Bye bye, Slovenia

This song came up on my random playlist while I was chilling on top of a mountian in Slovenia...

Whew! What a great last few days. Last time we talked, I had just arrived in Bled. I had originally planned on staying just a night in Bled and moving on to Bohinj, but I ended staying for three nights instead, and making day trip to Bohinj. What can I say? Bled was too good to leave.

On monday, I took a morning hike up to Bled Castle to get a view of the lake, then spent the rest of the day hiking from Bled out to Vintgar Gorge, an amazing canyon cut into the Alps.

As with most things in Slovenia, it was green and beautiful.

The hike through Vintgar took most of the day, but I managed to get back to Bled in time to have a great dinner at a popular pizzaria. I had a greek salad with chicken, which was blissfully healthy (travelling food tends to be too much bread and too few vitamins). It was so good, in fact, that I went back again the next night.

On Tuesday, I took a day trip to Bohinj and spent a thoroughly exhausting 8 hours hiking around Lake Bohinj and up to some of the higher elevation sights in the Alps. The most spectaular sight was definitely Slap Savica, a monsterous waterfall about 700m above the lake. The hike was hard, but the reward was sweet.

"And from its wrath, the foamclouds skyward blow!"

(translation of a part of a letter from one of the first conservationists in Slovenia, about Slap Savica)

Then, on Wednesday, I decided it was getting time to move on from Slovenia, but with so much left to see, how could I get in some sights quickly? Hertz had the answer.

Oh hey, little guy

I rented a car from Bled and spent 7 hours doing a flash tour of the rest of western Slovenia. From Bled, I drove to Kranska Gora, then over the Vrsic (Veer-shooch) Pass, which has the dubious distinction of being one of the most curvy passes in the Alps. It was, indeed, very curvy, but the views were worth it. In fact, the views are so impressive here that Lonely Planet, the guide book company, rated the Vrsic Pass and the #1 thing to see in Eastern Europe. Growing up in Tahoe and around Yosemite, I think I wasn't as able to appreciate is as someone from, say, the midwest might, but I still couldn't help gawking at some of the vistas.

It's like if you mashed the Yosemite valley into the Yosemite peaks

Coming down the other side of the pass, I entered the Soca River Valley, which is an adventure-sports haven. Unfortunatley, I didn't have any time to hop in a raft, but the valley itself was quite beautiful. I drove south, past valley after picturesque-valley, and found myself in Italy. Whoops.

A small taste of Italia

On the bright side, I got to spend a little time in Trieste, a coastal town in northwest Italy. From Trieste, I drove back into Slovenia, and then on back to Ljubljana, where I spent the night.

There you have it! Quite and adventure over the last few days. Today, I head for Zagreb, Croatia, as I continue my way into the Balkans. All in all, Slovenia was breathtaking and eye-opening. If you had asked me a month ago about Slovenia, I wouldn't have been able to point it out on a map, let alone tell you about it's wonder. Now, I see Slovenia as a jewel, and I see Slovenes as some of the most welcoming, fun, and interesting people I've ever spent time with. I think Slovenia gets a bad wrap because of the turbulent history of the Balkan area, but I felt safer in Ljubljana than I've felt in many parts of San Francisco, and the sheer quantity of natural beauty that Slovenia has to offer is just nuts. I think I could come back here every year for the rest of my life and still want more.

Okay, Croatia, big shoes to fill. Onward!

-C