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S-love-nia Slovenia.

Land of the Slovenes.

By Bridie Published 3 years ago 13 min read
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As I stepped off the plane and my tired eyes looked all around me, I saw mountains, snow capped alps, lime green grass and healthy tall trees. I breathed in the freshest air I believe my lungs have ever been filled with. I'm not on Planet Earth anymore.

I'm now on a planet that's 60% forest, has over 90,000 beekeepers, a huge diversity in Religion, a huge population of Brown Bears, hilltop Castle fortresses, kilometres of hiking trails through historic World War 2 sites, countless underground caves, is known for its wine and craft beer and has been voted one of the worlds greenest capitals.

So, I'm officially in heaven right?

Bordered by Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Austria and the Adriatic Sea, this is Slovenia. Mountains, forests, clear water rivers and alps make up the scenery of this small country of only 2.1 million people.

The name already has the word 'love' in it, as if you're not going to fall in love with Slovenia. Kind people, stunning views, delicious foods and lively markets. It's a travellers dream. And It's a hard place to leave behind.

I had never really heard of Slovenia before I started researching safe countries to travel as a solo female traveller. Venturing out as a solo traveller is daunting enough without your mum and brother in your ear worrying about your safety 24/7 and whether they need to lock you in the house so you cant leave to explore the worlds treasures.

I'm wondering why Slovenia isn't spoken about more often but secretly I'm glad that it's not. The cafes and bars weren't overcrowded, the streets weren't polluted, the water was clean, the people were friendly and I had a choice of strawberries from Italy and Croatia. Thank you very much for your deliciousness.

Slovenia travel tip one - It's a safe country to visit for solo female travellers.

As the plane from Moscow landed in this foreign fairytale, I made a friend for life. A little younger than me, a little wiser than me, talks a lot more trash than I do and was completely in the same life boat (or plane if you will) as I was. Two Australian peas, one pod, the universe graced us with each others friendship.

One short month of travelling Eastern Europe together, learning from each other, drinking way too much and experiencing new cultures with each other, two years later we're still close friends and I wouldn't trade his friendship for anything.

From the airport to Slovenia's green capital city, Ljubljana, we knew we were both in the most beautiful country we will probably ever walk our feet in. We Ljub Ljubljana.

Tip il numero due, two and a half days and three nights in Slovenia, will never be enough. A week (or forever) will suffice.

The football and travelling loving Italians I shared a hostel room with were the perfect room companions to start my solo travel journey. Absolute legends and I'm grateful for the time I spent with them. As the saying goes, it was short but sweet. I hope we meet again someday.

As mentioned before, two and a half days is not nearly enough to explore this gorgeous country. I had just a small number, 12 to be precise, of destinations on my 'must see' in Slovenia list. Naturally and unfortunately, with our limited time, we had to narrow it down just a smidge.

Ljubljana.

Almost everyone in Slovenia speaks English so ordering food and getting directions is nice and easy. Ljubljana is the capital city of Slovenia and is one of the worlds greenest cities. There's also many beers to be had.

Tip 3 - Ljubljana is a beer drinkers devil on the shoulder. Slovenia is the 7th biggest importer of hops IN THE WORLD. And there's a beer fountain. Yes, the fountain of joy.

Behold architecture designed by the famous architect Joze Plecnik. Inspired and remodelled to look like a modern day Athens. Cobblestone alleyways with almost hidden doors to restaurants, cafes, pubs and bakeries. Pocket sized bookstores catch the eye just as easily as the indulgent chocolate shops and handmade jewellery stores. Wouldn't mind pocketing some of those choccies.

Famous also for the Triple Bridge lined with stone bollards and vintage lamps as well as Dragon Bridge with the blue Ljuljanica River flowing underneath. Sometimes the river is a shade of green, but not in the mouldy "there's frogs in my pond" kind of way. The river is lined with cafes and restaurants and luscious trees while the river itself hosts boats and cruises all day long.

We walked for a long time and found ourselves in what felt like an outdoor, alternative art exhibition. Turns out it's called Metelkova Art Centre. A social hub for weird and wacky culture exhibited in strange and memorable ways. Giant metal spiders, graffiti covering the walls from floor to ceiling, recycled rubbish turned into ornaments and structures, creepy old doll men with angry faces leering at passers by and burnt out trashed vehicles. I honestly felt cool just by being here. Maybe I shouldn't have left? *insert loser laugh here*

Spend time at the Saturday Central Market among the fresh cut flowers and explore the open kitchens, fresh fruit and veg stalls and locally made cheese and wines. Don't forget the strawberries. Please for the love of anything, try the fresh strawberries.

Walk the main street near the marble and limestone Robba Fountain constructed in the 18th century, through Congress Square where you'll find a music Pavilion and have a front row view of Ljubljana Castle! I don't know if you noticed but I love a good castle view.

Tip 4 (I'm going to have to start charging for this guys), try everything. Food, wine, beer, new music, dinner with people you're sharing a hostel room with for the first ever, whatever it is, try it all.

Ljubljana Castle.

An 11th century castle on top of a hill overlooking the beautiful city of Ljubljana city. There is a funicular cable train to get you up and down the hill, it can be a bit of a hike. We opted to walk up, luckily hiking through China the week before had me feeling fit enough for this walk. Although my lungs were burning from being sick from the China air pollution, it was still worth the short but steep 30 minute walk up.

The castle has been reconstructed a couple of times, in the 12th and 15th centuries as well as the 16th and 17th. Either way, its origins date back almost 900 years soooooo yeah it's pretty cool. You can go in and check out Slovenian History in the museum and you can climb the tower to get the best views of the city.

Vintgar Gorge.

On our second day in Slovenia, we arranged to meet up for a day tour with only a handful of other people so the experience was a little less touristy. I'm pretty sure Vintgar Gorge is one of my most favourite places on earth.

Radovna River runs through the 1.6km long gorge. Waterfalls, pools and rapids among ferns, trees and moss make up the rest of the magical scenery. Vintgar Gorge was discovered by a photographer back in the late 1800's, so it's easy to see why it's become a popular place for photography lovers.

The wooden built walkway takes you all the way to the man made dam, a small hydro power plant, and a stone arched train bridge built in 1905 that is still in use today. Our journey ended at the lower platform of the Sum Waterfall.

Lake Bled.

We walked all the way back with a few minutes to spare and jumped on our little bus for the tour guide to take us to our next destination, Lake Bled. Our tour guide was very tall and extremely handsome. That seems to be a common factor in Slovenian men. Tall, blue eyes, blonde hair, broad shoulders. Gals, calm down. He was lovely and informative and showed us his home town on the DL too.

Anywho, Lake Bled. Where you'll find the Church of the Mother of God on the Lake and hear about old folklore stories and legends about widows and wishing bells. Perhaps if you have time, row a boat out to the little Church Island to explore inside and make a wish while ringing the wishing bell. Or swim... Your choice.

The Island itself has an interesting ancient history dating back to 11th century B.C. with cults and burial graves. The original brick church was probably built in the 1100's but has been restored and rebuilt numerous times due to deterioration and earthquakes. To say it's picturesque is putting it lightly.

We hiked up to the castle and then back down to the far side of the Lake where we could get a good view of the whole valley. Church, Lake and Castle in one romantic photograph. Then stopped off at a fancy looking restaurant for a vanilla slice and a cold glass of beer. Like I said, devil on the shoulder.

Bled Castle.

This castle is legit on a sheer cliffside. If you walk to the stone walled edge to get a decent almost birds eye view of the Church of the Mother of God on the Lake, be prepared for a slight dizzy spell of vertigo.

The view is well worth it. The allure of the whole Valley of Bled, nestled amongst the Julian Alps and Mount Triglav. There is nothing more serene and calming than that view, seeing it with your own eyes. The history of Bled Castle can be traced back to 1004, it's a really old castle. Explore the free museum and learn some pretty interesting Slovenian history, grab a bite to eat in the castle restaurant, enjoy some ice cream at the ice cream and coffee shop and then make your way to the historic wine cellar.

High 5 tip - The view is always worth the climb.

The Wine Cellar is a little shop, situated inside an old part of the castle. It's almost dungeon like with it's dark stone walls, old oil lamps producing a small amount of light and the shop keeper is a lovely older man wearing a cloak like they would have back in the day. He was incredibly smart, loved riddles and we could have stayed and spoken to him for years.

Bohinjsko Jezero (Lake Bohinj)

I have never, before this day, drank water from a stream nor have I ever been tempted to. This was the clearest river stream I have ever laid my eyes on. You could examine every pebble, rock and every sand grain below the surface. The water was melting from ice caps on the alps and boy oh boy it was cold. But fresh. The most clean water I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. Forget the fountain of youth, make way for the Little River, Savica.

6 - Try something different. Something you wouldn't usually do. Just to know that you did.

Lake Bohinj is the largest lake in Slovenia and is bordered by imposing views of Triglav National Park and the Julian Alps. We got to see the lake on a grey stormy day and the effect was Godly. I felt like Thor, God of Thunder, was about to descend from the heavens and battle for justice across the dark water... Maybe if we were in Scandinavia.

Goldhorn Zlatorog - The White Chamois Buck.

The Savica River originates from springs in the Triglav Lakes Valley and flows all the way down to Lake Bohinj. Here you will find a statue of Zlatorog on a small but steep stone rise overlooking the Lake. Slovenian legends tell the tale of Zlatorog, a white chamois buck with golden horns, also known as Goldhorn.

The folklore tale goes a little something like this...

"Zlatorog lived among the mountains of Mount Triglav. His golden horns were the key to hidden treasures among the mountains. A young and brave but poor hunter met a beautiful girl in a small valley below the mountains and fell in love with her. The young hunter brought her pretty flowers and had won her heart. But she was being pursued by another, richer man, from Venice who showered her in gifts of gold and wined and dined her until she gave her heart to him.

The young hunter was heart broken and left to find another way to win the beautiful girl back. He was convinced by another hunter, who went by the name of the Green Hunter, to find Zlatorog and kill him for his golden horns to find the hidden treasure and win the girl back with riches.

They found Zlatorog in the mountains, shot him and chased him to a steep, rocky cliffs edge. The cliff was surrounded by the most incredibly beautiful flowers the young hunter had ever seen. The flowers had healing powers and were growing from the blood of the wounded buck.

The Green Hunter again convinced the young and naïve hunter to attack Zlatorog before he was able to eat the healing flowers but it was too late. Zlatorog ate the flowers and became impressive. Healthy and strong, his gold horns gleamed in the sunlight and blinded the young hunter as he attacked. He lost his balance and fell off the mountain. The Soca River brought his dead body back to his valley."

Skofja Loka

Our final stop before heading back to Ljubljana. Skofja Loka has a history that dates back to 973 AD. The towns name means The Bishops Wet Meadow, which is fitting as the town was granted to The Bishops of Freising who ran the town for the next 1000 years.

We entered the Saint Jacob Church, quietly and respectfully walked around admiring the marble interior, high colourful ceilings, stained glass windows and a whole lotta pure gold ornaments and statues. The towns castle, Loka Castle, is situated on a higher Plateau overlooking the town and you can get a pretty good view from this church.

Unfortunately the castle, which is also a museum, was closed on the day we were here so I can't add it to my "Conquered Castles" list.

Skofja Loka Old Town is built along river terraces and we enjoyed venturing through the Old Town Square, walking over the river via the Capuchin Bridge, admiring the many churches this small town hosts and seeing the abundant history with our own eyes.

I mean the town was founded in 973, it's obviously full of fiery history. The castle was built for defence, the town was walled in the 14th century and then burned down not long after. They've been attacked numerous times, suffered the plague, revolts and more fires, destroyed by earthquakes and damaged again by fires.

World War 2 warred through Skofja Loka, arresting, deporting and killing local families. Loka Castle was used for Prisoners of War and Skofja Loka is one of many towns with numerous mass graves from the war.

Despite the sorrowful and bitter history, Skofja Loka was still a charming and green town with clear streams and quaint little shops. Soulful buildings line the old streets and make up for the dramatic history in full.

Lastly, tip 7 - Pay attention to history. History has paved our way through the present and will continue to pave our way forward into the future. There is always something to be learned from our history.

So Why Slovenia?

Honestly because why not? I fell in love with this country the second I took my first step off the airplane. I haven't heard one bad word about this environmentally friendly haven and I can almost guarantee everyone else who ventures here will find it as delightful as I did.

That's why, Slovenia.

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About the Creator

Bridie

Just your average adventure loving Aussie gal travelling the UK and writing about stuff and things.

23 countries, around 111 cities (and that's only 10% of the world)

☁️

Lets try to save the world while we're at it?

Instagram; @bridie.marie

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