15 - Lake Bled-dy Beautiful

Slovenia is certainly no longer a hidden gem that goes unspoken about. Nearly each and every traveler we have met, spoken to or even just nosily overheard at dinner raves about how beautiful Slovenia is and how it has been the highlight of their trip. When planning our road trip, we allowed ourselves just 4 nights in Slovenia and have been trying to work out which other destinations we could steal a night or 2 from to extend it. We eventually decided to stick with the plan and try and see as much of this country in the time we originally set aside.

Moving on from Treviso, we stopped for lunch in Trieste. Just as Melissa noted that we can’t quite put our finger on what made us like Treviso, we made an early sweeping call that we did not like Trieste based solely on the drive in and the “vibe” we got as we walked around. We quickly grabbed some lunch and ate in the main square (the biggest square in Europe that opens out onto the sea) and quickly made our way to the border.

As has often driven our first impression of a new region, the first thing we come to notice is that petrol prices had once again dropped down and Trevor breathed a sigh of relief that his ongoing thirst was not going to render us penniless when we eventually get to Australia. We purchased our vignette (a much more civilised way to charge for using the highways vs the classic Italian tolls) and jumped on the evenly paved highway, another luxury we hadn’t been afforded for some time while driving around Italy.

One of the main sights that is recommended in Slovenia is the huge cave system at Postojna. As we’ve previously written, we haven’t been ones to visit the key touristic sights on this trip, however Melissa’s love for being a passenger in any kind of vehicle instantly meant this sight was added to the list as soon as the Aussie couple we met in San Marino mentioned the little train you have to get on to go inside the cave. We were a little taken aback by the price of parking and tickets but we made sure that we got the most bang for our buck and tagged on the free children’s museum exhibition about the cave that came with our vignette before we went in. As we sat on the train moving deeper into the mountain, I think both of us let out an audible “woooow” as the cave opens up into a huge cellar with stalagmites rising and stalactites falling from every inch. As is customary for a cave system, there is very little light which means that our photographs don’t exactly do it justice. We refrained from purchasing any of the phallic plush toys that are supposed to look like the indigenous olm cave creatures (otherwise known as "human fish") before leaving towards our accommodation on the edge of Lake Bled.

Bled has a lovely feel to it, somehow striking the fine balance between resembling a beautiful old town and picturesque scenery with not being too touristy and overrun with coaches. Our accommodation was a perfect ski lodge style chalet that hints at the alter ego of the town during the winter months. We took advantage of the last few days of summer here and spent our days running, hiking and walking various routes around the lake, taking in the atmosphere and the views.

One evening we ventured into the capital Ljubljana (which Melissa can now actually pronounce after creating a song for herself to remember it) and instantly could tell we liked the vibe of the city and the buzz of the bars and restaurants. Being able to put our finger on why we liked these types of places really would make us better travel writers...

We were also able to justify ticking off a couple more touristy activities as they both involved being a passenger in some kind of transportation.

1. The toboggan down the Strava hill that overlooks the lake and offered a quicker and easier route to the bottom after we hiked up it.

2. We took the car train which, as it sounds, involved driving Trevor onto a small train to take us through the mountain and out the other side. This was a cool experience and the drive back to Bled through the Triglavski National Park was breathtaking.

3. We avoided the tourist filled boats out to the island on the lake and instead opted to row ourselves. After posing for an Instagram photograph and then promptly sitting on and breaking my new Ray Bans, Melissa took her preferred spot as passenger and it was then over to me to do the hard work and row the boat to the island and back. Luckily the rowing was at least more successful than when we took a boat out 2 years ago in Italy when on holiday with Mark and Sue...

We couldn’t leave Bled without trying one of their ‘Bled cakes’ which is essentially a giant cream cake. Despite my warning, Melissa insisted on having a whole one to herself and regretted it afterwards. At least we had our walks and runs to burn it all off.

J & M