Slovene Summer Holiday

We’ve been back from Slovenia from about a week now.

We had three nights in the capital, Ljubljana, then three nights at Lake Bled. Both places were beautiful and we had a great time.

We also felt incredibly safe, despite seeing maybe only one pair of police officers during our entire trip. We walked back to our hotel from Ljubljana castle around midnight, and didn’t have any concerns at all.

We flew from Gatwick on a 7am flight, arriving around 10am local time. We had some chips and a drink at the Ljubljana airport cafe while we figured out how to get into the city.

The bus from the airport into Ljubljana accepted card payments. You bought the ticket from the bus driver directly. This bus was busy, but not over-subscribed.

In Ljublana, we stayed at the Eurostars uHotel. We arrived a little bit before our check-in time and expected to just leave our bags until they were ready, but they were able to check us in immediately.

We took the opportunity to go up to the pool. We did a few lengths, but as a small leisure pool with children, it wasn’t easy to do a lot of actual swimming. The pool was a bit cold to stay in without swimming, so we stayed on the loungers for a little bit.

We had an early dinner at Pop’s Place. The water spray from the gazebos was a blessing in the heat. There were also so many sparrows! The burgers were good, and the onion rings large!

After dinner, we walked down the river then back up and waited for a river cruise if we’d done the free walking tour earlier in the day, we would have been able to get a free drink on board!).

During the tour, the guide explained about nutrias — a rodent that was introduced to Slovenia for fur farming. They are now considered an invasive species. Just as he was talking about them, we saw one on the banks of the river!

The tour guide on the cruise was very entertaining and informative. I’d recommend the cruise to anyone visiting Ljubljana.

The next day, we travelled down to the Postojna caves. Again, we took a bus from the main bus station in Ljubljana. This time we had to buy our tickets from the station, and they only accepted cash. The bus was busy, but not full.

The caves were incredible. Absolutely massive. We went on the English language guided tour, but there were also options for an audio guide tour.

The tour starts with an impressively long train ride deep into the caves. You then spend about an hour walking through the caves with the guide in a moderately sized group. The guide would stop at different points and use a microphone to explain the different features.

There was a group of tourists that continually pushed through people as the group walked through to different areas. I found it a bit odd, not to mention rude.

To me, the most fascinating part of the caves was the olm; a pale, blind salamander. It can live for over 100 years and survive 10 years without eating!

They had a few olms in tanks that you could see.

While at the caves, we tried the Slovene layer cake and cream cakes. I wasn’t a fan of the layer cake, but I’d have the cream cake again. We also tried a meat burek. It tasted a lot like a cornish pasty.

After the cave, we took the Postojna shuttle bus to Predjama castle. The shuttle bus needed to be paid for in cash, purchasing the ticket from the driver. This bus was very full and we had to stand for the journey.

Predjama castle was very impressive. It was built into the side of a cliff!

The castle was busy, and there were some pinch points, but it wasn’t too bad.

There were lots of house martins flying around outside the castle. As we went into an armoury, we saw a house martin nest under the roof, which had a house martin chick sticking its head out! Very cute.

Getting the shuttle bus back was an event. There was no queuing system. People swarmed around the door as the bus was reversing into its space, and people could barely get off. We were lucky to be the last two to get on the bus. A couple of groups were left behind and had to get a later bus. The driver was kind enough to let Eloise sit in the front seat next to the door.

Getting the bus back to Ljubljana was similar. There was only one bus back, so we started queuing very early. People still tried to push their way in once the bus arrived, but we got on okay.

We ate dinner at a thai restaurant. I think it was the best pad thai I’ve ever had.

That night, we watched The Drama at Ljubljana castle.

For our last day in Ljubljana, we walked down the river to the southern most tip of the central island and relaxed with a drink in the morning sun. We then walked up to the castle via the park.

That evening we had dinner at a restaurant called [Slovenska Hiša - Figovec] figovec. I tried beef cheeks, and was introduced to the Slovene version of coke: Cockta. The beef cheeks were a bit rich for my taste. We were also hounded by wasps.

The next morning we left Ljubljana, but not before taking a visit to the chocolate museum. We’ve been to the Lindt museum in Köln, but we still learned new things, and there was more chcolate to try this time, including a garlic flavoured chocolate! I would not recommend it.

The bus to Lake Bled was an experience. After getting the tickets, we went to the bus stand where the bus was due to depart and joined the group that was waiting there.

It turned out that we’d actually cut in line, as the next group were standing quite a bit far back and looked like they were waiting for a different bus. We didn’t realise until the bus arrived and people swarmed around the bus again.

Ljubljana really needs a better queuing system for buses, or a guaranteed seat with a ticket.

We managed to get on, and it was a long, hot journey.

If we go back to Ljubljana, I would hire a car instead. The roads were good quality and there appeared to be ample parking.

At Lake Bled, we stayed at the Vila Alpina. A different experience from our 4-star hotel in Ljubljana, but it was a very nice place to stay. They don’t have a breakfast on-site, but they could make a reservation at the hotel up the road, which we did for our first morning.

After arriving, we walked all the way around the lake. The lake was a shade of blue I’ve never seen in water before. It was beautiful.

We had dinner at a vegan restaurant. The burger was really good — I had the Club buger in a corn bun. The vegan mayonaise was delicious too.

The next day, after having breakfast, I had to go back to the hotel room as I felt a migraine coming on. I suspect it was from the travelling on the hot bus the day before.

I felt good enough by midday to go out. We walked around the lake again to Bled castle. The view was magnificent, and we used a replica of a Gutenberg press to print a souvenir.

We walked back to the town and sat down on the edge of a fountain. As we sat down, we heard a tweeting behind us.

We looked into the fountain and saw a fledgling sparrow that had fallen in and couldn’t get out. We picked it out and warmed it in our hands as it was shivering. Once it had warmed up a bit I went to put it down in a nearby bush, but it didn’t want to leave! I think it was still a bit cold and shocked, but it hopped down eventually. We waited for a while, and within an hour it had flown off.

We had an early dinner at arroi.

For our last day, we hired a row boat and rowed out to the island in the middle of the lake. We tried the traditional pastries — potica — and rang the wishing bell. I didn’t like the potica.

We walked around the lake again, stopping for a drink at the Grajska Plaža bar. As we were drinking, heap of snow was dropped onto the floor, and the children in the swimming area had a snowball fight.

We had some ice-creams in the sun, then went back to the hotel to change into swimming costumes for a dip in the lake. The water was a tad chilly, but under the sun was easy to get used to. We swam for a while, then went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner.

We had our final dinner at the Hotel Starkl, which was, again, very nice. Still too many wasps though.

To get to the airport, we booked a minibus through GoOpti, as we didn’t want to deal with the public buses again. The price was very reasonable, and was right on time.

Overall, we had a really good time in Slovenia. The people were friendly, the food was good, and the scenery was beautiful. We were very leisurely, not trying to do too much on ay one day, and there was plently more we could have done in Ljubljana and at Lake Bled.

I would absolutely go back.