The Hardy Wench

After a long day’s journey by rail and a rather hairy time-constricted change of trains (7 mins with change of platform!) which, we made in time! We arrived in the tiny village of Bohinjska Bistrico;the platform was possibly the smallest I have ever encountered, about three feet wide with a picturesque station the size of a detached house. We walked across the rails and were greeted by our host Marco who had very kindly and most unexpectedly come to meet us at the station to drive us to our ‘apartment.’ This was tiny but adequate for a our needs and after a long day’s travel we collapsed into bed.

The next morning after a slightly unusual breakfast of Apple Strudl, all that was on offer in our local eatery, we explored the village and discovered that Lake Bohinj was within walkable distance. We set off, not being really prepared and with the slightly wrong turn we took it took just a tad longer than we had hoped, two and a half hours in total. The scenery was stunning, a wide valley bordered by mountains on either side. For most of the walk we were accompanied by the sound of the flowing river nearby, apart from the odd cyclist a few cows and a fisherman in the river we didn’t see anyone! A very welcome peace after the frantic busyness of the city.

The weather was perfect for walking, dry, sunny but not too hot. We were becoming very thirsty and hungry towards the end and were grateful to encounter a charming bar/cafe with cold beer and a great lunch of grilled cheese, salad and mashed potato certainly provided a great fuel stop.

We arrived at Lake Bohiinj and made future plans for canoeing and swimming. Having walked so far (9.8 miles) we didn’t feel guilty getting the bus back. Having loaded up with supplies we returned home for a very welcome evening in!

Bled Bound

After an infusion of Plazma, very appropriate as we were heading for Lake Bled, we headed for the bus stop to head to one of Slovenia’s top tourist destinations, Lake Bled. After a beautiful drive through the mountains known as ‘The Julian Alps,’ we arrived at this dramatic and very beautiful lake. Not even the hoards of flag following tourists could detract from this lake’s beauty. A tiny island in the centre was home to a church, a souvenir shop (inevitable!) and an ice cream shop. After being extorted for 20 Euros for a five minute boat ride, we climbed the 99 steps to the church at the top. The bell was clanging all the time and we discovered that if you climbed the bell tower you could ring the bell and make a wish. Looking at the stairs to the top (reminiscent of Portland Bill!) we decided against it and headed back for our return journey.

We then continued waking around the lake stopping for lunch on the way. decided on a Goulash today, again it was incredibly hearty with the inevitable potato dumpling it looked thick enough to ‘trot an ass,’ on as they say in Ireland. Whilst the prices are similar to England the portions are always huge and I have yet to discover a meal I am able to finish! We continued our walk managing to crash another wedding on the way!

As we walked around it became obvious that the Slovenians are certainly capitalizing on this very beautiful spot, it was very commercial and overpriced but well worth a visit regardless. It was a relief to get back on the bus and head for our much less frenetic village.

Bobbing about on Lake Bohinj

The following day, Sunday, we decided to get the bus to Lake Bohinj with various options Canoe/walk/swim bing considered. It was quite a grey day so swimming and canoeing were ruled out. Once arriving at the lake we discovered a boat which took visitors to the opposite end of the lake. The waters were so calm and clearly very deep so it was a lovely peaceful journey, much less crowded than Lake Bled. We seemed to get lumped in with a group who looked like the French version of SAGA, I suggested to Tina we immersed ourselves and spoke in French. I gave the game away when the boat man said ‘Bonjour’ I replied ‘Hello!)

Arriving at the other end, Tina decided to return by boat and I walked the length of the lake, only a couple of miles. This was followed by a visit to the tiny church pictured above dedicated to John the Baptist. It was a beautiful little chapel marred only by the fairly gruesome pictures of both his and St. Paul’s beheading!

I thought he looked fairly cheerful though, despite his fate, the carving reminded me a bit of ‘Punch and Judy!’

Four candles!

Upon our return to Bohinjska we heard the bells frantically ringing in the church, we went to see they were advertising Mass but, it proved to be a practice bell ringing session. Looking in the church cemetery (which was immaculately kept,) we noticed that the church had thoughtfully provided a vending machine for candles which can be placed on the graves. With a choice of four different styles, and a steal at two Euros these were probably the best value item so far in Slovenia so Tina splashed out and bought one.

There were a few clearly Communist graves which was surprising in a Catholic cemetery, these were much more subdued and plainer than those of the non-communist dead.

There was one plaque which with my rudimentary Slovenian commemorated the ending of the war and perhaps the beginning of a Communist state.

Lovely Ljubliana

To my shame I had never heard of this city until about three weeks before we left England. What a great discovery it was. Just a two hour bus ride from our village a very old fairy-tale like gothic city centre with a castle perched high on a hilltop nearby. A river ran through the city crossed by several bridges. We brunched on a floating platform on the river; although there were some tourists about it was nothing like the heaving masses of Budapest so it was lovely to wander around. Again we wimped out of the stairs up to the castle, this time opting for a very modern funicular. Views from the top were spectacular all over this tiny city.

Dragons featured heavily in this city and I suspect there were several myths linking them to the history of the city and the castle.

A market place selling a range of goods from flowers to overalls was at the bottom of the castle and I could imagine centuries of market sellers plying their wares on the ancient cobbles. Slightly more sophisticated souvenir shops here apart from an incredibly tacky mug bearing Melanie Trump’s mug, wishing ‘Greetings from Slovenia,’ a worthy export indeed! A gentle boat ride followed by a look around the Art deco architecture and we were ready to head back for the bus home.

It was with a little bit of sadness we left Bohinjska, it was such a lovely village and it had been a great respite from our busy city visits. Our departure was delayed somewhat as the train we were supposed to be on, didn’t arrive due to engineering works.another train arrived an hour later and when I asked a station staff member when it would leave he just replied, ‘later!’ It did leave eventually and as all the trains were clearly disrupted we reached our Vienna destination only one hour later than planned!