Slovenia
Our first week-long trip since moving to the UK took us to the ex-Yugoslav countries of Slovenia and Croatia. We flew into Zagreb but immediately drove across the border to spend a few days taking in the natural wonders and friendly people of one of Europe’s smallest nations.
Ljubljana
On our way to Lake Bled—where we would be spending our first few nights—we stopped to spend the bulk of the day in Ljubljana. Slovenia’s capital city is small but lively, with many sights to behold and experiences to be had in a compact area radiating out from the center. We made our way to the center to start—the venerable Triple Bridge is a beautiful symbol of the city.
After filling our bellies with caprese salad and ravioli at a nearby restaurant, we set off to explore. We wandered through the cobblestone streets along the Ljubljanica, admiring the towering castle from many angles. We could only take seeing it from afar for so long before setting our sights on the funicular to bring us up close!
Though it had been lightly drizzling since we had arrived, the rain and clouds started to clear as soon as we made it to the top. The castle offers good views of the city (and the alps in the distance) from every side and serves as an interesting history lesson about the city’s and castle’s evolution over the last few centuries.
We wandered around some more after getting back down to the streets, but dusk was quickly approaching. We hopped back into the car and set off for the snow-capped mountains of the Julian Alps! It was a pretty quick ride to Bled and we settled into our Airbnb apartment after a lengthy but helpful orientation from our host excited for the next day.
Lake Bled
We spent our second day taking in the natural beauty of Bled. The lake is picturesque, nestled in the mountains with a church-topped island in the middle, all overlooked by a castle high on a cliff. We had originally planned to cycle around the lake but ended up walking instead. In the end, we actually preferred this as it allowed us to take things slowly and stop and wander as needed without having to worry about lugging around bikes.
Our first stop along the walk was Bled Castle. The medieval castle has looked over the lake and its environs for hundreds of years and is one of, if not the, oldest castle in the country. The hike up to the top was steep but quick and much more fun than driving and parking in the lot right outside the entrance! We spent most of our time up there sitting and admiring the views. Eventually we made our way back down to lake level and continued on our walk.
We knew we wanted to get out to the island and check out the church. There are boats that will take you out there all around the edge of the lake, but your time is limited and the rides are relatively expensive. We went for the more fun option—renting our own private rowboat! Rowing our way to the island and back (and the adventure that was trying to dock on the island’s small and crowded pier) ended up being one of the highlights of our entire trip.
Once on the island, we made our way toward the Church of the Assumption. It’s considered good luck to ring the bell inside the church three times so we obliged (though the rope is more difficult to pull than it looks!). To recover from all the hard work we sat and enjoyed some gelato in the shade. After another stroll around the small island, we got back in our boat, returned safely to shore, and set back out on our walk, stopping at Odmeve for some of the best pizzas we’ve ever had (spicy pepperoni and veggie).
Once we got back to the center of Bled we got in the car and drove to Vintgar Gorge. It was one of the most beautiful gorges we’ve ever seen and the park made it very easy to enjoy with sturdy paths and easy access to the natural wonder. You pass a couple of powerful waterfalls along the paths which adds to the beauty and makes it difficult to not stop and appreciate it.
Our host had recommended Lake Bohinjsko to us as one that was equally as beautiful as Bled with not as much of a crowd, so we set off in that direction. The drive was nice as it offered us the chance to see more of the alps and the lake itself was stunning. We even got to dip our feet in! It was great to sit and enjoy the calmness of the lake.
After a long day we got back to Bled, picked up the local delight creme cake from Rikli (allegedly the best), and shared some leftover pizza and the dessert in our apartment. Come morning, we would finally be on our way to Croatia after a stop in Piran.
Piran
The next morning we packed up, sat by the lake one last time, and then set off for the coast. We would ultimately be getting to Croatia that evening but wanted to make a stop at the jewel of Slovenia’s short Adriatic coast. Piran is a handsome red-roofed town jutting out on a peninsula at the crossroads of Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia.
We spent the first part of our day enjoying a slow lunch on Tartinijev trg—the town’s main square—which interestingly used to be part of the harbor before it began to smell too bad to bare and was filled in. While we worked on our gnocchi and mussels we couldn’t help but notice how nice of a communal space the square was, hosting families, pets, tiny craft stands selling knick knacks, and even young children blasting across the square on their little scooters.
After lunch we made our way up to the Church of St. George. The main attraction here is the opportunity to climb the tower and get some of the best views of the town. After buying tickets from a hilarious singing and jovial older Slovene woman, we got up to the top and it did not disappoint. The color of the buildings and roofs against the bright blue water was striking.
From there we walked along the city walls and through the small, crooked streets. We ended up sitting for a while by the sea, enjoying hazelnut and caramel gelato from Bar Punta and dipping our feet into the Adriatic. After wandering back to the main square, we started to walk through some of the small streets on the other side of town and inadvertently ended up at Piran Castle. The castle actually got you higher up off the ground than the church’s tower and offered truly stunning views (and ones that included the church in them!).
We regretfully had to start making our way back to the car at this point. After some driving we finally arrived in Rovinj, Croatia and got settled into our apartment. We closed the day out with a dinner of local Croatian gnocchi and then passed out in bed. We would need the rest as we were getting ready to kick off four days of exploring Croatia’s Istrian peninsula!
