Blogs from Upper Carniola, Slovenia, Europe - page 6

We used Saturday morning to plan the final weeks of our trip. We've decided to base ourselves in Split for ten days and take day trips or perhaps an overnight to an island. We will take a bus to Dubrovnik on the 8th and fly to Venice, where we overnight and fly to Boston very early the next morning. When we got tired of looking at airbnb possibilities in Split, we headed out to get bikes again, and ride to the Botanical garden. "Established in 1810, the Ljubljana Botanical Garden is Slovenia's oldest cultural, scientific and educational institution operating uninterruptedly since its foundation. The Garden contains more than 4,500 different species and subspecies. One third of them are endemic to Slovenia, while the rest originate from other parts of Europe and other continents." My favorite parts ... read more

"Standing placidly in the shadows of the Julian Alps, ringed by thick forests and guarded by a stern medieval castle, is Slovenia’s beloved Lake Bled. At its center is Bled Island, home to one most beautiful churches on the planet and the “wishing bell,” a 16th century chime consecrated by the Pope himself that is believed to grant the wishes of all who ring it." On Thursday, we took a bus to Lake Bled, where the quintessential Slovenian photo of the church on the island in a lake is taken...It was still cool in the morning, and the sun started to come out just after we arrived. We decided to walk around the lake on the 6 kilometer path and opted not to hike up to castle. Part way around, we came to the Olympic Rowing ... read more

Slovenia is a new and old place: It only gained independence in 1991. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of Slavic, Germanic, and Romance languages and cultures, and there are sizable Hungarian and Italian populations here. Nearly all of the population between the ages of 25 and 64 speak at least one foreign language and almost three quarters of them speak two!! This is the highest percentage in the European Union. Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times. There is evidence of human habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divje_Ba... read more

Today I shall be travelling once more - this time from Zagreb to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. I have a train at 12.36 so I want to make the most of the time this morning and explore more of lovely Zagreb. I do breakfast early so I can get out as soon as possible. After a great breakfast (with a bewildering amount of choice), I head back to the main square through the lovely park with the bandstand and fountains. It is very peaceful and quiet here on a Sunday morning. I decide to walk the route that Vlatka will do with our guests next summer. So, from the main square I make my first stop at the large model of the city. Vlatka will stop here with the group and use the model to ... read more

Nuremburg seems about 3 weeks ago. It should have been a 4 hour journey to Salzburg with a nice 2 hour stop in a lovely park for a picnic, getting to our tyrolean home for a nice early tea, a wander round and early bed. Nice. Instead we had our annual 'this should take four hours but will actually take 10' journey . It was 8 hours on the road with a couple of half hour stops (still at the lovely park mind you) and some of southern germany's finest villages, dirt roads and farm tracks. Seth proved himself again to be a very able traveller with no complaining, no grumpiness and perfect cheeriness the whole time. When we finally cleared the closed road and got back on the autobahn, it was time for a stop. ... read more