We stayed for four nights in Križe, which is already different than other holidays we took before, just the two of us. We stayed in an apartment, which was huge! It did have a little problem with humidity, but in the end it would be the best apartment of the three we had. We were really happy to finally put our little baby in his own room… because he would sleep better and we would sleep better AND we didn’t had to go to sleep at the same time as him… because it kind of was boring, always having to go to sleep before 8 PM…
Vintgar Gorge & Lake Bled
Our first day started really bad. While I was checking the weather for the coming days, they only gave rain. Lots and lots of rain. So from a heat wave to a flood or something? Yeah, perfect holiday with a 10/ 11 months old. So I started packing our bags, wanting to go back home. Everything was ready and then the boyfriend could convince to just try this day out, see how it went and if I still wanted to go home after that, we would leave tomorrow. So we headed out and went for the Vintgar Gorge. It was crowed there! And the circus started as well: we had to pay for the parking (€ 5), pay for the entrance (€ 21 – our little baby, who couldn’t even walk, had to pay € 1… yeah, because he was going to destroy the pathway or something?). You know, I don’t mind paying – not for parking, not for entering – but why on earth wouldn’t you combine it all? Because main feeling about Slovenia (and mainly this area): every step of the way you had to freaking pay something. Every five minutes you have to take out your money. And that’s tiring. It was better in the other parts of Slovenia though… and there are hikes that are for free as well.
But back to the Vintgar Gorge. The rain and the mist kind of made it mysterious, so that was kind of okay. We didn’t had the turquoise color of the water (not much at least), but hey… we got some mystery. Yay! But the place was way too crowded… what we didn’t knew though, was that the route was a loop. At the end of the path, you come out at a cabin. If you go a bit further you can see the Slap Sum and from there on you can go back on your steps and take the same path back again, or you can take the other way and walk back along a meadow. So maybe we would’ve had a better experience taking that road, because man… do we get annoyed when people refuse to go out of the way or when they are just plane … egocentric. But at the end of our walk, when we arrived at the Slap Sum, we got a bit of sunshine as well.
Our next stop was Lake Bled. Yes, thé Lake Bled. We parked our car in a quiet area, had an ice cream (which wasn’t the best idea while our son was awake… he can’t stand to see food and not eat it) and walked towards the next area. In the part where we were parked, there wasn’t a lot to do, you could swim in the Lake and that was about it. So we walked towards a part where there was a lot more to do. You could rent a boat, go supping, swimming, … we decided, right there on the spot (that’s kind of the evidence that this trip wasn’t planned as well as others) to take a pletna (a traditional wooden boat) to Bled Island. It took about 20 minutes for the pletna to arrive on the island, and our peddler gave us 45 minutes to visit the island, which is really plenty of time. Definitely if you do not want to visit the church (because, yes, you have to pay extra for it!). I stick with my principles that I do not want to pay to visit a church (except when it’s a really special one, like the Sagrada Familia or something). So we just walked along the island, enjoying the views and the turquoise blue water. When we got back to our car, we wanted to drive to Bled Castle¸ which we did. But when we got there there wasn’t a lot of place to park your car. You had to pay for the parking and for the entrance (the last one was something we could live with, the first was not). But I still regret it though… because we would’ve had the change to take a picture with a perfect view over Lake Bled. And now we don’t have one. So… bummer. But the day was already long enough for the three of us, especially for the youngest one.
Bohinj area
The next day we were planning on visitng the Bohinj Area. We had a really busy day and afterwards we could’ve skipped a few things… but we started out good! We went to the Slap Savica rather early. That meant we could take a picture of Lake Bohinj early as well. And early means not a lot of people. Which means peace and quiet and a very good picture :-). So that was that! On to the waterfall. After we climbed more than 500 (550?) steps, we arrived at the waterfall. Again: early means not a lot of people. So we could take a picture of the waterfall fairly easy, without a lot of people cramming before it. Yay for that as well!
Our next stop was Mount Vogel. That was in fact a bit of a disappointment. Not only was there not enough parking space (we had to park in a parking lot, where it was € 4/ hour, down below), it was also not… very clear what you could do once you were on top of the mountain. At least not for us. I get it, if you take a big hike from point A towards Mount Vogel, it has to be exquisite, with a lot of beautiful views over the mountains, the lake, and so on. But we did it already wrong. Once we got out of the cable car, we had to take a picture from there off Lake Bohinj. We didn’t do that (and so we don’t have a view over Lake Bohinj neither) and just went straight towards the mountain. Which was … well, a mountain. We took the chair lift to take us a bit higher, that was rather pleasant. But because we still didn’t know what to do or how to hike… we just went back down again after a while. I think we did something wrong, we must have, because everybody is so positive over Mount Vogel… But we couldn’t see it.
Our final stop was to be Mostinca Gorge. But they were working on the roads and we had to take a giant detour to get where we wanted to be. Also our GPS/ Waze was a mess… and we ended up paying a € 12 toll for a crappy road to hike the (free…) hike towards Slap Mostnice. It was extremely hot at some point, with no shade. Our little man was exhausted, did not want to sleep, and was crying and screaming his longs out… so that was the best stop of the day I think. We really needed to skip that part of our day. But that’s easier said afterwards.
Lake Jasna, Zelenči Nature Reserve & Laghi di Fusine
After a busy day we always planned a rather calm day. Today we went to Italy, visiting Lake Jasna and the Zelenči Nature Reserve on the way. In Italy we just went to the Laghi di Fusine which were… rather disappointing as well :-). Luckily for us, the two lakes in Slovenia made up for that. As the fact that we were home rather quickly and our little guy could have an afternoon nap.
Soca, Kobarid & Tolmin
When we left Križe and went to Dekani, we took a giant detour because I wanted to drive throught the Soča valley. That really was a great decision, because that area is beautiful! If we had the time, I would’ve loved hiking the Soča trail, but what we already saw was really nice. I am mainly referring to the Great Soča Gorge. But also the Vršic-pas, the mountain pass you have to take to get to the Soča Valley (at least from where we were :-)). On our way to Dekani, we also stopped in Kobarid, to walk to the Slap Kozjak – not the most exceptional waterfall, but still okay, and in Tolmin to visit the Tolmin Gorge. I don’t have a lot of pictures of the Tolmin Gorge, although it was very nice (one way routes!) and very exhausting walking around the gorge. We loved this one more than Vintgar – no scratch that. The boyfriend loved this one more than Vintgar, but I find that both are different and worth the walk.
Still, we were very happy to arrive in Dekani, a small town in the southern part of Slovenia. Peace and quiet all the way! That’s what I’m talking about.
Around the world in a lifetime 