If people know anything about Slovenia, they know Lake Bled. This beautiful blue lake features Slovenia’s only island right smack dab in the middle of it. There is a big white church with a red roof on that island and the color contrast of red and white with the green mountains and blue water and sky really pops.
We rented a car in Ljubljana (accidentally a stick shift, but whatevs) and drove to Lake Bled. This country is very small, so it only took about an hour and a half. And 30 minutes of that was to get through the roundabout in front of Bled’s town center! This place puts McCall’s summer cluster of a road to shame. There are bikers everywhere, only compounding the traffic confusion.
Lake Bled
Our first order of business was to try out a piece of the area’s famous cream cake. This cake was created for Yugoslavia’s leader, Tito. I guess he had a sweet tooth. We thought it was fine, but maybe not worth the hype.
The second item on the to do list was to walk around the lake. This takes locals around an hour, but it took us double that because we stopped so much for pictures. It is really picturesque. When the sun is shining, the water takes on an aqua color and it is really clear, so much so that we could see all the fish swimming around.
We opted to walk instead of taking a boat, but the boats have a cool history. They are called psternas and when the Hapsburgs were in charge the queen gave 20 families the rights to drive a boat on the lake. Since then, the right has been passed down with the families so it is still with that same group. Great for them, but sucks to be an outsider!
Vogel Ski Area
On our second day, we drove over to Lake Bohinj and the Vogel Ski hill. This Lake was also very pretty but because it was overcast, it didn’t pop like Bled did the day before. At the ski area we took a gondola ride and went up 3000+ feet in five minutes. I am not afraid of heights, but even my tummy felt weird looking down at the valley below. Since we weren’t quite high enough at this point, we took a chair lift to the top of another hill. There is a cross and bell that you can ring to make a wish on. Finger’s crossed for mine to come true! The weather started turning at this point so we rode the chair lift down and hid out in the restaurant waiting for the rain to pass before taking the gondola back down to the car.
Kranjska Gora and Radovna Valley
We wanted to see more of the Julian Alps so took a little backroad through the Radovna Valley to Kranjska Gora. The road was only a one lane at some places and quite steep. I pitied the bikers who were charging the hills. However, the views were incredible! Other European countries get more acclaim for their Alps, but these were just as pretty. The Radovna Valley had a gorgeous green valley filled with wildflowers framed by mountains. I almost took us off a (smallish) cliff when I had to reverse down a hill, but we survived. We went to the cool Zelenci Nature Reserve where a short walk opens up to an emerald green lake with the mountains behind it.
We then had lunch at a grocery store cafe with the best view ever to bless a grocery store cafe. Fun sidenote: I asked for one donut and got four. Miscommunication for the win in a foreign country!
Irija
On our last day with wheels, we visited a charming ghost town, Idrija. This place wasn’t really a ghost town, but there were no people around! It was really bizarre. This area is known for two things: mercury mining and lace. Basically, for hundreds of years in this town, the men would mine and the women would make lace.
We visited Gewerkenegg Castle, which is the only castle I can remember going to that was built as an administrative building. It was built in the 1400s/1500s and was the machine that drove the mercury mining. It is now a very informative museum. We didn’t see any other guests the whole time we were there! My favorite part of the museum was the story of Marina Melhioraca. She was an old lady smuggler who got caught and locked up in the castle’s dungeon. They don’t really know what happened to her, so lots of people think she got away. I hope so.
Slovenia Outskirts Summary
After our adventures we dropped the car back off in Ljubljana. This country is very small, so even though we drove around for several hours each day, we only used about a half a tank of gas.
Slovenia is really beautiful. I am a big fan. And if any of you want to visit Lake Bled, hit me up for a recommendation about a hotel. It might not be the most comfortable place you ever stay, but the octogenarian who only speaks Slovenian and German is the sweetest man you’ll ever meet. He brought us chocolate shots that we had to pretend to drink, apples from his tree, and Slovenian chocolate bars. My German is nonexistent, but somehow we got on like gangbusters and I got several hugs before we left.
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