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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Otliško okno Hike Part 1

    15 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Today we got up to some clouds in the mountains and a bit of rain where we were. We got ready and headed out for our hike to see what it was like when we got there. Originally I had planned to just do part of this long 14km one way hike that included going by this hole in a rock, Otliško okno, that was pictured on a lot of advertisements for things to do here, but I looked at the trail last night and it starts by hiking straight up then levels out and you hike along the ridge and the hole is not until 10km from the start. I did have something else I wanted to do today so I looked to see if we could start on the other end and found that we could actually park right near the hole and hike in from there (and the parking is already up in the mountains so no steep climbing!) so I decided to do that.

    When we got there it was still cloudy, but not raining (though we drove through rain) so we headed out and walked for 45min away from the rain to see what we could see and found some nice views! Then we headed back towards where we came from and walked closer to the edge on a different trail and see even more views (and the clouds rolling over the mountains!). We took a break near Otliško okno and realized there is a second one if we followed the path downhill a little bit so we did that and found the small hole in the rocks which was fun. Then back up to check out the main one and it was pretty cool, especially since there was a nice cool breeze blowing through it!

    Along the path there were lots of info signs and most of them talked about how bored the herders were when they were up there so they would do things like take to the ladybugs and throw rocks over the edge and listen to them fall. But one was about the blue butterflies there and we did see a lot of them!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Otliško okno Hike Part 2

    15 сентября, Словения ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    After spying on Otliško okno we headed to see this rock spiral that was listed on the map. It is a sinkhole they threw rocks in and made this spiral in 2005…so not very old! But still fun. Then it was back to the car to go to our next stop. The last photo is not a very good photo, it is from the car, but we were hiking along that ridge somewhere towards the middle I think. It was a pretty nice day and by the time we left the clouds has cleared up so much and it was sunny and gorgeous!Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Tolmin Gorge

    15 сентября, Словения ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    After our morning hike we headed to Tolmin Gorge to see what we could see. We had to park a bit away and walk in, but it was so nice out it was fine. The gorge itself is…not so narrow and fun, but it was like a nice river valley. It was our first stop on the Soca river which we had driven along to get there and the color is gorgeous! It looked so strange cause it is a very different color, but so fun!

    It was also our first stop in Triglav National Park which we will spend the rest of our time either in the park or just outside it! There is so much to see and do! I did have to heavily edit our itinerary yesterday as I was like I planned way too much and there is no way are going to be able to do it all! So there will still be things for next time, but were shall see what we get up to!

    The last 4 photos are not from the gorge - the first is on the drive to camp and the views of the big mountains! The second a fun friend on our screen door, and the last two are the Soca River from camp (there was some spooky mist when we went down near sunset. You can’t see the river from camp and can’t hear it from the main camp, but you can walk down to spy). Tomorrow it is supposed to thunderstorm all day so at shall see if it actually does! But today was a pet great day!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Slap Kozjak Hike

    16 сентября, Словения ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    This morning we woke up to cloudy skies, but no rain so we headed off for a hike to Slap Kozjak from camp. The first part is along the Soca river which is so gorgeous! Really there will be all the photos of the river today as we spend the day along it!

    Once you cross the Soca river you head up the Kozjak stream to the falls and it was a really nice walk. And the falls were gorgeous! It said it was in a cave and an info sign said that in the 18th century the authorities banned the breeding of goats which was the main source of income for the people here so they hid the goats at the cave waterfall and preserved the only indigenous goat breed - Drežniška goats!

    On the way back to the car we made the trail into a loop and went by some old Italian WWI trenches which was interesting. I didn’t even realize there were trenches here from then! We then went by Napoleon’s bridge - in 1750 the old one was built and his troops used it to go to Predel Pass, but it was blown up by the Austrians in WWI, but the Italians rebuilt it later. There was a whole history loop we could have walked, but these were the only parts were saw. Super interesting things I didn’t know before! It started raining just before we got to the bridge, but luckily not too bad and it wasn’t that long of a walk back to the car to head on to our next stop!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Slap Boka & Camp

    16 сентября, Словения ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    After our morning walk we headed on to Slap Boka to see what we could see. On the way we drove through all of the rain and it was still raining when we got there, but we needed to get groceries and the grocery store was only a few minutes away so we decided to do our chores first and see if it stopped raining by the time we got back…and it had! Only 15-20 min later and it was perfect for the short walk up to the viewpoint. You could have walked farther and walked towards the top of the falls, but it was very wet from the rain and steep and we had afternoon walking plans so we just went to the first viewpoint and called it good.

    After that we headed on to camp and got a lovely spot in the mountains just in time for lunch! The last 7 photos are all from around camp as it is so nice! It keeps raining off and on and we get some spooky clouds and it is fun! Later this afternoon we heard lots of thunder, but we only got the rain. After the first rain storm I had fun watching the clouds come up from around the river - like all the water formed clouds and kept covering the mountains, then clearing, then covering, and repeating. So fun!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Great Soca Gorge walk

    16 сентября, Словения ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    After lunch it was not raining and not forecast to until later so we headed off to hike some of the Soca Trail at the Great Soca Gorge (which is right next to the campsite). These are all just photos of the water as it is so gorgeous!! The rocks were cool that it flowed through and it was really nice. The whole trail is 24km long one way so we obviously didn’t do the whole thing, but I really enjoyed the part we did (though it was a more difficult trail in part because it was wet so all the tree roots and rocks were slippery!). On the way back to camp I did stop and put my feet in the water and omg it was FREEZING! My feet hurt from the cold by the time I stepped in and took this one photo! Not long at all!! There was a guy taking fancy photos standing in the water for so long and I was like how is he doing that?!? My feet hurt from the seconds they were in there!! When he got out his feet and legs are red from the cold and I bet they hurt! Then back to back to enjoy the mountain views and the rain!

    All in all today was a great day, especially since the forecast said thunderstorms all day. We got lucky with the rain that we were mostly able to avoid it (my goal for the day was to not have my shoes get soaked as last time they did it took days and a morning where we could leave them in the sun for a few hours for them to dry! It is just too humid for things to dry out well and too warm to run the heater or something to dry them out. So I didn’t want them to be soaked as we have some big hikes coming up and hiking in wet shoes is a no go. We do have other hiking sandals that were wore when our good shoes got soaked, but because get trails are not usually great I want my good shoes for the hard hikes. And goal accomplished!)    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Krn Lake Hike

    17 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Today we woke up to gorgeous clear skies! Though it was really cold when we got up which was perfect for a hike! We hiked up to Krn Lake which I thought was going to be a difficult hike as everything said it would take 7 hours to go 11km (and 886m elevation gain - only 73m less than the waterfall hike) so we got ready to go as soon as we could and headed out. I figured it would take us longer as we take breaks, and we are pretty slow going up steep hills, but we actually only needed just over 6 hours! Including all the breaks we took including some long ones to enjoy the views! So not bad.

    We drove up the valley we camped in towards the mountains you could see from camp and parked up a ways. Then it was a not too bad of a hike up to a more level area where the lake was. It was mostly through the forest with occasional views where the supply lift wires goes through. It really wasn’t very steep just a nice steady incline. And the best part? Today, for the first time on this trip, it was NOT incredibly humid!! Oh what a difference that makes. I could walk up hills and not be a completely sweaty mess! Still hot and sweaty cause it is uphill, but not like it is impossible to keep going cause I am too hot like it has been. We have these long sleeve super lightweight sun shirts that Raymond loves and has been saying how they are great in the heat and humidity, but I haven’t been able to wear mine this entire trip. With the humidity if I wear it it makes me feel like my skin is suffocating is the best way I can describe it. It is awful, so I have been wearing just my sleeveless dress, but today I hiked with my sun shirt! We even had a short uphill section this afternoon in the sun and no problem. I have been trying not to write every day about awful the humidity was that day, but oh, this was the best! It wasn’t very hot out also so walking up on top by the lake we needed jackets even! I loved it! Perfect hiking weather!

    We hiked up to Krn Lake and the views from both sides were gorgeous so we had to take a break to enjoy both sides of the lake! At the first break on the far side we were sitting there and some ravens were flying around making a racket and then they went in this cave on the cliff side and kept making a racket and it was so funny! It was so echoey and kind of sounded like the one was replying to his echo. So fun. We ate lunch at the second break at the lake (which was actually closest to where the trail enters), and everyone behind us hiking up was sitting right where the trail comes down to the lake which was nice, but I of course had to spy and see what I could see and over in the far side by the cliffs the view was sooo much nicer! I was like man, everyone is missing out!

    After a lunch we headed to another small lake that was on the way back and it was nice, but not as nice as Krn Lake! We did pass a lot of people heading to the lake, but they were all tourists like us and not as happy as the Slovenian hikers! Then we stopped at the mountain hut to have a cold beverage (beer for Raymond, peach iced tea for me!) before we headed back to the car.

    I had read online that this hike used to be an old donkey trail to take supplies up and over the mountains. And we did see a donkey at the farm on top! There were also cows, chickens, and pigs and there was a sign to watch out for sheep, but for the longest time we didn’t see any. When we were taking a break at the lake we saw them single files walking along the cliffs on the one side, but then they disappeared! Until we found them again grazing by the trail on our way to the smaller lake. Then when we turned to go down to the small lake we saw them all running down the hill and crossing the path! We had to wait for them to finish crossing to continue in our way. We saw them by the lake and it was like the sheep were frantically trying to eat some grass before they all ran off again. They were so silly. In such a hurry!

    On the way down we also saw some fun fungus that was a mating area for all the ladybugs! So it was a pretty fun day!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Camp

    17 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After our hike we headed on to camp. We will have to drive back this road tomorrow so I said we can stop at the viewpoints then, but of course we passed one that looked amazing so I made Raymond stop (the first 2 photos). I didn’t realize we were almost to camp and would have a view of the same mountains! The other photos are all from around camp and it is gorgeous! We got a pretty good camp spot where we can see all the mountains! We got to camp around 4 and I of course had to spy on things here, then I did chill for like 45 min before being like okay! I’m going to explore the water! Want to come with me? And Raymond just laughed and was like no! You don’t know how to relax! Which is true when there are things to see! But then I did come back and relax until dinner. As the sun started to go down it got freezing outside! Had to put on all my layers to keep warm! But still sat outside cause I love the views! And after dinner the clouds started coming in on the mountains which was fun to watch. First just spooky clouds, but now most of the mountains are covered!

    This is a really nice area. The high season here is until Sept 15, which I didn’t know in advance but I did plan to be in this area last to hopefully have less people and less issues finding parking and camping and stuff. I’m glad we are here now and not earlier as it is way busier than other areas we have been in. Not too bad, but I imagine in high season it would be crazy! After our hike today that wasn’t too crazy I excited to see what these other hikes are like. Should be fun!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Slemenova Špica Hike

    18 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Today we got up and got going ASAP as we were driving up to Vršič Pass, though the very top was closed for construction. We knew we would have to backtrack and go around (adding about an hour of driving), but there was a hike up top I had wanted to do and we were supposed to be able to still park near the top, just not go down the other side. We headed out as soon as we could so that hopefully we could get a spot! Well we were not early enough for the very closest spots, but we got one just down from that so it was pretty good! By the time we left there were cars parked everywhere and we would have had to park way farther away if we had come then!

    The hike was up to Slemenova Špica, one of the peaks in the area that was an easy hike to get to. It was luckily another cold day (I think my phone said it was only 12C!), but phew the sun was hot! It was also not super humid again!! I am hoping we don’t have more super humid days! The first part of the hike was steep uphill and all in the sun and man the sun was hot! Once we got up to the ridge we crossed over to the shady side and then it was chilly! But the whole time we had all the views of all the mountains!

    The rest of the trail was a bit up and down and not too bad and it was gorgeous! From the top you could see all around and it was wonderful. Not too difficult and I loved it! I love being up in the giant mountains!

    We did see some more sheep coming back that were going up the another trail (if you zoom in on the 6th from the last photo you can see them), and they were so funny! There were two at the front of the trail turned towards the way the others were coming from and they kept yelling at the other sheep like hurry up! Come on! Let’s go! It was hilarious.

    We had lunch when we got back to the pass and then headed on our way. The road up to the top is a ton of hairpin turns - up and down was 50! There are 25 on each side of the pass so that yes a lot! All very close together (you can look up the road and see how windy it is)! Our van did pretty well getting up there even though it was pretty steep! And of course the drive was gorgeous the whole way too! Such a great morning!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Detour Adventures

    18 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After our hiking adventure we headed back to drive the detour through Italy to the other side of Vrsic Pass (well at didn’t go the whole way there, just back over the border into Slovenia). First we drove along the Soca river back a ways, then cut up Predel Pass. There was parking close to the top so I was going to stop there to spy, but it was full and I was so sad we were going to miss it… but we drove through these old fort ruins right after that and there was a turn off there so we pulled over and explored Fort Pendel! It was very overgrown, but still fun and had some great views!

    Once we were in Italy there was a lake, Lago del Predil, right there so of course we had to stop and spy there too and it was gorgeous! So nice! We stopped at a waterfall farther down as well…but you couldn’t see it. Oh well.

    Then we headed on to camp which is just a parking lot at a ski jump. I thought that’s all it would be, but we got here at 4 and spent an hour wandering and seeing all the things! It is absolutely stunning here, but the sun was not in a good place as almost all of my pictures turned out horrible so I will have to take more tomorrow as it is so nice. But they have all the activities! Cross country skiing (with outdoor “skis” or there is an underground place filled with snow with tracks in! You can play frisbee golf, ride a zip line, go up the ski lift, hike, I feel like I am missing more but there are so many things to do! We also got here in time to watch people training in the ski jump! They were all kids, from pretty young to early 20’s at the latest, but we had so much fun watching them! I have never seen someone on a ski jump in real life, and I didn’t know they still could do it without snow! We spent a good amount of time watching them as it was so much fun! I really enjoyed that and it was completely unexpected! Everything shut down just after 5 though so then we wandered back to the car and did our evening chores.

    Today was an unexpectedly great day! The hike this morning was amazing, the detour was gorgeous and we had some great short stops along the way, and our camping place is so much fun!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Zelenci & Lake Jasna

    19 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Today we got up to another beautiful day! Very cold where we were parked, but we drove 5 min down the road to the first stop and it was already much warmer!

    First stop was Zelenci Nature Reserve. It is a very small lake in a marshy wetlands area and was absolutely gorgeous! The lake is actually a spring and had lots of fish in and the mountains and the color and everything were gorgeous! So clear and clean and lovely. We did walk a bigger loop to see a bit more, but that still wasn’t that far to walk. Loved it.

    Then we headed on to Kranjska Gora and Lake Jasna. When researching this trip so many people were like skip Lake Bled go to Lake Jasna instead it is so much nicer. So I thought it would be it great! We parked just outside of town and spied on what was there (and got a buckwheat plumb pastry which was really tasty), then walked along the river out to the lake. Now the lake photos look pretty nice (they start with the goat sculpture), but it wasn’t that great in real life. It was fine, but not as gorgeous as I thought it would be. Defiantly not as nice as any of the other lakes we have seen on this trip including the tiny one this morning! We did have a long break and ate lunch there then walked back to the car, but it was pretty disappointing. I’m looking at the photos again and thinking this looks way better than it was, when normally I think the photos don’t do the nature we see justice! Oh well. It was hot, we got a shady spot and relaxed, what more do we need?    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Lake Bled

    19 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    After lunch we did some chores then headed for a camping spot in Lake Bled. Now we were having a relaxing day (though I don’t know how well we did that as we still walked a bunch), and we are going up be coming back here next week to really explore so we didn’t see all the things here. We walked from where we parked into town and spied on a few restaurants and then were going to just relax by the lake until diner (and maybe swim as it was really hot in the sun!). Well…The lake front is lots of grassy areas that you are not allowed on, very few benches or places to sit, and no swimming! No sitting on the waterfront! We looked and there is a beach farther around the lake, but the main area it is like you cannot hang out there which is so strange!

    So then we looked for a restaurant with a view to get a drink and relax…and there are very few restaurants with a view of the lake! It was like they really don’t want people to spend any time on the lakefront! So so strange! We did eventually find a bench in a park in the shade and read there for a bit (near a small craft market), and then I did wander farther around the lake after awhile and found one of the few places that is on the waterfront and we stopped there to get some drinks and that was much nicer. I had a strawberry peach lemonade (I tried it cause it said it had peach and strawberry purée in so it couldn’t just be bad lemon water and it was not! It was good. Still not sweet at all, but tasty. Raymond had a small beer which we were joking how big is the big one?!?).

    We hung out there with our drinks until dinnertime since it was pretty nice. Right on the lake and they had a lady singing songs accompanied by a guy on the guitar which was nice. We also watched some rowers rowing back and forth training.

    Then we went by this Thai place for diner, but they only had inside seating available so we got it to go and got really lucky finding a free bench on the waterfront (after we got it I was like oh…now we need to find somewhere to sit and eat…) and it was so good. We had pad see ew and green curry. The curry was so so good, the noodles were good too but not as good as the curry. But still it was like real Thai food which was nice. Would definitely go back and try some other things!

    After dinner we sat and watched for the sunset, but there wasn’t much color as there weren’t any clouds or anything. Then a quick stop at this Vegan place that had Bled Cream Cake for dessert and oh that was amazing. Hard to eat without making a giant mess, but delicious! We will definitely be going back to get another piece when we come back! It was like a crispy puff pastry top (which is why it made a mess - everything under it was soft so it was hard to cut a piece without everything getting smashed out) with a light whipped cream layer and a custard layer with the same puff pastry on bottom. Very light, but very tasty! And obviously based on the name a local treat!

    Overall today was a good day even if it wasn’t as amazing as I thought it would be. And they don’t want you to enjoy the lakefront here in Bled. I still cannot get over that! Tomorrow we head back into the mountains which should be nice! Going to be hot again, but at least it is cooling off at night now!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Zajamniki Hike

    20 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today we got up and headed to the mountains for an easy hike to a plateau with some shepherds huts like the first hike we did. This one was mostly through the forest with occasional views of the mountains and just a small road of the huts. It was nice, but the other one was nicer. It was really beautiful taking a break overlooking all of them and the mountains in the background (and we could see where we are camping! In the panorama just in front of the mountains in the back - the dark with a little bit of light grey on top - if you zoom in in the middle it is hard to tell but there is a lake there where the green mountains come down from the right right where they hit the green round mountain and that is where we are camped!).

    It was a nice easy walk and I was glad we were not doing something longer/harder as it got so hot so quickly! Also glad we got there early as we only had to park a little bit down the road from the start of the trail, but when we left the cars were lining the road for a long ways! It is a very popular spot!

    After our hike we headed to camp which is right on the lake with gorgeous views! But our camp spot is super sloped and it took us forever to get the van situated good enough that I think I will be able to sleep (it was so tilted we could not level it with the things we put under the tired to help with that and if it is too tilted then we are rolling into each other all night. Plus just standing or sitting in that super tilted is no fun).

    After we got situated we spied around camp and then tried to go for a swim…but the water was ice cubes! I did ducked in twice, super quick, but phew it was cold! I don’t know how people were swimming in it!!

    We ate dinner here at camp - pizza with chickpea cream, tomatoes, basil, rucola, cashew nut topping and oregano. And a salad with greens, chickpeas, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage and dressing. Both were pretty good and the view was great :) we stayed long enough to watch sunset from there then spied on the beach again and then back to the van to relax. It has been so hot recently during the day, but once the sun goes down (or starts to) it cools off so quickly! The sun has only been down for a half hour now and I have all my layers on. That is really nice since it means it will be cool for sleeping which is great! Tomorrow it is supposed to be another hot day and then it is supposed to be pretty chilly the rest of the time. The humidity hasn’t been bad during the day since it finally went away which has been wonderful (I was really really struggling with that), though it still gets pretty humid in the evening/at night, but that manageable.    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Slap Savica

    21 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today was a very exciting day! I was looking forward to it since I learned we would be here on this day - the Cows’ Ball! But that is for another post. There is a waterfall nearby that I had on my plan, but then saw that parking is ridiculously expensive for a camper (20Euro as opposed to 5 for a car) and so I thought we won’t be doing that. But then we saw that if you have a ticket for the Cows’ Ball you can get into the waterfall for free today (normally 4Euro/person) and that it was only an hour walk away so we thought why not do that beforehand!

    When we woke up it was super foggy. Like you couldn’t see the water not that far from the car…but everything said it would be sunny today so I figured it would be like Ljubljana and burn off this morning. And by the time we got started walking it pretty much had!

    The Cows’ Ball is to welcome the cows back home from their summer grazing and started at 10, welcoming the cows back was going to take place at 13:00 so we figured if we were quick we could get to the waterfall and back in time for that. So we got ready and headed out and walked super quickly up to the waterfall and joy of joy the humidity is back! Lucky I had put a folding paper fan in my backpack and I walked with that which helped a lot, but still so hot and sweaty! But a nice forest walk to the falls which were nice, but definitely not the nicest ones we have been to here. I was glad we hadn’t paid for parking and admission! It was definitely not nice enough for that!

    It did take us an hour to walk to the falls so we had some time and had a nice break before walking back. Then it was time for the cows!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Cows’ Ball Part 1

    21 сентября, Словения ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    I was very excited for the Cows’ Ball. It was to welcome the cows home for the winter and online it said they would be decorated and that it was a celebration of tradition and community. So I was looking forward to a bit of Slovenian culture as well as saying hi to the cows!

    We had to walk through the area to get to the waterfall and we saw them getting the cows ready for their big day! Washing them and brushing them and it was fun. When we got back we got to see some forestry equipment demonstrations, there was a small small car show, places to try sawing a pieces of wood with two people, or rolling a barrel, or ax throwing! All the fun! There was also a stage with music the whole day that you could hear most of the way along the walk to the falls and once we got back to camp. I really enjoyed the music, lots of accordion with wind instruments or tubas or strings. It was great!

    When we got back it was lunchtime so then we checked out the food options (I was not expecting anything for me as the food here is lots of meats and cheeses), but there was a veggie burger so I was impressed they did have an option. We didn’t get it as we had sandwiches and I wasn’t feeling like a burger, but we did get some french fries and drinks (peach iced tea for me and a beer for Raymond in a fun cup that we decided to keep!) and found a place in the shade to sit and cool off.

    Then it was time for the cows! First all the bands and shepherds and people walked through, then the main event - the cows! We had a great place right in front (there were a lot of people, but not so many that you wouldn’t be able to find a spot to see everything) and after the first group of cows went by it looked like everyone was leaving so I thought it was over. We headed down to see the cows in the area where they were taking them for people to see when they said more were coming! So we had to get a new spot to see all the cows!

    Then the final group to come by - a guy carrying a 99lb water or milk container on his shoulders! They said you have to carry that down from the mountains every year too! A bit odd that is how you would do it, but fun! I think it was a bit hot today for him as he did stop to take a rest at one point. And that was the welcoming of the cows home parade!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Cows’ Ball Part 2

    21 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    After the cow parade we took another break in the shade to cool off (it was very hot in the sun! We would get a breeze at times, but not always), then went to spy on what else they had there. Lots of craft stalls with nice things, some food places where we got some sun-dried tomatoes and some raspberry syrup to make raspberry sodas (all homemade) and it was really nice. It wasn’t huge, but I really enjoyed it. Most of the people were by the food and drink stalls so outside of that it wasn’t too bad.

    Then it was time to crown the queen of the ball! They picked out the 7 best cows and paraded them in front of the stage and then the judges came and looked them over and awarded one the queen of the ball! We were standing on the side and once they were all out there I thought oh, we should have gotten a spot at the front! We won’t be able to see the winner! But then the queen decided she didn’t want to be where she was and walked over to right by us!! And they give a fancy cow bell to the winner, but she did not want to wear that! I think her name was Sestra (they said it meant sister and I included lots of pics of her!) and she kept turning in circles by us so we could admire her fully! But wouldn’t wear the bell.

    Then the cows were taken back to the pens where you could see them and there was more music and dancing, but we had seen all the things so we headed back to camp to relax. We could still hear the music and enjoyed that all evening, but it was a long day! Oh, one unexpectedly nice thing about the festival was that they announced everything in Slovenian and then again in English so we knew what was going on! When we had gotten back from the waterfall hike the mayor was giving his speech and then someone told us what he said in English and that was unexpected and really nice for us! All day we could know what else was happening (without the English we would have missed the crowing of the queen as I didn’t know that was happening!). So much fun at the Cows’ Ball!

    I also picked up an info magazine about the area and the National park and on the back was the last photo which made me laugh. The cows come first! I also learned that they are really big on being eco friendly and they did a big push in 2023 to build a vegetable supply chain from the ground up to try to use in the restaurants and schools and everything in the area instead of getting it from elsewhere. They have a whole system in place to try and help local businesses. They cut down on light and noise pollution as nature should be everything and it was really interesting some of the stuff I learned about the area. There is a wildflower festival in May which we will have to come back for as it sounds very interesting! Learn all about the wild flowers here! I’m glad I picked it up and now I have more info and things to do for next time!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Mt Vogel Hike Part 1

    22 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today we woke up to foggy skies again, but we checked the webcams and it was sunny and gorgeous in the mountains with potential rain this afternoon so we headed out for our mountain hike. First we headed up the cable car that was right by camp - it takes you up 1,000m in 4 min which was pretty quick! It zoomed up the hill! By the time we got on that the fog had almost completely cleared up and the views were absolutely gorgeous!! The top of the cable car was so nice! You could see all the mountains all over and I loved it so much.

    After spying on all the things at the top of the cable car (including some alpacas and wooden sculptures) we took a chairlift up almost another 200m to where we would start our hike. It was another gorgeous ride, it took a lot longer, but you could just sit and enjoy the views! But then we went over a ridge and there was a freezing cold wind! I was like umm…we should have brought gloves and all our winter gear! I was not prepared for that! But once we got off and bundled up with what we had and started hiking I did get too hot so it wasn’t needed after all, but that last part of the chairlift was freezing! And after spying on all the things we were off! In the photo with the cross on the left the peak just to the right of that was our goal - Mt Vogel. The hike was absolutely gorgeous! It was basically a ridge walk and you could see out over all the mountains the entire time and I loved it so so much. These are my favorite type of hikes! Up in the mountains and I can see all the things and it is so beautiful! I definitely think this was the best hike we did on our trip (at least so far, but I think it will be hard to top).

    Our hike was sunny and gorgeous, but as we walked we started getting to the cloudy side of the mountains. And the wind was crazy at times! And cold! But it was mostly uphill so actually nice to keep me cool.    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Mt Vogel Hike Part 2

    22 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    After taking a quick break behind a small hill that was breaking the wind some we started walking again…and the clouds rolled in! And they were crazy! Moving so quickly and all around - at one point the wind was coming from both sides! And at one point it was so cloudy I couldn’t see Raymond in front of me! So we said we would walk to the saddle and then see if we wanted to hike to the top of the mountain - if you can’t see anything then there is not really a point especially since there were some small rock climbing sections (the 4th photo we climbed down - you can see some of the poles sticking it to steep on or hold onto). That plus wind plus no visibility equaled maybe not. Once we got to that first saddle where we could turn back it was still very cloudy and windy, but there was another saddle a bit higher up we could see so we hiked up to there and had a break (I thought maybe we would get a brief window where it would clear up), but then all the clouds came in and you couldn’t see anything! So we decided to head back down and the wind was crazy on that first part until we dropped down below the clouds again. We took a kind of crazy way back where we ended up having to walk up a ski hill which was pretty steep loose gravel and it was like every step I was slipping backwards a bit so it took a while, but honestly wasn’t as bad as it looked like it would be from afar.

    When we got back to the upper chairlift it was still windy and cold so we bundled up and headed back to the first viewpoints and had a late lunch enjoying the mountain views. By the time we were taking the cable car back down the low clouds had started clearing up again, but Mt Vogel (and most of the peaks) was still completely covered. We did spy on the mountains and tried to figure out if er could see where we had been and realized that the little hut hike we did last week (Zajamniki) we could see! I marked it with an arrow on the one photo. Then back down the cable car and relax at the campground for a bit. We did get a short, very heavy rain just before dinner and the mountains were cloudy all afternoon, and some rain later too. But it was a really great hike. We got to see all the views which I loved, and then some spooky clouds which I also love! Really my favorite hike we have done here! So so gorgeous!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Mostnica Gorge Hike

    23 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Today we woke up to another super foggy morning, but no rain (it was forecast to rain all day today)! So we got ready as soon as we could to try and fit a hike in before it was supposed to start raining (it said noon this morning, but luckily it changed while we were hiking and came a bit later!). Our hike today was an easy one. We started in Stara Fužina and walked through town to the entrance to the Mostnica Gorge. Along the way we saw a well in the middle of town which had a light that ran down a pole so you could see how deep it was! That was fun!

    Then on through the gorge and the water was gorgeous! More green than other places and really nice. Plus there was a little elephant (the sign at the beginning said there would be and we almost forgot to look for it! We just happened to take a break right there which is the only reason we saw it when we were there!).

    After the gorge we hiked up into the valley and walked along that to Voje waterfall! The valley was all farms and had some nice views of the mountains and was a nice, easy walk.    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Voje Waterfall Hike (& return)

    23 сентября, Словения ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The Voje waterfall was pretty nice! Nicer than Savica (the free one with the Cows’ Ball ticket). It was a hot hike up to there, but really nice through the valley. On the return we hike along the other side of the valley and the other side of Mostnica Gorge which was a lot closer to the actual gorge! So that was fun. And a slightly different way back to the car that sent us by another waterfall!Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Stara Fužina & Bohinj

    23 сентября, Словения ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    After our hike on the way back to the car in Stara Fužina we went by an old ironworks building on a stream and spied on town (the first 4 photos). Then we had decided to eat lunch out in Bohinj and it was getting late for lunch so we headed over (and spied on the lake from that side while walking to lunch). We went to a place right on the lake which was gorgeous! We had a veggie burger and beet risotto, both were good! I had ordered a homemade ice tea as well (Raymond did too) and they had all this fruit in - it just looked like berries to me. But Raymond was like wait!! There is mango in here! So I asked to make sure and yup, they put mango in. I didn’t even think to ask about that! So I got a lemonade instead and it was very lemony and not sweet at all. So good and much better than the other lemon waters we have gotten!

    During lunch it started to rain and it only stopped around 7:30pm! We did wander a tad through town on the way back to the car as it wasn’t raining hard, ran some errands, and then back to camp to relax in the rain. There was lots of thunder and lightning, but again not right where we were.

    All in all an easy day, but really nice. And wonderful that the train held off until we were done hiking! Tomorrow it is forecast to rain all day so we shall see what we get up to.    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Fairy Trail

    24 сентября, Словения ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Today was a very grey, rainy day. It rained almost all day so we had a relaxing day and didn’t do much. It was just light rain for a bit this morning so we took a short walk around the Fairy Trail near camp. It started at a spiral and went through the woods, along the lake, and around where the Cows’ Ball was with signs every once and a while telling about the fairy creatures that originated in the area. I put my favorite ones in (why did the one give an angry fisherman a basket of fish? What happened next?? And the one about there probably being no edible plants around, but go ahead kids make a soup and give it to your friends!).

    We crossed the same bridge we crossed to get to the Cows’ Ball and the water cold today is definitely not as nice! There were lots of spooky clouds as we were walking around and a lot of the stops also had other things to do. The logs were to hear the difference in the sounds they made when one person stood on one end with their ear close to it and the other person tapped the other end. That was my favorite one. I also enjoyed the temporary no pups swimming sign right below the permanent no pups swimming sign.

    When we got back to camp it was pretty empty and we were able to switch spots to a much more level one! For our last night at this camp spot. Tomorrow we head back to Bled and then home this weekend!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Bled

    25 сентября, Словения ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Today I woke up and was not feeling the best. Yesterday my one ear was hurting and wouldn’t clear, not that unusual for me, but this morning my voice was all weird and my head stuffed up and throat sore so in scraped the plans for the day (another gorge hike) and rested this morning and then we headed on to Lake Bled once more (with a quick stop at a bridge as it had a parking lot and a viewing platform and everything!).

    I hadn’t slept well last night partly because a giant thunderstorm came through right over us. Super loud, long rumbles of thunder that sounded like they were flowing down the valley from the mountains!

    We relaxed after lunch and then were going to try walking around the lake a little bit as it is flat and I really thought once we got away from the downtown portion there would be more places to sit and enjoy…but there weren’t. You still couldn’t walk on the grass (200 euro fine!!) and there were barely any benches! Plus the benches they do have are like the most uncomfortable benches I’ve ever sat on. It is really like they do not want you to stay and enjoy the water at all. It is so so strange! I do not understand!

    There was one sign that said where the swimming areas were…but they were all private? The one was only for guests of the hotel right there…originally I was going to try and walk around the whole lake, but taking lots of rest stops, but there are barely any places to stop so we scrapped that plan. Plus you could see parts of the trail and the other side was all in the trees so no views! Such a strange area. I did wonder if people recommend skipping Bled and going to Jasna because a) you can park close and b) you can actually hang out and enjoy the water!

    When we were first going you head out it started to rain so we waited for that to stop, and on the way back to the car we picked up takeout for dinner (we went back to the same Thai place as it was so good! Green curry with tofu and tofu and water spinach which I don’t think I’ve ever had before! Both super tasty! And then picked up some more cream cake). By the time we got back to the car it started raining again! And rained for a long time! It was nice that it waited until we were back :)

    Tomorrow we will see how I’m feeling in the morning and what the weather is like and either do something easy in the morning or just start heading for home. I originally planned to do stuff tomorrow and Saturday morning, but then I looked at the drive times and I was like what was I thinking?? We can’t get home Sunday night! That is not enough time to do all the things before returning the van! So we definitely need to start for home tomorrow just unsure if we will do something else first or not. So another fairly lazy day with another short walk :)    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Drive Home Part 1

    26 сентября, Австрия ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today we woke up to another grey, rainy day. I was feeling a bit better, though had a cough now (and Raymond said I was coughing a lot in my sleep and kept waking him up :( but I really thought I might feel worse after taking a short, but probably too long walk yesterday so that was good!

    It is weird how I am feeling. Like I don’t have that I feel awful sick thing. I still want to do all the things even though I can’t breathe very well through my nose and am coughing. And my nose keeps getting stuffed up cause I feel like I am going to sneeze and then don’t, but I keep getting that I’m going to sneeze again and again for a bit and then it calms down and things are okay. Sometimes I do actually sneeze and my head clears up for a bit which is great! And my ears keep getting clogged up and won’t clear for a bit going up and down the mountains, but then do which is always fun. So who knows what this is, but hopefully I get some good sleep tonight and feel better tomorrow.

    Since it was wet and rainy we decided to just start heading for home this morning. The first three photos are where we stopped for lunch - a parking lot for the castle on the hill in the second photo. It was a pretty nice spot to have our sandwiches. And then we headed on to our camping spot which is right next to a small swimming pond. It is at a sports center for this small town and must be a popular spot in summer as they have a small food stand and everything. But it is cold freezing cold and grey today so no swimming for us! Tomorrow we finish the drive home which shouldn’t take too long!    Читать далее

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  • Jen RitcheySloveniaПутешественник

    Home again!

    27 сентября, Германия ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    I always seem to forget to write this last post when we actually get home, so writing this Sunday morning from my couch :)

    We got up and got going and got home pretty quickly which was nice. I wasn’t sure hours long it would take as a section of the freeway in Berlin is closed so traffic could be a mess, but it was easy peasy. I woke up feeling a lot better, but still had a cough. We got home and got the van cleaned out and cleaned and with lots of breaks managed to get everything unpacked and put away too! Which was good so I can just rest all day today and not do anything!

    I only have this one photo I took as we were heading off on the way home. Not a very good one, but the light was nice in the clouds. Our trip was really great, I really enjoyed Slovenia and we will definitely have to go back. The people are so nice and happy (except in Bled and on the coast - the two places where we met unhappy not great people) and there is still so much more I want to see and do there! When I first started planning the trip I thought three weeks would be a long time and we might not have enough to do. We might go to a neighboring country also as Slovenia isn’t very big, but in planning I already had to cut a bunch of things and then while we were there had to cut a bunch more so definitely could spend another few weeks there and see new things!

    The one thing though is when we go back we will not be going with a camper trip. That humidity was unreal. I have never experienced anything like it. Laos and Thailand were hot and humid, but after a few days it was manageable, but this? This was crazy. I know I said before, but it made me feel like my skin was suffocating if I had any clothes on my arms or legs. I have that happen with a lot of sunscreens so I only use ones I have found don’t do that, but never the humidity! Plus I am always a sweaty mess if it is hot, literally dripping sweat while Raymond is usually fine and just has a few beads of sweat on his forehead, but it was getting to him too! And it wasn’t even that hot there! He was a sweaty mess and also would overheat going slightly uphill like I was! He would need to take a break at the top to cool down like I did! I’ve never seen that with him before so I don’t know why it was so different there, but that humidity was unreal.

    And everything was constantly damp except the few days we had with no humidity. Our blankets and sheets always felt damp, our dish drying towel never dried, anything that got wet was wet unless you got it in the sun to dry. It was not great. I always felt clammy and gross, I was not a fan of that. By halfway through the trip I was mentally like I am so done with this! I was loving the things we were seeing and doing, but it was so hard to deal with the constant damp! And it would cool off at night, but would somehow still be hot? It was always I am cold and hot and clammy at the same time so it made it difficult to sleep which doesn’t help. I’m used to the humidity making it feel colder when it is cold, but somehow not there. The night we spent in Germany before getting home I looked at the temp and it was similar to the prior night in Bled with similar humidity, but it was absolutely freezing there in Germany! Not so in Bled. Bled was cold, but not I need all my layers I brought to not freeze cold. The last two nights we were in Slovenia it was cold enough we could put the heat on very low and that helped immensely. So the next time we go we will be staying places to get some relief from the damp, or have to go when it is cold and can turn on the heat!

    But all the things we did were so much fun and I loved so much of it! So many great hikes, that cave tour was so cool and unlike anything we have seen before, the cows ball was so fun, it was a great trip. It also was interesting as I don’t think I mentioned it before, but everywhere in the country had all these signs about how green they were and how they were changing things to be more environmentally friendly. I’ve never seen so much about that before! So that was really nice and interesting learning all the things they are doing to try and make things better. And super into nature and protecting it and stuff. Really loved that. Plus all the amazing treats and good food we had while there! One of the best places for vegan treats we have been to! So obviously would need to go back just for that ;) Overall a really great trip! Now I relax and hopefully get rid of the last of this cold or whatever I have :)    Читать далее

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    28 сентября 2025 г.