We started off driving at 06.00 from The Hague, still getting into part of the morning rush, so we weren't really making good time until we crossed over into Germany. The GPS told us to use A45 instead of the usual A3, and this seemed like a good choice. Not that much traffic and decent roads. We had a quick stop for lunch and another stop for dinner just before the Austrian border. An hour or so after crossing into Austria we hit the first stau, and it was a proper one. Seems like two trucks had crashed in one of the tunnels blocking traffic in both directions. We were stuck for two hours before traffic started moving again. We made decent time after that, but the traffic jam meant that we used 16 hours rather than 14 to get down there, so we only had a quick beer in the hotel room before going to bed. Łukasz found it very funny that the hotel TV only showed the Olympics, reruns of old news from the 90's and classic Russian movies.
Thursday morning we drove about an hour northwards to get to Lake Bled. This is one of the top tourist attractions in Slovenia and a popular vacation spot. We walked around the lake in just over an hour, snapping some pictures along the way. On our way out, we saw a huge line of cars going into Bled. Seems like we beat the crowds by getting up early. We drove on, skirting the northern edge of the Triglav national park, going up to the Planica Valley. This place is mostly famous for the biggest ski jump in the world. It holds the world record for ski jumping at 239 meters, made by Bjørn Einar Romøren (NOR) in 2005, so naturally we had to walk up there. There were no lifts, so we had to walk the stairs all the way up. The view from the top was very nice.
We drove back into Kranjska Gora, driving on a windy mountain road going up the valley. We stopped at a roadside cafe to try to get lunch, but unfortunately a busload of Spanish tourists stopped at the same cafe and started hassling the owner, so we never got served. After twenty minutes or so without anyone taking our order, we just left. Too bad, I was dying to find out what "Gorenjske Crap" was. According to Łukasz, it was just the Slovene name for pierogis, although they looked black in the picture, so there was definitely something else going on there. We drove on up the mountain, crossing a mountain pass before going down into the Soča valley on the other side. The Soča valley was really beautiful, and we had a very nice drive. The road was very windy, going through all these small villages, there were really nice jagged mountain ridges all around, and there were so many horses on the farms next to the road. Seems like the Slovenes really like their horses. Even for dinner. (More on that later...)
We stopped at a mountain fortress at Kluze, looking at the deep gorge and looking at a museum dedicated to the region. Seems like this area had been a battleground between the Slovenes, the Italians, the French and the Austrians for centuries.
We were sort of unsure about what to do next, since I had not been spending enough time up front researching what to do. We really had no plan, so we were just doing whatever popped into our heads, and at this time I got an idea that we should go to Italy for dinner. Łukasz agreed, so we crossed the border and drove south towards Trieste.
The GPS gave us very specific instructions, so at times we felt like we were extras in "The Italian Job", because we were going down all these very steep, narrow one-way streets, going left and right in a zigzag pattern until we suddenly found ourselves in the center of Trieste. Yay GPS!
We parked the car, walked around for a bit, stopped for ice cream (of course) and had a leisurely dinner watching the sun go down in the Adriatic sea. We walked around the harbor looking at the party people and the boats before driving back to Ljubljana.
Friday was our designated "hiking-day". We drove up to lake Bohinj, got on the gondola going up to the base of the Vogel ski center. From there we walked for a couple of hours up towards a small peak called "Šija"(1880m). Łukasz insisted we walk the whole distance, so I was unable to talk him into cheating by using the chairlift. Always a problem when you bring someone fitter than yourself... ;-). Anyway, the hike was not really strenous or difficult in any way, but it was very hot so we were really sweaty when we reached the top. Upon reaching the top we noticed the kids that beat us up there...and they did not seem tired at all. We relaxed for a bit, eating a hot lunch and drinking tea. I pulled out my hiking GPS, so Łukasz could text home our exact location (and the fact that we were still alive).
The walk down was even hotter than going up, so when we got down to the lake, Łukasz jumped in for a swim. We drove back to Ljubljana, had a quick shower before going down to the party district for some beers. We also tried the "Hot Horse Burger", which is a Slovenian specialty. It was a bit too spicy for us and we were feeling the effects of the horse burger until lunch the next day.
Saturday we drove down to the seaside, to see the romantic fishing village named Piran. Unfortunately, when we got there, the parking guards ejected us, telling us that all parking lots were full. We're kind of used to being ejected, but from a parking lot, that's a first! We had to drive to the neighboring resort town Portoroz to park the car. We spent about 45 minutes walking back to Piran.
We had some trouble seeing what was supposed to be so special about Piran. It looked pretty much like a small Italian village. Obviously, that's different from the eastern European style villages further east, but we didn't really feel that this warranted a spot as one of the top attractions of Slovenia. We had lunch at a restaurant recommended in our guidebook, and Łukasz had a very interesting fish meal. I was stunned to see the waiter separate the meat from the bones with a spoon and serve Ł while he told the story of what type of fish it was. Certainly different from the "shut up and pay"-style of wait service you get in The Netherlands.
On our way back we visited the Skocjan Caves, a famous cave complex in southwestern Slovenia containing a huge underground canyon. The guides were impressive, doing tours in four languages. We spent the evening boozing in the riverside pubs in Ljubljana. We also tasted the "Burek" (a very traditional pastry filled with cheese, meat or apples) and the local döner.
We had to get up at 06.00 for the drive back home. On our way through Austria we did a scenic detour, driving a very interesting road over the Tauern mountains. We were lucky on our way back, not getting into any serious queues and after gently instructing the GPS to use A45, we made very good time. We were back in the Hague at 20.00 in the evening.
Pictures are here
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