We spent a day in the capital Ljubljana just soaking up the city, and than headed down to see some freaking amazing caves in the Southern part of Slovenia (called Škocjan Caves). In the caves you couldn't take any pictures because it might damage the stalagmite and stalactite formations we were walking through. But we saw so many cool formations all over the place, they had the place wired so they only turned on the lights while the tour group was in the specific cavern / area. After a long walk we came out into a huge cavern, and you could hear the river rushing through far below. Felt like we were in a crazy Lord of the Rings movie, wandering through the darkness and the mist over a river deep in the Gothic cave. Was fun to just feel like you were in an alternate universe for a while. You could see a bunch of the old trails along the side of the walls, and far below closer to the water, most of the steps had been eroded away, pretty amazing to see nature taking back it back :-)
Our hike down to the caves, I love spring, all the little baby plants poking their heads out of the leaves... Ready to flourish in a brand new year :-)
The cave from the back side, you can see the tiny people walking through the second archway
Cathedral the hill above the cave. Was cool to see all the cathedrals on top of a hill in each and every town. At first it was a bit irritating just thinking that the cathedral always gets the highest point in town, like a dominance thing (yea that is the cynic in me), but after reading about it I found out that it was really because they were used for relaying messages over distances quickly. Old school Morse code ;-p
After our afternoon at the caves we headed up the Soča River Valley to the Julian Alps. We could see the temperature dropping as we went along. Going to be a cold little stretch of our trip, but we really wanted to drive the Alps :-) We spent the night in Kobarid, a tiny little white water adventure town. Can tell that in the summer it is going to just be packed with the river rats. We stayed in a bitty little room, but it was just fine for a night, don't need to be real fancy. Too bad it wasn't a bit warmer or maybe we could have convinced the hotel guy (who in the summers runs the river and takes people on trips daily) to take us out. Next time ;-)
My waterfall scout!
Next we headed up over Vršič Pass on our way to Lake Bled, the pass was crazy little hairpin turns back and forth straight up the mountain, YIKES. Kettie would have HATED it (even more than I did). Pretty sure I was white knuckled by the end, think that being on the cliff side was a bit much even for me ;-p
Nate at the summit, burrrrrrrrrrrr
Lake Bled, I think both of our favorite places, it was so beautiful there. The final day the sun came out and we could see the beautiful backdrop we had missed at first. The Alps framed the lake, making it truly picturesque. We stayed on a tourist farm which was also awesome! The people were really friendly, and the room was big, and we had a beautiful view. Nice breakfast made in part with ingredients from their own farm. And of course some great big farm dogs for us to give some love to.
Our view day one, mountains covered by clouds.
Our first full day we headed to the lake to do the stroll, even though it was kind of cold, and sprinkling off and on. Nate is insane and decided he would be tough and wear shorts, that way at least if it rained a little bit he would dry fast (or much faster than jeans dry at least)... My phone forecast just said it was supposed to stay around the same temp... Little did we know that half way around the lake it would start raining harder, than would turn into snow! No bueno!! Everyone walking by is just looking at Nate like he is mental. The stroll is about 3 1/2 miles so we just had to carry on. At least we had good rain coats on, so a little bit of us was dry, we were frozen by the time we made it back to the car though. It is a miracle that neither of us got sick! We rewarded ourselves with a Thai massage ;-)
The cute cathedral out on the little island on the lake, you can see all the little boats parked at the dock, we rented our own boat the following day when the weather was much more pleasant.
I love all these buildings with the vines crawling all over the sides, makes me think of the movie Great Expectations. Seems like a bit of magic to me :-)
Our morning on the lake, the sun was starting to burn off the clouds, and show all the fresh snow in the mountains surrounding the lake. And warming up things a bit! Loving it even more!
It's hard work being me
View from our room the last day when we were leaving... Was tough to drive away when it was so beautiful there! If anyone goes to Lake Bled (and has a car), you should for sure consider Tourist Farm Mulej it was a gem.
Our final stop out of town was for a hike up Vintgar Gorge. Really beautiful, and made extra fun with all the icicles that were everywhere from the previous days cold weather. A bit exciting when they were breaking and falling on the path, luckily we were not injured ;-p
Baby tree growing out of the side of the tree trunk!
On our way to Croatia we stopped by Ljubljana for a bit more exploring and for a nice dinner before heading to Plitvice Lakes for our next adventure. The weather forecast was only showing sun for the next day so wanted to make sure we were at the lakes when the weather was still nice since that was going to be a full day of hiking around!
Dragon Bridge!!!!
Goodbye Slovenia, its been lovely, I can see why you are known for being so beautiful. I concur.
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