Blogs from Upper Carniola, Slovenia, Europe - page 8

For the past two days we have been traveling to Slovenia and we have been delighted and rewarded by this wonderful country. For the first day we had pre booked tickets online to do a tour of Postojna Jama (Caves), these are amongst the largest caves in the world and the only ones where you enter via train and then walk around the caves. We found the irony of setting out on overcast day from Trieste, but within 5km of Postojna, the heavens opened up and we had no wet weather gear, not even an umbrella. So we braved it out and ran from the carpark to a Kiosk where the umbrellas were selling like hotcakes. We got to the ticketing line which indicated 30 minute waiting the line. Rose went to find someone to see ... read more

May 29, 2018 Slovenia, where Melania Trump is from, is a beautiful country. The history is similar to Croatia: Illyrians, Celtic, Roman settlements, then Slavs moved in when the Roman empire declined. The Franks conquered in 8th century, then Hapsburg empire. The Ottomans tried to conquer, then they were caught between the Austria-Venice tug of war for power. Then Napoleon came through. Many people confuse Slovenia with Slovakia. Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia and is bordered by Italy, Austria, & Croatia. Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia and the Czechs & Slovaks split up and now we have Slovakia. It is NE & two countries away from Slovenia. We are here at Lake Bled, which is not far from the Austrian border, and the buildings look very Austrian. We are in the Julian Alps which is just ... read more

This morning we woke up to an overnight dusting of snow on the high mountains surrounding Lake Bled. We can see the snow capped mountains from one of our two panoramic balconies. The day is overcast, but at least it is not raining. After breakfast in our apartment, we commenced walking around the lake with Liz and Darrol, and settled on a Gondola Type Boat Ride out to Bled Island. The young guy rowing the boat (which had around ten passengers) had a relatively easy run out to the island, where he waited for forty minutes to allow us time to explore the island. We settled in for coffee and cake in the coffee shop, and then took some quick photos before rejoining the boat for the row back to shore. By then, however, a strong ... read more

We reluctantly checked out from our Grobisce accommodation, after enjoying a generous farm stay breakfast. We headed for our next accommodation at Lake Bled, but seeing a sign for a medieval town and castle along the way, we took a detour and headed up towards the mountains to Skofja Loka. Skofja Loka was first mentioned in 973 as Lonca, when the lordship of the town was granted by Emperor Otto II to the Bishops of Freising. For the next one thousand years, the history of the town was tied to that of the distant ecclesiastical principality, and a castle and tower were built above the town for defence purposes, which later became the residence of the bishop's governor. Škofja Loka was walled in the 14th century. In 1476 the town was attacked by the Ottomans. Lutheranism ... read more

Last destination of this trip is the capital of Sloveina, Ljubljana. The weather has become very hot and it’s around 33C during the day, this means perfect blue skies but meltingly hot to be walking around a city. This is a small and attractive city with a good feel to it. It’s easy to walk around, with lots of pedestrianized areas. There’s a castle on the hill with views over the old and new towns. The old town clustered below the castle and based around 3 squares, the river and a collection of bridges. During the day it’s quite quiet and then in the evening it becomes very lively with lots of people out in the street cafes and restaurants that line the river banks. A great place to go around sunset is the Nebotičnik skyscraper ... read more