Jun 24, 2018 - Life on the edge......

In the last week, believe it or not, we have seen the most stunning scenery on the trip. We hiked and toured the Logar Valley with its classic “front of every tourist brochure” image of pastures, valley and towering mountains. The road to the viewpoint was a little tricky and had completely collapsed in places. We finally got to Velika Planina, and was it ever worth the wait. The weather was perfect, the herders were all up on the high plain with their cows and the scenery epitomized Slovenia to us. After taking the cable car up and hiking...

Jun 18, 2018 - Slovenian guard dogs & walnut brandy

In the last week, we have completed 2 of our best hikes so far in Slovenia; Ian continues to bike the mountains and we have stayed in what is labelled as “probably the best campsite in the world”. Camp Menina is indeed wonderful and with our camp pitch being right by a babbling brook it has made our stay very special. We have found that often the camp restaurants are as good, if not better than anything in town; Camp Menina is no exception. We ate 2 traditional Slovenian dishes, Ian had a huge beer and we had 2 walnut brandies and 2...

Jun 12, 2018 - Slugs and ripe cheese

In the last week, we have added 2 more hikes and 3 bike rides and spent time hanging around in the second largest city in Slovenia - Maribor. Camped close to the mountain cable car in Maribor, meant easy access to the summits for some great hiking, an unexpectedly fantastic lunch at Ruska Koca (Russian Lodge – rebuilt in 1946 after the 1907 original was destroyed in WW2) and some “challenging” route finding. Ian tries to get at least one ride in per location and this week did a wonderful 85 KM mountain circuit with 1,300 meters of ascent...

Jun 4, 2018 - Make Slovenia great again..................!

Sunday, June 3rd was the Slovenian National Election. Camped in Kocevje, we are right next to poll booth # 17 that opened at 7:00 a.m. Speeches have been made and posters of all the candidates are plastered everywhere. This is just like anywhere else in the world really, except that it seems different here. This has been a weird week; we have crisscrossed the south-western part of the country a couple of times trying to avoid what looks like country-wide thunderstorms. Weather forecast watching has been a daily pastime. Usually with our...

May 28, 2018 - Natasha and Igor

This week has been all about long, high and hot hikes, bike rides and thunderstorms almost every day. We have had a lot of heavy rain on the trip, but 99% of it has been late evening; so it has not stopped us doing anything. The weather across Slovenia has been incredibly unstable so far, and we are relocating based more on the weather forecast than any geographic logic. We are presently camped at Ajdovscina in the Vipava Valley in the south west of Slovenia. Famous for its vineyards and orchards, it is also a wind tunnel between 2 mountain...

May 26, 2018 - Construction destruction

We had a delightful morning with breakfast on our balcony over looking the views of the wine country below. Our hostess gave us a ride to the car since no one can drive the ancient medieval streets except locals. Thankfully so because the crazy narrow streets only have inches between you and the walls at times. Also there is very hilly and uneven cobblestone so we were happy to wait for her. We got a little later start than hoped but that was just the beginning...delay number 1. The only road out of town going in the direction we needed was...

May 22, 2018 - The land where no one stops………………..literally

This week we sampled the absolute delights of the Slovenian capital city, Ljubljana and the magnificent hiking and biking near Radovljica. We fell in love with Slovenia 4 years ago and this time it did not disappoint as places often do on a second visit; in fact it seemed to grow in stature. A cross between Prague and Amsterdam, but on a much smaller scale, Ljubljana seems to combine the best of western Europe with a touch of eastern block communism hanging on just to add character. We even managed to get a tough full day hike right from...

May 8, 2018 - Triglar National Park, Slovenia

Today is going to be great and jam packed. First stop Bled Castle. This is currently being renovated but is still worth a visit just for the views as it is high on a hill overlooking the town and the lake. Our next stop, upon entering the National Park was a little settlement called Bochinj but we had to make a photo stop at Lake Bochinj and you will see why from the attached photos. This is ski country and in fact there is a train which takes you and your car to the ski fields, via a 24 km tunnel. At Bochinj we visited the Alpine Dairy...

May 8, 2018 - Ljubljana, Slovenia to Venice Italy

So now we are off to Italy but have a stop in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, first. This is a city of only 300,000 people and each day at 10am the streets in the city centre are blocked with bollards and become pedestrian only areas. Lots of market stalls and also shops with Slovenian handicrafts. We had a river cruise on a lovely wooden boat and then had time to wander before we headed to Venice. This took longer than expected due to heavy traffic however after leaving the bus and taking the vaporetta we got to our hotel about 6pm. It...

May 8, 2018 - Slovenia - Postojna Caves

Off to another country which was part of Yugoslavia, in the past, Slovenia. Our journey today took us for a visit to the Postojna caves where a train took us deep into the caverns which are 24 kms long. A guided tour for about an hour and then the ride back. It was like an underground theme park ride. Our destination today is the town of Bled which is situated on the beautiful Bled Lake which is dominated by the Bled Castle. We got our steps up with a walk around the lake - 6 kms. World championship rowing competitions are held regularly on...

Oct 12, 2017 - Koper, Slovenia

We arrived in Koper and it looked like it was going to be a rainy miserable day. Quite a change from Split, the day before, however the rain held off and it was quite a pleasant day. We took a walking tour and our first stop was a museum where our guide told us that it was likely more interesting for locals than for tourists as it was mostly contemporary history of Slovenia. She really didn't tell us anything and the museum archives were in Slovenian and Italian so all I could do was look at the pretty pictures. When can we get out of here,...

Sep 13, 2017 - Sunshine in Bled

Heather started a day with a 5 mile run. She said there was a lot of activity as the market was being set up. Although it is a little cool, the sun is shining. We have a view of the Julian Alps, named for Julius Caesar. The peaks are covered with snow. The highest peak is Triglav, 2864 meters. We took a cable car to Mt. Vogel, 1535 meters high. Crammed a lot of people into the cable car which supposedly could hold 80+1 persons, not sure how. From the top we could see Lake Bohinj. As the clouds lifted we could get a better view of the lake...