Kayak & chill

August 2021
A 15-day adventure by annalovestraveling Read more
  • 14footprints
  • 2countries
  • 15days
  • 56photos
  • 4videos
  • 1.0kkilometers
  • Day 2

    Canyoning Kozjak 1/2

    August 8, 2021 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Coming right from some rather stressful weeks at work, Julia and I didn't want to give ourselves a chill day before starting into our kayak classes in Bovec. And how better to relax than by jumping down waterfalls in the middle of a gorgeous canyon?
    The trip to Slap Kozjak starts with a 45 minute "sexy walk" (actually more of a hike) in swimsuit and water-hiking boots. Then come several jumps of up to nine meters, some of which are super narrow in between the canyon walls (the 11 meter jump from a bridge is reserved to those who make a perfect performance throughout the jumps in the canyon). In addition, there are also some abseiling sections. Just some adrenalin to start of a great week in one of our favorite places on earth.
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  • Day 5

    Kayak classes

    August 11, 2021 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Like last year, our main motivation to come back to Bovec was to improve our white water kayak skills in the most beautiful scenery possible: Slovenia's Soča river.
    Since we came in high season, we had to switch to a different kayak school. The agency we went with last year was already fully booked, the guy they recommended us to go with at first offered us private classes, but then completely forgot about us. Hence this year's instructor was Jaka from Aktivni Planet, one of the few local guides working in the valley. Even as (at best) intermediate level kayakers, we noticed the quality of his ten-year guiding experience as well as his lifelong kayak practice. Although Julia and I both had our ups and downs, we learned a lot in the three days with Jaka.
    Still, we again regretted having booked only three days, as it took us at least 1,5 days to feel as comfortable in the kayak as we did at the end of last year's three-day course. We managed to extend our stay in Bovec and kayak an additional day, but with a different company (again, high season sucks). We had a super fun group with a Slovenian couple (Amanda & Matjaš) as well as a funny young guide this last day. It was perfect to just spend some more time on the water and improve our feeling for the river, but I guess next time we'll still need to plan for a longer course.
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  • Day 6

    Hike to Goričica

    August 12, 2021 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    The additional night in Bovec (and the fact that now in high season kayaking needs to be booked at least one day in advance) gave us time to take a day just for hiking.
    We went up an apparently rather unknown path to a hut called Goričica on the Rombon mountain. Both up and down it was a pretty steep and narrow path, along meadows and through forests. It must have been one of the hottest days we've ever experienced in Bovec, but all the sweat and exhaustion felt just about right for the active part of our vacation, just before the chill & food part ahead of us.Read more

  • Day 8

    Old & new friends

    August 14, 2021 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    One of the things that make Bovec so addictive are the people. As it is a place that is perfect for nothing but outdoor activities - ranging from water sports over canyoning, climbing and alpinism all the way to skydiving - most of the people that come here are very much like-minded. They prefer adrenalin and physical activity over big city life and beaches. Moreover, Bovec is so small that you may accidentally bump into your friends three times a day.
    Thus it happened that within only a few hours after our arrival, we met both our first ever kayak guide Sebastian, who now owns a white water stand-up paddling school and our kayak instructor from last year: Marci. With him and his friend Boti we hung out almost every night, we even went down to the river bank one evening and had a beautiful time watching shooting stars and learning Hungarian childhood songs at the campfire. They may have gotten a little bit tired of us after the fifth goodbye (we kept bumping into each other in town and on the river), but I'm sure we'll meet again in Cologne, Budapest or if we actually do go back to Bovec this September.
    At the hostel we seemed zu be a dutch kann's magnet. At some point we were a group of ten people - all but Julia and me from the Netherlands. This group was another reason to stay in Bovec longer than planned. Just when we had finally (almost) convinced ourselves to leave, I received a text from Tom (he and Joey and already left to Bled), saying they were coming back. Lucky for us, Cille and Veerle had rented an apartment with several spare rooms. So in the end we spent our last night in Bovec all together like a big family, after entertaining all the guests at Nono's pizza place.
    And then there is Miha, who used to pick us up every day for kayak classes. Unfortunately we didn't get to know him that well on these short drives, but at the end of our last night he ran into us and we could at least still have a beer with him.
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  • Day 8

    Favorite place

    August 14, 2021 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    It's always hard to leave Bovec. The first time Julia and I were here, two nights turned into a week. Even now that we have great Italian food, coffee and beautiful lakes and beaches ahead of us we feel like we'd rather stay in our favorite Slovenian town. We have already extended our stay by two nights - always last minute, after having stalled so long that we wouldn't have gotten to Italy in time anyways - and thrown out our plans to go to lake Garda all together. We do not feel even a little bit sorry for having paid the hostel in Garda for nothing. Bovec and the people here just have a quality to them that makes you want to stay forever. It makes you feel like home with your best friends. It's really hard to describe, but I think that fact that almost everyone tries to stay longer than planned speaks for itself.Read more

  • Day 9

    Noli beach

    August 15, 2021 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I think I've mentioned it before: until I depend on school holidays I will from now on do my very best to avoid taking vacation in August. Our day in the village of Noli, close to Savona, confirmed this even more. Seeing the beach plastered by chairs and sunshades (rentable for 45€ 😵) was like Julia's and my worst nightmare.
    Luckily at least here walking a little paid off: we found a nice (free) spot next to a hill, providing us even shade. Still, during the next day we would discover that sometimes you had can even walk for two hours and still not find even a little corner for your towel on these crowded Italian beaches.
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  • Day 10

    Portofino vibes

    August 16, 2021 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Another day trip, though we have learned by now not to drive anywhere in Italy by car (parking spots can be almost impossible to find). Hence we took a 1 hour train to Santa Margherita and from there walked to the famous "fisher's village" (nowadays rather a chicky micky hub), on our way getting a glance of the impressive yachts, each worth several tens of millions of euros. At one point we witnessed an entire boat staff waiting for the owner in order to get him to shore. But we were disappointed: no George Clooney anywhere.
    It's easy to see why all the rich and famous like to hang out here. The combination of the crystal clear sea and a colourful village carved into the surrounding hills makes for a beautiful chillout spot. For us normal people without our private yacht, however, the slightly calmer but still gorgeous village of Santa Margherita was a little more worthwhile. We enjoyed a great dinner work Aperitivo, ligurian pasta with genovese pesto, bufalla pizza, tiramisù and espresso - or in short: enjoyed the dolce vita.
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