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pax_athenaSo I either post about Slovenia now or never given how we are almost off to the next adventure (flight to Madeira on Thursday). And it was too great not to post about it.
This was very much a hiking holiday - 30000 steps a day on average for the 10 days of the actual vacation! (The arrival and departure days don't count, but we walked at least 10k on both those days, too.) The forcing myself into jogging before definitely did help with endurance for the longer hikes with more difference in elevation. And the incredible landscape always helps, given how hiking is never about the physical challenge and always about the landscape for me (it sometimes is for ♥ which can make it complicated - especially given how his baseline fitness is a lot better than mine and he does a ton of sports in his free time for fun).
~*~*~ Day 1: ~*~*~
Ljubnana is a loverly city: we went for a walking city tour, had a nice dinner and got some muscat grapes at the market. Have you ever tried proper muscat grapes? They are among the best grapes out there: sweet and aromatic, little explosions in your mouth. I will forever be sad that I haven't ever seen them for sale anywhere in Germany, USA, or Netherlands.
Also, I was very amused by the milk automat above.
~*~*~ Day 2: ~*~*~
Our first hike was up Grmada and Smarna Gora - an ambitious ascent for me, but very much worth it, especially for the amazing cake and the young wine / Federweißer we got on top. No photos of the cake, though, it was away too quickly. (We wanted to go back here at the end of your trip, alas did not have the time to make the ascent again, not even an easier one.)
The second hike of the day was around Lake Bled and up Mala Osojnica. I was pretty dead by the end of the day, especially because the second ascent was very steep, too, although not very complicated. But the view was very much worth it.
~*~*~ Day 3: ~*~*~
Freshly shorn sheep just look strange.
Vintgar gorge.
Stumbled through a tiny forest with tons of giant mushrooms.
Pokljuka gorge - this one is dried out, but oh, it just looks like some enchanted place. And we have been absolutely alone there, arriving from the wrong direction. Absolutely amazing. (Also look out for ♥ for size scale.)
Pericnic waterfall.
~*~*~ Day 4: ~*~*~
Hike from Kranjska Gora to Koca v Krnici.
We also ended up sleeping in Planica two nights by chance - of course then we had to go and see the ski flying hill. Which was - interesting! We did not realize only the ski jumping ones are used for summer training - so we stood in front of the largest one in use and went all "oooh, it's giant!" and were then driving home, when ♥ realized that there was one more, further down the road. And well ... it was not in use at this moment, but wow! I tried taking pictures, but they totally don't show the sheer size of it. You'll have to just believe me ;)
~*~*~ Day 5: ~*~*~
We tried to cross the mountains over the Vršič pass - but it was closed on the Northern way up due to road maintenance! Back we went - the way around lead through Italy. It was a picturesque drive, through another amazing pass, but unfortunately also meant that we did not have the time to do the hike we planned for the day - the 20km along the Soča Valley. Instead of walking down along the river, we drove all the way up the valley ...
... with a stop for a picnic and up the other, Southern side of the Vršič pass for a beautiful hike at the highest point of the pass:
Those clouds creeping over the mountains - it was one of the perfect, incredible moments that one cannot describe in words and simply has to experience.
And then we drove down the pass and the Soča Valley again, stopping over and over at all the interesting places, going for short walks:
This river has the most incredible turquoise color, like something on a unrealistic fantasy painting. And as you may have realized from the photos, we've been there just at the right time for the most amazing foliage. We kind of hoped for a nice autumn weather, but we did not know how incredible it would be.
~*~*~ Day 6: ~*~*~
Tolmin gorge - we continued up the mountain but the small restaurant that we hoped to eat at was already closed for the season which kind of made us rather MEH about continuing up. At least we met two very friendly donkeys who let themselves being petted.
I am stupidly proud about this shot on the way back.
We still had time (though just barely) for another longish hike. 10 km or so? Including some old roman settlements and once again a walk along the turquoise Soča. It was getting dark and I, getting worried, almost made us skip the last part, the Kozjak waterfall. And oh, was I happy we did not! I don't have photos from the waterfall itself, it was too dark there, so I will just leave you with the google search - this hike ended up being one of my absolute recommendation for when going to Slovenia.
~*~*~ Day 7: ~*~*~
We tried to get up Nanos - but uhm, on a trail that is a) moderate b) listed moderate for the length of the ascent, not the actual difficulty c) pointed out as one that people with children will enjoy, I do NOT expect passages that expected and to have to scramble up that steep rocky slopes. And when at some point I sent ♥ ahead and there was steel rope everywhere because it became even exposed. NOPE. I needed to go back. (There may have been tears and hyperventilation involved; it was a steep ascent and I very much did not want to go it down again. But there was no other way out.)
(Photo from halfway up, before I started truly disliked the whole hike and lost any interest in taking photos.)
We still had some time left (we planned to spend the whole day with Nanos) and so drove to Rakov Škocjan - a karst valley. They did promise an easy but spectacular hike and that was very much something we needed. And oh, it was! It was! Look out for the tiny human for the size scale - even though my photos will never ever fully express how imposing the landscape was.
Two more impressions from Rakov Škocjan before we turn back into the next guest apartment ...
~*~*~ Day 8: ~*~*~
Day 7 & 8 were all about caves. I was so happy people recommended us to do them! First Postojna: an almost 25 km long karst cave system. The caves were amazing as such, but the guided tour just awful. Giant group of perhaps 100 people, no time to stop and look, flash theoretically forbidded but nobody did follow the rules and they did not even try to make people stop use the flash. And it's not just about me, it's also about the cave. Yes, it is as far away from pristine as it gets, with a whole little train track built into it, but ugh ... You could at least pretend?
The afternoon was kind of free because - we planned for Rakov Škocjan for the day, but did it on the previous day already, so we walked around the village, had another nice dinner (did I mention that? We had a great dinner almost every day - good food for little money, often with glass of local wine!).
~*~*~ Day 9: ~*~*~
Škocjan Caves! You are not allowed to take photos in these ones - which nicely solved the problem of people not knowing how to turn off flash on their smart phones.
Here some very rough impressions of the outer parts that we were allowd to photograph - the thing is: if you go to one cave in Slovenia, go to this one. Take both tours - they are really different (one in the actual caves, one along the half-burried river) and both amazing. The guides were good, the groups normal-sized and the caves ... They just took your breath away.
After the actual caves we went on a hike along the river, upstreams from where it disappears into the caves to a small village and back.
One thing that you kind of can see is that we are further South and also not that high in the mountains anymore: there is a lot of less orange. As we continued South, towards the coast, we kept turning the clock backwards, from deep fall into late summer.
~*~*~ Day 10: ~*~*~
We are still in the karst, but this time we are not going down, to explore the caves that the rives cave into the soft stone, but are walking along a carst edge, to the Veli Badid Kuk / Veli Badin Rock Shelters.
There weren't many (interesting) animals on this trip, so here a few impressions: giant ants, the first wild mantis I've seen in my life, and a hilarious "here be cows!" sign. (There also were also pretty cows and friendly sheep on this particular hike.)
Towards the end of the hike - but still we some 4 km to go, this was a very long hike! - a thunderstorm started moving into our direction. And we were there, on a high plane, totally unprotected and it was getting really cold. Once again we've been lucky: we only got a few drops and heard far away thunder, the weather just passed us. And I got some spectacular views and photos out of it.
For the last two nights, we stayed in Piran. The city is very much Italian and the sunset ... Well, the sunset was obviously absolutely amazing. The cider helped and made in warm in spite of the cold. And then we got amazing fried seafood in a place where we would return to to eat at the next day, too.
~*~*~ Day 11: ~*~*~
A view from the balcony of our room in Piran.
We took a bus two cities further up along the coast and walked back - 16km or something like that, but leisury, along the coast, eating some more of the amazing muscat grapes, though both, small cities and a protected nature area.
That one kind of fits, doesn't it?
~*~*~ Day 12: ~*~*~
The last day! We've been really looking forward to visiting the salines, but they turned out pretty boring. Which was kind of a let down at the end - but on the other hand: the mountains! The caves! The Soča river! The foliage! The sunset! The gorges! The food!
This was very much a hiking holiday - 30000 steps a day on average for the 10 days of the actual vacation! (The arrival and departure days don't count, but we walked at least 10k on both those days, too.) The forcing myself into jogging before definitely did help with endurance for the longer hikes with more difference in elevation. And the incredible landscape always helps, given how hiking is never about the physical challenge and always about the landscape for me (it sometimes is for ♥ which can make it complicated - especially given how his baseline fitness is a lot better than mine and he does a ton of sports in his free time for fun).
~*~*~ Day 1: ~*~*~
Ljubnana is a loverly city: we went for a walking city tour, had a nice dinner and got some muscat grapes at the market. Have you ever tried proper muscat grapes? They are among the best grapes out there: sweet and aromatic, little explosions in your mouth. I will forever be sad that I haven't ever seen them for sale anywhere in Germany, USA, or Netherlands.
Also, I was very amused by the milk automat above.
~*~*~ Day 2: ~*~*~
Our first hike was up Grmada and Smarna Gora - an ambitious ascent for me, but very much worth it, especially for the amazing cake and the young wine / Federweißer we got on top. No photos of the cake, though, it was away too quickly. (We wanted to go back here at the end of your trip, alas did not have the time to make the ascent again, not even an easier one.)
The second hike of the day was around Lake Bled and up Mala Osojnica. I was pretty dead by the end of the day, especially because the second ascent was very steep, too, although not very complicated. But the view was very much worth it.
~*~*~ Day 3: ~*~*~
Freshly shorn sheep just look strange.
Vintgar gorge.
Stumbled through a tiny forest with tons of giant mushrooms.
Pokljuka gorge - this one is dried out, but oh, it just looks like some enchanted place. And we have been absolutely alone there, arriving from the wrong direction. Absolutely amazing. (Also look out for ♥ for size scale.)
Pericnic waterfall.
~*~*~ Day 4: ~*~*~
Hike from Kranjska Gora to Koca v Krnici.
We also ended up sleeping in Planica two nights by chance - of course then we had to go and see the ski flying hill. Which was - interesting! We did not realize only the ski jumping ones are used for summer training - so we stood in front of the largest one in use and went all "oooh, it's giant!" and were then driving home, when ♥ realized that there was one more, further down the road. And well ... it was not in use at this moment, but wow! I tried taking pictures, but they totally don't show the sheer size of it. You'll have to just believe me ;)
~*~*~ Day 5: ~*~*~
We tried to cross the mountains over the Vršič pass - but it was closed on the Northern way up due to road maintenance! Back we went - the way around lead through Italy. It was a picturesque drive, through another amazing pass, but unfortunately also meant that we did not have the time to do the hike we planned for the day - the 20km along the Soča Valley. Instead of walking down along the river, we drove all the way up the valley ...
... with a stop for a picnic and up the other, Southern side of the Vršič pass for a beautiful hike at the highest point of the pass:
Those clouds creeping over the mountains - it was one of the perfect, incredible moments that one cannot describe in words and simply has to experience.
And then we drove down the pass and the Soča Valley again, stopping over and over at all the interesting places, going for short walks:
This river has the most incredible turquoise color, like something on a unrealistic fantasy painting. And as you may have realized from the photos, we've been there just at the right time for the most amazing foliage. We kind of hoped for a nice autumn weather, but we did not know how incredible it would be.
~*~*~ Day 6: ~*~*~
Tolmin gorge - we continued up the mountain but the small restaurant that we hoped to eat at was already closed for the season which kind of made us rather MEH about continuing up. At least we met two very friendly donkeys who let themselves being petted.
I am stupidly proud about this shot on the way back.
We still had time (though just barely) for another longish hike. 10 km or so? Including some old roman settlements and once again a walk along the turquoise Soča. It was getting dark and I, getting worried, almost made us skip the last part, the Kozjak waterfall. And oh, was I happy we did not! I don't have photos from the waterfall itself, it was too dark there, so I will just leave you with the google search - this hike ended up being one of my absolute recommendation for when going to Slovenia.
~*~*~ Day 7: ~*~*~
We tried to get up Nanos - but uhm, on a trail that is a) moderate b) listed moderate for the length of the ascent, not the actual difficulty c) pointed out as one that people with children will enjoy, I do NOT expect passages that expected and to have to scramble up that steep rocky slopes. And when at some point I sent ♥ ahead and there was steel rope everywhere because it became even exposed. NOPE. I needed to go back. (There may have been tears and hyperventilation involved; it was a steep ascent and I very much did not want to go it down again. But there was no other way out.)
(Photo from halfway up, before I started truly disliked the whole hike and lost any interest in taking photos.)
We still had some time left (we planned to spend the whole day with Nanos) and so drove to Rakov Škocjan - a karst valley. They did promise an easy but spectacular hike and that was very much something we needed. And oh, it was! It was! Look out for the tiny human for the size scale - even though my photos will never ever fully express how imposing the landscape was.
Two more impressions from Rakov Škocjan before we turn back into the next guest apartment ...
~*~*~ Day 8: ~*~*~
Day 7 & 8 were all about caves. I was so happy people recommended us to do them! First Postojna: an almost 25 km long karst cave system. The caves were amazing as such, but the guided tour just awful. Giant group of perhaps 100 people, no time to stop and look, flash theoretically forbidded but nobody did follow the rules and they did not even try to make people stop use the flash. And it's not just about me, it's also about the cave. Yes, it is as far away from pristine as it gets, with a whole little train track built into it, but ugh ... You could at least pretend?
The afternoon was kind of free because - we planned for Rakov Škocjan for the day, but did it on the previous day already, so we walked around the village, had another nice dinner (did I mention that? We had a great dinner almost every day - good food for little money, often with glass of local wine!).
~*~*~ Day 9: ~*~*~
Škocjan Caves! You are not allowed to take photos in these ones - which nicely solved the problem of people not knowing how to turn off flash on their smart phones.
Here some very rough impressions of the outer parts that we were allowd to photograph - the thing is: if you go to one cave in Slovenia, go to this one. Take both tours - they are really different (one in the actual caves, one along the half-burried river) and both amazing. The guides were good, the groups normal-sized and the caves ... They just took your breath away.
After the actual caves we went on a hike along the river, upstreams from where it disappears into the caves to a small village and back.
One thing that you kind of can see is that we are further South and also not that high in the mountains anymore: there is a lot of less orange. As we continued South, towards the coast, we kept turning the clock backwards, from deep fall into late summer.
~*~*~ Day 10: ~*~*~
We are still in the karst, but this time we are not going down, to explore the caves that the rives cave into the soft stone, but are walking along a carst edge, to the Veli Badid Kuk / Veli Badin Rock Shelters.
There weren't many (interesting) animals on this trip, so here a few impressions: giant ants, the first wild mantis I've seen in my life, and a hilarious "here be cows!" sign. (There also were also pretty cows and friendly sheep on this particular hike.)
Towards the end of the hike - but still we some 4 km to go, this was a very long hike! - a thunderstorm started moving into our direction. And we were there, on a high plane, totally unprotected and it was getting really cold. Once again we've been lucky: we only got a few drops and heard far away thunder, the weather just passed us. And I got some spectacular views and photos out of it.
For the last two nights, we stayed in Piran. The city is very much Italian and the sunset ... Well, the sunset was obviously absolutely amazing. The cider helped and made in warm in spite of the cold. And then we got amazing fried seafood in a place where we would return to to eat at the next day, too.
~*~*~ Day 11: ~*~*~
A view from the balcony of our room in Piran.
We took a bus two cities further up along the coast and walked back - 16km or something like that, but leisury, along the coast, eating some more of the amazing muscat grapes, though both, small cities and a protected nature area.
That one kind of fits, doesn't it?
~*~*~ Day 12: ~*~*~
The last day! We've been really looking forward to visiting the salines, but they turned out pretty boring. Which was kind of a let down at the end - but on the other hand: the mountains! The caves! The Soča river! The foliage! The sunset! The gorges! The food!
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Date: 2018-04-09 11:30 pm (UTC)And muscat grapes are my favourite type of grapes! You don't often find them in the grocery stores / farmers' markets here though. We usually find them in the Asian groceries stores, when we do find them. The next best thing are these muscat grape flavoured gummy candies from Japan...
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Date: 2018-04-12 09:56 am (UTC)I guess I also did not realize that muscar grapes were a big enough thing in Japan to have muscat grape flavored candy?!
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Date: 2018-04-13 04:05 pm (UTC)The gummies are great! There are even chocolate-covered ones. I see Amazon.com sells at least one brand :D
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Date: 2018-04-10 08:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-12 09:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-10 05:44 pm (UTC)Toll.
no subject
Date: 2018-04-12 09:57 am (UTC)Ich kann mir gut vorstellen, dass Slowenien sich mit etwas älteren Kindern gut als Urlaubsziel eignet: es ist abwechselungsreich, die Höhlen sind faszinierend und es ist ziemlich billig. Ein bisschen wie Norditalien, nur halt in weniger überlaufen und nicht so teuer :D
no subject
Date: 2018-04-10 07:04 pm (UTC)On our weekly market they do sell muscat grapes late during the summer. And they are amazing! But I have never seen them in a shop.
I found a mantis in South France once and the shire size of it was kind of terrifying. If you are a little insect of course... ;) Very impressive animal.
no subject
Date: 2018-04-12 09:57 am (UTC)Oh, it does? I need to keep looking out, then - BW is rather a wine country, so I may have luck there!
I actually would have missed this one myself, it was very good in being green and hiding in the grass. ♥ was the one who has seen it and pointed it out to me.
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Date: 2018-04-13 07:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-21 09:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-21 10:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-15 06:00 pm (UTC)30k steps a day is a bit, since I think the average person only hits around 10-15k? But totally worth it, cause those gorges and rivers and forest are absolutely gorgeous. Especially the turquoise river cause yeah, I've never seen water that shade of blue before in person.
no subject
Date: 2018-04-21 09:04 am (UTC)I think the general idea that 10k is healthy target? But I've also read that this is mainly a marketing gig of the first pedometers and that it's mainly harder exercise that counts. It's still a fun thing to aim at.
That color was just out of this world - I thought they played with the color in the photos before I've actually seen it myself!