sports, we then spent the next few days trying as many as we could...
Mountain-biking and canyoning
Not feeling up to a 2 hour walk around the lake and trek up to the castle, Kanni and I decided to cycle instead and so we rented mountain bikes and a guide (who looked like he
Postojna Caves
Stalactites and stalacmites in the limestone caves was about to start the Tour de France) to explore the surrounding villages, hills and streams. After 20km, we were back where we started, starving but happy. We were then informed that our guide was actually last year's Slovenian cross country mountain biking champion, what luck! After returning our bikes, with only an hour before we were due to do canyoning, the two of us set off on foot, legs aching in search of a quick bite to eat.
We along with the two British backpackers that we were going to be canyoning with were taken by car to the river when an intense downpour struck making it too dangerous to go. The guides were forced to postpone the activity, but confident of their country's changable weather, they were confident that the rain would have completely cleared by the evening. Just to make the day more eventful, the van broke down in the pouring rain, but fortunately for us, we had already reached the bottom of our street. I felt so guilty standing in the warm dry room watching the guys outside pushing the van in the rain!
As predicted, the rain has passed by the evening and
Lake Bled
Lake Bled. A small islet with a church sits in the middle of the lake. it was on with the wet suits and helmets and up to the top of the hill. This was definitely worth the wait, the heavy rain just made going down mudslides, climbing rocks, absailing down small cliffs, sliding and jumping into the plungepools and following the rocky course that the river took much more fun, I only wish I had a water camera!
The Triglav National Park and White Water Rafting
It was an early start again the next day when we began our tour of the Triglav National Park. This consisted of a drive up the mountain pass to Vrsic, with stops at the Russian Chapel, Kranska Gora and a climb to see the source of the Soca River. Climbing along the edge of the cliff face with nothing to hold on but a wire set in the mountain side just added to the fun! It wasn't nearly as dangerous as it looked on the photo though! Then it was back in the car and onto Bovec for lunch followed by white water rafting. The Julien Alps, thick forests and clear streams really need to be seen with the eyes.
Saturday was our last day in Slovenia and
luckily for us the weather was good enough for a row in Lake Bled. There were so many more things I wanted to try in Slovenia, abseiling, climbing, kayaking and newly discovered activity hydrospeed! There just wasn't enough time to try them all!
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