Ljubljana and Bled

Slovenia, the final frontier. Oops, sorry wrong blog post.

It was an eight hour train ride from Budapest to Ljubljana (pronounced Lube-ee-yana), Slovenia but we stocked up on drinks, snacks and entertainment beforehand so it wasn't too bad. When we arrived at the hostel after being on the train all day we were informed it was free pancake night. Wahoo! We each had a couple of pancakes (what we would call crepes) with bananas and nutella.

One of a few photos taken in Ljubljana

Whoever wrote the wikitravel entry for Ljubljana probably said it best - Ljubljana doesn't have any must-see sights, it's just a pretty, medium-sized european capital. We spent the next day wandering around the old town; over the triple bridge, up to the castle and into Tivoli park in the afternoon. The next morning we caught a bus to Bled.

If you read anything about Bled before arriving your expectations will be set pretty damn high and Bled certainly doesn't disappoint. A picturesque town with a castle on a cliff overlooking a clear, bright blue lake containing a small island with a church.

After settling into our hostel and having lunch we took the walking path around the lake. About halfway around we rented a small rowboat and rowed around the lake and island for an hour. We walked around the rest of the lake and stopped for ice cream before heading back to the hostel for dinner. Dinner was ravioli with a jar of what we assumed was a white cream sauce with mushrooms - this cream sauce turned out to be mushroom gravy, but it was still edible.

Before heading off to Bohinj the second day we wanted to check out Vintgar Gorge. Our hostel had free bikes we could borrow so we took a couple of them and rode through the countryside towards the gorge. The ride to the gorge was just as beautiful as the gorge itself, which was a popular tourist spot even in the pseudo-offseason. After checking out the gorge and the clear blue waters below teeming with fish we rode back into town. For lunch we made delicious wraps with tunafish and sautéed red pepper and onion. After lunch we had just a thirty minute bus ride to Bohinj.

Vintgar Gorge