Radovljica and Lake Bled

On Thursday we had a 72 mile drive to get to our next destination - the area around Lake Bohinj. Since we couldn't check in to our apartment until later in the afternoon, we stopped for some lunch and sightseeing in a small town called Radovljica and planned to maybe also stop in at Lake Bled after lunch. 

The informal nickname of Radovljica is the "sweetest Slovenian town" because of its association with honey, chocolate, and gingerbread cookies (lect in Slovenian). The cookies are flavored with honey and baked specifically to be iced and decorated. The most popular color and shape is a red heart.

One of the main attractions in the old town of Radovljica is the Museum of Apiculture. As I mentioned in a previous post, Slovenia has more beekeepers per capita than any other country, and Slovenian Beekeeping specifically is listed by UNESCO as part of the world's Intangible Cultural Heritage. A folk tradition associated with beekeeping is painting the wooden front panels of the beehives with decorative scenes. These vivid paintings depict saints and biblical stories as well as scenes from everyday life.

Sometimes the creative artistry extended to the beehives themselves, like this large wooden beekeeper who literally kept bees in his torso.

One of the reasons beekeeping is so widespread here is down to the Carniolan honey bee, which is native to Slovenia and prized throughout the beekeeping world for its longevity, adaptability, resistance to disease, and lack of aggression. Even when its hive is being raided by bears.

After lunch in Radovljica we drove through the town of Bled but the late afternoon traffic was unbelievable and there were no parking spaces to be had. It's the European August holiday, so we were expecting some crowds but by far this is the most crowded/touristed part of Slovenia we've seen. We decided instead to continue on to our lodging in Lake Bohinj. It was only a 30 minute drive so we made plans to just come back up to Bled the next day and get an earlier start. We easily found parking at 8am on Friday and made a beeline (see what I did there?) for the trail leading to the Ojstrica peak which is the iconic viewpoint of Lake Bled. The last section of the climb to the top is a little bit of a scramble where you have to use your hands to help pull yourself up, so we were glad to get there before the trail got too crowded.

After the hike, we rewarded ourselves by sharing a slice of Bled cream cake (blejska kremšnita). The cake is a signature pastry for this region, and you see it for sale everywhere. It has a puff pastry base with a layer of vanilla cream custard, followed by a layer of whip cream, then it's topped by more pastry and powdered sugar. Very decadent!

Maybe we over-rewarded ourselves with the cake, so we decided to keep walking all the way around the lake - a distance of about four miles. The path was flat and pleasant at first but all of Europe is currently in a "heat dome" so by the time we were halfway around it started to feel pretty hot. We stopped at the Bled Castle Bathing Area to take a dip in the lake and cool off. We hadn't brought any lake shoes so climbing into the water from a wooden deck and swim ladder was a lot more pleasant than walking in  from shore with bare feet on sharp rocks covered in algae. The small entrance fee was worth it to have easy access - the water was so refreshing and we had great views of the island and surrounding hills.

After our swim, we continued our walk to the boat docks on the southern side of the lake and took a ride on a traditional wooden pletna boat to get to the tiny island in the middle of the lake. 

Each heavy pletna boat holds 20 passengers and is propelled by a single boatman using massive oars. Only 22 families have the right to ferry passengers on the lake to the island, and the profession is handed down through the generations. Our boatman was Alex and he was a 5th generation oarsman (his boat "Larissa" was named after his mother). Amazingly he was able to row and give us a running commentary about the lake at the same time. He also gave us some great tips on hiking spots near where we are staying in Bohinj. 

Once you arrive at the island, you go up the stone staircase to the Church of the Assumption. A local tradition here is that when you get married, the groom carries the bride up all 99 steps. I was happy to just get myself up and down those steps without injury - there is no elevator here. Once you get up the steps there's not really that much to see on the island - just the church, the belltower, and a few small buildings including a museum and cafe. It only took about 45 minutes for us to explore the entire island, including sitting down for a quick espresso at the cafe. But the whole experience - including the pletna boat ride and scenery of being out on the lake - was a great way to end our day in Lake Bled.

Solčava and the Logar Valley

We picked up our rental car Saturday morning and drove north through some very scenic countryside to get to our farmstay near the town of Solčava. This north-central area of Slovenia is hemmed in by the Kamnik-Savinja Alps to the south and the Karawank Alps to the north that mark the border with Austria. Our bed & breakfast is a working farm that takes in lodgers and also has space for camping tents and RVs. Thanks to it being August holidays there are lots of other guests camping and it's a busier place than we expected, but the family has been so welcoming and we've enjoyed meeting our barnyard neighbors - goats, alpacas, and a braying donkey.

There are three beautiful valleys in this part of the country: Robanov Kot, Logarska Dolina, and Matkov Kot. Each is unique and incredibly scenic. On Sunday we did a walk through the Robanov valley. Although this particular valley is now protected as a Landscape Park, there are several families that have been farming here for centuries and those farms continue to coexist with the natural surroundings. The largest one is the Roban family farm, which gives the valley its name.

On our walk through Robanov Kot we encountered grazing cows, loose horses meandering down the roadside, and a large apiary for beekeeping. There is a strong tradition of beekeeping here; Slovenia has the most beekeepers per capita in the world - there are over 200,000 domesticated bee colonies in the country. Most are kept in colorful traditional wooden apiaries like the one behind the garden in the photo below.

Sunday also happened to be the final day of the Solčava Days local festival. We headed to the town market hall to check out some of the local food. When we got there, the whole town was in the middle of a massive Bingo game. The caller was shouting out numbers and handing out prizes for over an hour. We didn't understand what he was saying or any of the numbers (he was speaking Slovenian, of course) but the Slovenian word for bingo is just "Bingola!" so at least we knew when to clap and cheer! It started raining pretty hard during the bingo, so we decided to stay put, have some dinner, and enjoy the live music until the rain let up. 

The rainfall must be what keeps these valleys so green! On Monday we drove ourselves to the Logar Valley (Logarska Dolina), which is the main attraction here. This valley is another protected Landscape Park and there is a small entrance fee to come in by car (people entering on foot or bicycle are free).

We decided to park midway up the valley and hike the rest of the way to a waterfall (slap in Slovenian). Our hike took us along the Savinja River which wasn't actually running despite all the rain the previous day. Nevertheless, the Savinja must be mighty when it is running because there were several torrent check dams (hudourniške pregrade) that are in place to protect against the occasional violent flash floods that occur here during heavy storms and spring snowmelt.

A mountain spring feeds the Rinka Waterfall which plunges 90 meters (270 feet) then flows into the Savinja River. The river immediately disappears under the waterfall into the porous limestone below and doesn't re-emerge for a couple miles (which is why the river was bone dry when we hiked alongside it). Slap Rinka is the second tallest waterfall in the country and it is supposed to be one of the most photogenic but when we got there it was just a trickle and maybe not as impressive as usual. It was very tall, though, as promised.

Speaking of scenic disappointments -- on Tuesday we attempted to ride e-bikes up the steep Solčava scenic road, a 23-mile trek that climbs nearly 1900 feet into the mountains. There weren't too many cars but it was a narrow road so whenever a car did pass, it was a little bit nerve-wracking. We had only gone about 3 miles when the pavement turned into gravel. I pulled over because my bike's gearshift got jammed, Kevin rode up to me and lost his balance when he came to a stop. We fell down like a stack of dominoes! Luckily neither of us were hurt (although our pride was bruised), but it did sour the ride a bit. We continued only a half-mile more to a viewpoint before turning around and returning the bikes. I guess I won't be channeling my inner Tadej Pogačar on this trip!

Undeterred, we still wanted to see the panoramic scenery so we just drove the road in the rental car. Such a simple solution -- this was much less dangerous and of course less strenuous to get to the top of the pass. It was worth all the trouble -- the views along the way were incredible!

At the top of the pass sits the picturesque Church of the Holy Spirit. We didn't go in because the church wasn't open (it was a Tuesday after all). But we did enjoy the views -- the "Panoramic Road" is aptly named.

On Wednesday we visited the third valley, Matkov Kot, which was more off the beaten path. We didn't see too many other hikers here compared to the busier and more-famous Logar Valley next door.

After our hike, we visited the oldest farmstead in the Matkov valley - Gradišnik Family Farm. When we arrived, we asked the girl who greeted us if they might serve lunch. She said yes but that the menu was very limited. Then she proceeded to rattle off a list of all kinds of tantalizing dishes. We opted for the charcuterie platter and an order of pear žlikrofi dumplings for dessert. She encouraged us to order the platter "for two" so that there would be enough for a lunch. As it turned out, there was enough for seven lunches -- a whole loaf of bread, a dozen chopped tomatoes, three kinds of cheese, and five kinds of cold cuts. It was a feast! And then to top it off, the pear žlikrofi was one of the best desserts we've ever had. (Which reminds me...I will have to do a blog post just about Slovenian food. It's delicious!) Anyway, if you ever find yourself in Matkov Kot near the northern border of Slovenia, stop in at Gradišnik Farm for a bite -- you'll thank me!

Ljubljana, Slovenia

We had five nights to explore the delightful city of Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital. A few more words about pronunciation, as the Slovenian language seems to enjoy making every word a bit of a tongue twister. "j" is usually pronounced like a "y", so it's "lyoob-LYAN-nah". Sometimes you'll see a consonant with a little hat: č, š, ž. These are pronounced "ch" like in choose, "sh" like share, or "zh" like the s sound in "treasure" (or for any Green Acres fans: like "Zsa Zsa"). All the rest of the letters act like they do in English, except c. C is prounounced "ts", like in cats. So in Slovenian, "pizzeria" is spelled "picerija". Simple, right?

The city center is closed to car traffic, which makes Ljubljana a very pleasant strolling city. English is widely spoken, not so much because there are a lot of American and British tourists (there aren't). It's because most of the tourists are from other European countries and not too many of them speak Slovenian as their second language. We were able to communicate pretty easily, although the locals did chuckle and give us a thumbs up whenever we tried to use our limited Slovenian skills to say "hello" (zdravo or dober dan) or "thank you" (hvala). The city center is at the base of a hill and you can see a bit of Ljubljana Castle towering above. 

We took the funicular up the hill to check out the castle and after seeing the Predjama Castle the day before, it was a bit of a letdown honestly. Yes, it's one of the town's main landmarks and a castle has stood on this hill in some form or another since the 11th century. But it doesn't really have a typical castle "feel". There are no royal apartments because was never the home of a king; it was just used for defense (as a barracks, military hospital, and later a prison). In the 1970s they renovated and modernized it, and now its more of a cultural park -- with cafes, restaurants, and various art exhibits. Worth a stop but not a must-see.

The main thing we enjoyed doing was just soaking in the atmosphere and strolling around the city. The Ljubljanica River runs through the town and there are several pedestrian bridges connecting both sides. One in particular is famous - a triple bridge re-designed by local architect Jože Plečnik in the 1930s. The middle span dates back to the 1840s but by the 1920s it was a bottleneck -- too narrow for all the traffic trying to cross. So Plečnik added two arched footbridges on either side of the main span. In the photo you can see the pastel pink Franciscan Church which is also a town landmark.

In fact, if you are into architecture this a great town to visit. There are several beautiful Art Nouveau buildings, including this Cooperative Business Bank from the 1920s that incorporates eye-catching geometric patterns into the facade. I wish my credit union back at home was this aesthetically pleasing.

Another beautiful structure from the 1930s is the St Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Church. The interior is covered floor-to-ceiling with vibrantly colored frescoes that depict important saints and biblical scenes.

Since we were in Ljubljana for several days, we bought a couple of Ljubljana Tourist Cards that gave us free access to most of the museums in town. The modern art museum had an interesting exhibit on Harvey Gregory Prusheck, born Gregor Perušek (he Americanized the spelling), who emigrated to the American Midwest (Chicago/Cleveland) and was a prolific painter in the 1920s-40s. I really liked his use of muted tones and dreamy color palette. Apparently I was too enraptured to take any of my own photos, so here's one I found on Wikimedia commons showing an untitled Southwestern Landscape.

Our Tourist Cards also included access to the excellent Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, dedicated to Slovenian heritage and culture. One of the exhibits focused on Pust/Shrovetide, which is Slovenia's much creepier version of Carnival. It's associated with the period leading up to Lent (loosely translated both pust and carnival mean to "leave meat"). The Slovene tradition is for people to dress up in monstrous costumes (called kurentija) to scare away winter and welcome spring. Given the success of the Swedish-themed horror film Midsommar, I can't believe someone hasn't already come up with a slasher flick that incorporates these frightening traditional costumes. 

One of the most relaxing things to do in Ljubljana is to hop on an electric wooden boat and cruise the Ljubljanica River. It gives some of the best views of the bridges and the buildings bordering the riverbanks. We lucked out and a big tour group joined our boat so we had a tour guide pointing out all the interesting architectural features and giving us more of the town's history.

We specifically timed our stay in Ljubljana so we would be there for the summertime Friday food market tradition called Odprta Kuhna (literally "open kitchen"). Food stalls take over Pogačarj square, offering both local Slovenian cuisine as well as world cuisine. We shared a plate of žlikrofi - pasta dumplings filled with meat, cheese, or potatoes and topped with a sauce. We chose meat žlikrofi and that included a generous serving of pork on the side. Add a cold beer and you are definitely in comfort food territory. (Side note: Pogačarj square was named after a 19th century bishop, not after the famous Slovenian cycling champion Tadej Pogačar).

Also on Friday nights in summertime, the city serves up entertainment in the form of open-air concerts. We heard some wonderful music from a floating orchestra (literally an orchestra playing from boats in the river) and a wind section installed in the famous Plečnik Arcades near the market.

We both agreed that Ljubljana is one of those small but captivating European capitals. It's not packed with tourists and attractions, like Paris or Rome, but it has an easy-to-navigate city center, an interesting culture, appealing green spaces, and a pleasant river to walk along. We definitely enjoyed our time here, although we are looking forward to seeing some mountain scenery!

Slovenia - Piran, Postojna Cave, and Predjama Castle

We have been in Slovenia less than 24 hours and we thought “what could be a better way to get over jet lag than taking a ten-hour van tour?” We are staying in the capital city of Ljubljana for the first five nights, then spending the rest of our time driving around the Julian Alps in the north. So for today we booked a guided tour that would take us to some of parts of the country that we don’t plan to see by car. The photo above is the port city of Piran from the old city walls. 

But Piran was actually the last stop on today's tour. The first place we went was to the Postojnska Jama, or “Postojna Cave” — “jama” just means “cave” and “Postojna” (pos-TOY-nah) is the name of the town. This cave is one of the top three tourist attractions in Slovenia, and tourists have been coming to the cave since 1818. This part of the country is comprised of karst limestone and is very porous, allowing for the formation of caves shaped by underground rivers. In Postojna’s case, the Pivka River has been carving its way through the limestone for millions of years. Slovenia has over 15,000 registered caves, and between 100-200 new caves are discovered every year.

Tourism in the cave really picked up in the 1870s when rail tracks were installed. At first the guides pulled cartloads of tourists by hand, and then a small train was added. Nowadays, a fleet of electric trains are constantly ferrying visitors in and out of Postojna. The cave itself is enormous — 15 miles long (24km) — but the train only goes in as far as 3.5 kilometers. It goes at a pretty good clip, and there was no safety briefing. I guess in Slovenia if you are dumb enough to stick your arms up you deserve to lose a limb. Wheee!

After a hair-raising ten-minute ride, you disembark from the train and a guide takes you through the next kilometer of walkways, pointing out features and formations. The cave interior is immense, and this is by far the most impressive cave I’ve seen in all my travels. The variety and number of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, shields, and other formations is remarkable. Also remarkable is one of the cave’s permanent residents, the olm -- a small, blind, aquatic salamander that can live for 100 years. We got to see them in an aquarium but it was very dark and no photos were allowed. The temperature inside the cave hovers around a constant 50 degrees, so even though we only saw a small portion of it during our 90 minute tour, at the end we were ready to hop on the train and ride back into the sunshine. 

The next stop was a self-guided audio tour of Predjamski Grad, or Predjama Castle. Its name in Slovenian means “castle in front of the cave", and you can see in the photo that is an accurate description. A castle has existed on this cliff cave since at least the 1270s, although the version that we saw dates to the 1580s and has been heavily restored. Although it is called a castle it was really built as a fortified stronghold, not as a place for royal lodging. There were no kings here — for most of its history Slovenia was ruled by dukes or monarchs from other nations (like the Habsburgs who ruled the Holy Roman Empire). 

The castle interior is not very remarkable, it was definitely built for defense and not comfort. The most interesting part was the upper level where the castle connected to the cave interior. The castle’s most famous inhabitant, Erasmus de Luegg, used the cave network to keep the castle supplied when it was under siege by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. Through the natural cave window you get a glimpse of the Lokva Valley below. 

Today was a day of depths and heights, and once we reached the coastal town of Piran we added even more heights. At the hill above town we stopped for a brief chance to climb the old city walls and take a few photos of the stunning views of the Adriatic Sea below us. Slovenia only has about 30 miles of coastline, with four main seaside towns wedged between the Italian border to the north and the Croatian border to the south. 

Piran originated as a Roman settlement and had a strong economy for centuries thanks to its access to sea salt pans. It had strong ties to Venice, which is just across the Adriatic sea, and from the 1200s to about 1800 it was actually a part of the Venetian Republic. We only had a couple of hours to explore, but we definitely felt that the city had a more Italian atmosphere and architecture than other parts of Slovenia. The Italian influence is especially strong in the Tartini Square, named after the violinist and composer who was born here. 

We had just enough time to explore a bit on foot, have a nice lunch at a seafood restaurant on the waterfront, and try one of the famous local desserts: Š'torta (SHTOR-tuh). The dessert is named after a native olive tree that grows in the Istria region of Slovenia. It consists of sponge cake and layers of olive-flavored mousse over a central layer of salted caramel. You drizzle a small capsule of rich olive oil over the top. It sounds like a bizarre flavor combo but somehow it all works together and is heavenly!