Beautiful Slovenia

Slovenia!  What a beautiful, neat, pretty, organised place.  It was instant ... cross the border from Croatia and all of a sudden things were neat.  And tidy.  Not a weed in sight.  No rubbish.  Graffiti ... but it was pretty graffiti!  I kid you not!  My first stop was Ljubljana and this city was a delight!  Beautiful.  Neat.  Organised.  And so welcoming.  I could stay here for weeks, if not longer.  I wonder if they need housesitters here?

The River Ljubljanica drifts through the city, crossed by lovely bridges (the Triple Bridge and the Dragon Bridge are the most famous).

There was a big market near the Dragon Bridge (and my 'home') which sold everything from fruit and vegetables to seedlings and pots of flowers.

My accommodation was in a really hip, graffiti-covered, bar-infested street ... and I was right next door to the Erotic Shop.  Great!

I loved walking around this town.  There were a few tourists but not in the numbers of Croatia.  And the locals seemed to be chilled about everything ... as far as I could see, they rarely moved far from a coffee or a wine.  I discovered the local IPA called Loo-Blah-Nah (cool name, huh!) and managed to rehydrate myself while walking all around the place.

Street performers were everywhere ...

... some playing very strange instruments.

The dragons of Dragon Bridge

There were statues everywhere, too ... not quite sure what they were all about but they had a bit of Damien Hirst about them.

This is a Klobasa s sirom - sausage (cheese kransky) wrapped in pastry with sauerkraut and mustard, horseradish on the side.  YUM!  White wine is purely for hydration.

I broke my rule and went to a museum.  I thought I should learn something about the history of Slovenia, since I was going to be here for a while, so I visited the National Museum of Contemporary History.  Slovenia, like all these countries, is relatively new.  However, unlike Croatia, its war with Yugoslavia (read Serbia and Montenegro) lasted a whole 10 days.  Yep!  That was it!  Evidently, Serbia realised that (a) everyone in Slovenia was a Slovene and not Serbs, (b) the country didn't have anything they wanted and (c) they were a bit bored and just wanted to use all their resources to pound Croatia.  So they said OK to independence and left.  A total of 18 fatalities.  

I walked up to the Castle ... of course there was a castle on top of the hill ... and had to giggle at the name of the main gate; A.E.I.O.U.  It stands for Austriae est imperare orbi universo / Austria is destined to rule over the entire globe.

But it was time to leave the city and to travel to the beautiful Bled.  Bled is a small town to the west of Ljubljana that is is on the banks of the lovely Lake Bled.  This is famous for having a small island in the middle that has a church on it.  I resisted the urge and didn't visit.  Instead, I walked around the lake (an easy 6 and a bit km) and admired all the lycra-clad rowers that had come to Bled for the 2025 International Regatta.  

I tried the local specialty of potato dumplings (really rolls) with mushrooms.  I'm not too keen of the dumplings but the mushrooms were delicious (and non-lethal).

And I took way too many photos ... lake, island in lake, island, church, island with church, lake with island and church ... I won't inflict them on you!

I did a day trip to Lake Bohinj. This was only an hour down the road but surprisingly much less touristy ... surprising because it was much more beautiful than Bled.  Again, I decided to walk around the lake and also up a hill (my undoing because I also fell down said hill).  Apart from the blood, grazes and bruises, it was a delightful walk ... only about 14 km all up but every minute was a WOW! moment.

Bohinj also stood out because there were so many wildflowers.  The path was often bordered with ripe wild strawberries (I foraged and they were delicious) and orchids and daisies pushed up between the grass.  Many of the flowers were recognisable as those common in cottage gardens ... some others I have no idea about.

Near Bled, is Vintgar Gorge.  Oh my!  Imagine clear, rapid, turquoise water, gushing between narrow rock walls.  The 'track' was a boardwalk that we all walked along in the same direction, only pausing to take a photo or to wait for the young things to take multiple selfies and TikTok struts.  At one stage, a rather brave old British bloke in front of me called out "I wouldn't keep doing that, love.  Your bum really does look big in that outfit!".  The young thing strutted off quite quickly.

So where to go next?  Ptuj!  Pronounced P-too-ey.  It was on the way to Austria which is on the way to Germany which is on the way to France which is where Charles De Gaulle Airport is ... so I guess that's a good enough reason to go there.  Mind you, I'm the only traveler that thought that ... in fact I was the only tourist there.  And boy! was everyone missing a gem of a place.  OK, quickly, Ptuj is the oldest town in Slovenia; it's on a beautiful river, the Drava; has great wines; has Roman ruins; has beautiful buildings and churches ... also seemed to be the centre for dressmakers making historical costumes!  Go figure!

Ptuj had a castle on top of the hill and a monastery ... I visited neither in accordance of my new resolution.

That pink building is my hotel where I was offered the BEST BREAKFAST EVER!  Pity I really don't like eating breakfast ... 

The monastery ... I did walk past

Ptuj also introduced me to some serious Slovenian cuisine.  I found a little local restaurant and ate there for two nights.  No English, no English menu, but the jovial owner just winked at me and brought me out beautiful meals ... a lovely little local wine ... and it was almost Albanian prices!

Chicken with gnocchi and mushrooms ... quail eggs on the top.

Always careful to keep up the hydration - the weather has been very warm.

Pork salad (with quail eggs - I think they are a signature element)

Slovenian tasting plate ... meat, salami, more meat, pressed tongue and that little ball of white in the middle is (rather delicious) pork fat, which you use instead of butter.

Oh, there are so many other places I wanted to go to in Slovenia but my time is running out.  So I have to say goodbye ... but, like Albania, I think this is a place I would enjoy coming back to since I am sure there are so many other delights like Ptuj just waiting for me.

And I thought my wood pile was neat ...

... so even, so uniform, so organised ...

Mind you, their signs are a bit confusing ... 

... a path to take your rabbit for a walk ...