Blogs from Slovenia, Europe - page 2

Another day in Slovenia. Sounds like a bit of a put down but anything but. Slovenia is beautiful. The rivers, the mountains, the villages, the towns, the people have been terrific. We’re very comfy in the hotel now, early check in, showered and feeling quite human again. It’s a half board arrangement and we have selected evening meal from soups, carpaccio of beef with homemade breads, hand made sheep curd with pumpkin and honey, ‘pork fish’ or veal ribs and salads and deserts. Not sure what pork fish is but I’m having it! The half board arrangements have provided us with home cooked offerings which have been good but pretty basic. Here local trout is a treat but we have missed it so far. Not all our accommodations have offered half board so often we are ... read more

Tolmin, the only Slovenian town I can pronounce. At least I think I can. I will admit that I’m not practicing much. A tourist approached me today and asked if I spoke English! I answered ‘of course’ in my best European, she asked a few questions and I answered. I’m sure she thought my English was rather good. Short walk today but still plenty of up and plenty of down. The track designer must share that Wainwright trait of not going where you expect to go. Starting destination and finishing destination are both at lake level, literally 24 m of vertical separation yet we do ten times that in elevation! You would think a scenic route around the lake and along the river. Well you would be very wrong. Up the hills, through the forest and ... read more

Apparently we are no longer in the Upper Carniola region. But until I stumble upon an answer as to what region we are really in that will do. I like the walk that commences and finishes with a little train trip. That‘s a little in time not little in train. In fact the locomotives here are super size. I suppose the gradient and conditions dictate that size is important here but they did the trick for us for sure. The morning train from Bohinj Bistrica was the reverse trip of yesterday’s and we got what we expected. A short trip through the tunnel that lasted 7 minutes and returned us to the destination that had taken us 6 and bit hours to walk the day before. The afternoon train we made with no time to spare ... read more

Day nineteen. 2023. I love Bled. (I may not have made this clear enough 😂) This morning was a visit somewhere new, a mini zoo. I'm not sure it was what you might expect of a zoo but it had snakes (quite terrifying as they stared at you) lizards (see above) the biggest free roaming grey parrot who clicked and spoke to you (in English) but equally looked like one wrong move and it would peck your eyes out, and all manner of terrapins. They had an insect area, the underside of a giant stick insect will make up all my nightmares from now on, they had fish (well, one tank anyway) chinchillas, hamsters, rabbits (not entirely sure if the small flurries and insects were there as potential food for the reptiles mind you but we'll ... read more

Day 16 2023, Tuesday. A little less sun but hey, it's still paradise. After clearing out the moths from the bathroom, we headed out to the tourist train. Yes, we've done it before but a trip to Bled really isn't a trip without a slow paced, diesel fume filled chug around the lake. Teeth chatteringly bumpy in places thanks to the storms, we took in the new fences and old haunts before getting back to where we started. On a hunt for bled cake we stopped at the shop but there was none so we made do with a couple of slabs of something Slovene (and done ice tea, it's really fabulous) to take back for lunch. Next was swimming. It should have been golf but with no nearby parking, we went to the beach. The ... read more