4:40 A.M.,
Monday morning on the 6th of February 2017. My alarm goes off. Painfully early
I snooze 4 times, to eventually get up and head out to take the train to the
airport.
The
adventure had begun.
6 hours
later I finally stood on Slovenian ground. The Ljubljana Jože Pučnik airport is a very small airport, flanked by
the beginning of the Julian Alps on one side. It was a cloudy, rainy morning.
There is a public bus
going to the city centre, 4,10€ (and an additional 1,50€ per bag over 10kg.) will
take you to the bus station just on the edge of the city centre in about 45min
to an hour.
Ljubljana
is quite a small capital city in comparison to most (capital) cities in Europe.
My hostel, Hostel Vrba, was located on the other side of the city just out side
of the actual centre but it only took me about 25 minutes to cross the city by
foot with my backpack.
This is an
absolutely great hostel to stay in while discovering Ljubljana and Slovenia by
extent. The staff is incredibly nice and helpful, everything is quite spotless,
comfortable beds, a well equipped kitchen and a great atmosphere. I thought to
travel around a bit and stay in different hostels, but the country really isn’t
that big so Ljubljana is the best place to start off just about all your
travels in the country. So I ended up staying there for the week.
Day 1 was cold, grey and rainy so I didn’t do much for starters because, well, I don’t like the cold. I know, why would I go to a Balkan country in the middle of the winter??! Well, my grandmother is Slovenian, which makes me quarter Slovenian, hence the interest in wanting to go to Slovenia. Back to the roots in a way.
Anyway, so
because of the weather I didn’t do much. Walked through the old town a bit and
had a coffee and a tuna sandwich in one of the cafes next to the river on the
old side of town, which would be a great place for drinks anytime of day if it
wouldn’t have been so damn cold and rainy. By 5 o’clock I thought I had braved enough
rain to deserve a nap. So after chatting with some people in my dorm I fell
asleep for an hour or too.
That
evening I ate huge delicious pizza, just across the stream from the hostel.
On strong recommendation from Alexis, member of the hostel staff, I woke up early again the next day to take the bus at 8a.m. to the Julian Alps.
Slovenia
has its public transport quite on point, for 8,40€ I was able to take a bus
straight to Lake Bohinj, which would be my first stop deep in the Triglav
national park. A very comfortable bus (with free unlimited wifi!) will take you
there in about 2hours.
The Triglav
national park is situated in the north-western part of Slovenia and is part of
the Julian Alps. The park is named after its highest peak, Triglav that stands
high at 2864 m. But cradled by the mountains down low, lays lake Bohinj.
When you go to lake Bohinj be sure to take the ski lift up to the Vogel ski centre. If you have clear weather with not too many clouds you can see the lake in the valley entirely. A day ticket will cost you 14€ and take you to 1 535m up into the mountains where, in winter, you can hire ski- or snowboard material for a day on the slopes. Or go hike in the mountains in the summer. The view is absolutely amazing, any time of year I can imagine. In winter however, I can tell you for sure that it was beautiful.
I hiked the length of the lake in a good hour and half including many photo-stops and walking through approximately 20 cm snow. I thought this was the best way to take in all the breathtaking beauty of this lake, and I was quite right actually.
When you
had your coffee at the visitor centre, just around the corner from the bus stop,
take the bus back to lake Bled (3,60€).
You will
already have had a first glimpse of the famous lake Bled when you passed it to
go further into the nation park for Lake Bohinj. But now it’s time to explore
the magical lake Bled. And it really is magical. Get of the bus the moment you
can when you see the lake, this is on the other side of the lake from town.
This way
you can take an easy walk half way around the lake to the city to you right or,
you can go left (where the bus came from) and hike all around the lake. I
personally didn’t do this because I was quite tired from the hike at Bohinj.
But it should be well worth the hike. Again all year round.
Because
Bled isn’t as high in elevation as Bohinj and because the temperatures had
risen again since about a week, there wasn’t any snow around this area anymore
so the walk around was far more easy and quicker.
One thing you absolutely have to do when in Bled is, try the traditional Bled cream cake, Kremsnita. This delicious calorie bomb is a perfect treat for you days hiking. You’ll find it in just about any cafe or restaurant you walk into. Combine with a big coffee with cream and a strategic good view of the lake and it’s the perfect afternoon treat.
The bus
back to Ljubljana from bled will cost you 6,30€.
On my third
day in Ljubljana it was the national holiday of culture. The perfect day to
pick up on some local culture, so I made sure I was on the Preseren square by
11 o’clock in the morning for the free walking tour.
It was an icy
cold day if you ask me, but the tour was great so made up for the cold mostly. The Ljubljana free tour is a tour from Our guide, Helena, took us around the most important sites around the old and new parts of town (either side of the river) and told us all about the history of all the things we saw. It was a great introduction to Ljubljana.
Because of
the national holiday all museums were free of charge, of which I took advantage
from and went to the city museum of Ljubljana.
After this
I was still a bit disgruntled by the cold so I thought a little treat was in
order. Wandering through the streets on the new part of the river I stumbled
across a little place called “Puffy lil’
pancakes”, naturally I stopped for some little pancakes (what the Dutch
call; Poffertjes) and went all the
way with both Nutella and white chocolate topping. Content with all that
sweetness I wandered back to the other side of the river walked into the
immigration gallery and through the rest of town a bit more. Slowly making my
way back home for another well-deserved nap.
Spent the
rest of the evening in the hostel talking to new people from all over the
world.
Thursday morning I met Bruno, thanks to Alexsis, and not an hour after we were off on a road trip to the Škocjanske caves! What an awesome day!
By car it
didn’t even take us an hour to get there. Once there we went out to the
viewpoint for some great views and (finally) some real sunshine!!
An hour and
a half tour will take you approximately 300m deep into the caves for a 3km walk
around all the different chambers with an English speaking guide telling you all about the wonders of the underground world !
That
evening we decided to go for something Slovenian. So on recommendation of
hostel staff we had burék, which is basically just puff pastry with meat or
some kind of ricotta cheese in it. Ended the day in the hostel, drinking some
more wine and talking to some more people.
As Friday
was my last day in Slovenia and I still hadn’t seen the Ljubljana Castle yet, I
headed up there to complete my trip.
It was cold
and cloudy but a pretty site so see nonetheless. I walked up and around the
castle, had a coffee in the castle wrote my postcards (tradition, you know) and
walked around the castle grounds on the hill.
I loved the
fact that you have these places (that must be very green in summer) in the
middle of cities. It always fills my need for nature when being in cities.
 |
| Castle courtyard |
Ljubljana's charm was definitely multiplied by this castle on the hill. I always love finding these sweet escapes in cities.
I spent my last evening in the hostel with all these new friends, home made gnocchi and cheap ass wine. It was the best possible way to end my solo adventure, surrounded by all these people in the travelling world. A world where I know I will always long to go back to and where I really belong.
Fully refuelled for the next semester, life's pretty good at the moment!
Excited for the next adventures to come!!
xoxo Lizzie
