Report on Mini Tour of Croatia and Slovenia
Oct 2nd, 2008, 01:50 PM
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Report on Mini Tour of Croatia and Slovenia
Last spring, my husband and I traveled to the Dalmatian Coast and to Venice (I have a trip report on that as well), and loved Croatia so much that we couldn't wait to return. So we found a way to go back at the end of August/ early September. This trip was way too short and was more rushed than we would have liked, but it is definitely better to go and get a little taste than not to go at all! We went to Plitvice, Istria, Bled and Ljubljana. This is a lot to pack into a 7 day trip, but I think it would have been ok with 8 days, and ideal with 10. Rushed and tiring as our pace was, I am still thoroughly smitten with Croatia (we enjoyed Slovenia, too, by Croatia is magical to us) and hope to return sometime soon!
We flew into Zagreb from the US (via Paris CDG, which was much improved from last time we connected there) and landed on a Saturday around noon. Since we only had a week, we didn't spend any time in Zagreb but got a rental car and headed directly to Plitvice Lakes NP. I'm not sure how my husband stayed awake for the 2 hour drive to Plitvice (we didn't sleep well on the flight) but thankfully it all worked out. Ideally, we would have stayed in Zagreb for the afternoon and evening after that flight, and I would recommend that to anyone flying overseas unless you are good at sleeping on a plane, but we simply didn't have time for it. The drive was really nice and easy. We had a very basic road map but the road signs were helpful enough. We checked into the Knezevic Guesthouse (www.knezevic.hr) at around 2, freshened up, and headed to the park.
At the park, we were told that we could do only the upper or lower lake paths since the park closed at 7. It was around 3:00, and we didn't want to pay another entry fee to get in the next morning (we would have if we had needed to), so we set off on a very brisk pace to try to take it all in that afternoon. Wow, Plitvice is majestic. Seeing it was entirely worth making the trip. Even though we went at a fairly brisk pace-- we were able to see the lower lakes and the main upper lakes-- we stopped often enough to take over 150 photos (all beautiful, of course!). I highly recommend starting with the lower lakes and walking up to the upper lakes, taking the boat over, and walking around a couple of the upper lakes (the route comes from Rick Steves). We did all of this in 3.5 hours and while we didn't exactly mosey, we weren't gasping for breath either! I'm sure there's a lot of beautiful scenery that we didn't get to see, but what we saw was incredible.
After hiking around the lakes, we took the bus from the ST2 at the upper lakes (we went up almost as far as the turn to ST4 on the lake paths) back to ST1 and walked back to the ticket booth/ entrance on the high path so we were looking down on the gorge. Some of our best pictures came from this stretch of path, at the very end of our hike.
Importantly, Plitvice NP only takes payments in kuna. Or at least that's all the parking lot takes. We almost had to leave our car in the parking lot overnight as we only had Euro. Maybe there is an ATM in the park hotels but we didn't see one at either entrance and were only able to get kuna by the grace of a kind soul at a closed exchange counter. So make sure you have kuna when you go!
The next morning we drove from Plitvice to Rovinj (Istria) via Pula. Fortunately, we got to retrace our tracks from the day before, as we were too tired to appreciate some of what we had seen on the drive down! The town of Slonj is about 25-30 km north of Plitvice. It is very sweet and had a nice bistro and market that were even open on Sunday morning. And, it had a bank with an ATM! Hooray for kuna! Obviously, this is one of the things we missed on our way through the day before! In addition to those blessed amenities, Slonj is a really pretty town and would be a nice base for seeing Plitvice.
We also drove through Turanj, which was evidently the site of a lot of military activity in the 90s. We stopped at the location of the "Collection Future Museum of Homeland War". This very moving collection consists of several tanks, a shot-down war plane, some emergency vehicles from the war, and some other military vehicles as well as what appear to be bombed-out buildings. Across the street is another war memorial. We drove past the collection at first but turned around and went back. It is definitely worth taking a few minutes to see. There is a parking lot next to the sobe and market on the left side of the road if you are heading towards Zagreb, before you get to the turn for Zagreb. Heading towards Plitvice, the collection is shortly after you turn left heading into Turanj (it'll be on the right, I think just after you cross the Korana River but keep an eye out as soon as you get to Turanj). You can see the tanks from the road if you're looking for them.
Going west from Karlovac to Rijeka was very, very easy with spectacular scenery. Really, all of the driving was easy. Some roads are marked better than others, though.
It took us about 4 hours to get from Plitvice to Pula. We were really only going there to see the ampitheater, but all of the old town was really neat. The ampitheater definitely lives up to the hype. You turn into town and there it is!
Driving from Pula to Rovinj was a bit interesting. We took a coastal raod rather than the main road up the middle of the peninsula. We drove along the water until the road took us away from it. For a while, we weren't sure where we would end up. There weren't many road signs and we ended up driving through a tiny village on a very narrow road but eventually (probably 15-20 minutes into our drive) we hit a bigger town, maybe Vodnjan, and saw signs for Rovinj. The whole drive from Pula to Rovinj took 30-40 minutes.
Rovinj ended up becomming one of my favorite places in the world. We were staying in the old town and pretty easily found the parking lot (the whole "follow the signs to the centar" thing doesn't always work, particularly when there are pedestrian ways and one way streets once you get there!). We called the lady in charge of our sobe to let her know we were there, got directions, and made our way. We stayed at Studio Katarina (http://www.inforovinj.com/private/pr...bris-miranda-1). It was 50 euro a night and while not posh, had all of the basic amenities that we wanted and was really nicely located. We LOVED Rovinj. It is just so beautiful and peaceful and vibrant-- really a perfect vacation spot. If we had had another day to add on the trip, I'd have wanted to spend it in Rovinj. Not so much because there is tons to do there, although the rocky "beach" was a lot of fun, as because it is a place to just be. We enjoyed strolling around town and then relaxing at a couple of cocktail bars on the rocks rising up from the water. The sunset was lovely from Cafe Bar Valentino (drinks are expensive but worth it for the view) and once the sun went down we went to the cocktail bar on the rocks next to Lampo Restaurant. For dinner I recommend Restaurant Al Mare, in the harbor area across from the old town. It sortof looks like a beer garden with the Kaiser Bier lamppost and fence decor in front. They may have served the best fish I've had in my life and they fileted it at the table (had we asked, they probably would have fileted it elsewhere but it was pretty neat to watch).
Based in Rovinj we were able to drive around the hill towns, mainly Graznjan and Motovun. Both were really pretty and interesting. We had really good pizza in Motovun at Pizzeria Bistro Propeler. It is on the left after the first gate and has a really nice view of the countryside. The drive from Graznjan to Motovun isn't really marked so you sortof have to go on faith (and a gravel road at one point) and intuition if you don't have good directions, but follow the river (once you find it-- and it is a wee river) and you will get there!
We only had 2 nights and a day (half of which was spent driving around the hills) in Rovinj. This is not enough time. We left feeling like we were really shortchanging ourselves, and we were. Rovinj is magical. But there are lots of wonderful places in the world and I consider myself very lucky to be able to have visited as many as I have!
We departed Rovinj for Bled, Slovenia, via Hum (very cute, about 15 minutes off of the A down a narrow, windy road that seems to go to teh middle of nowhere but it well marked, but we really only popped in to say hello and take a photo of the smallest city in the world) and Rijeka. We dropped the rental car in Rijeka and this is where I learned another important Croatian travel tip (the first being that Plitvice parking lot only takes kuna). It is important that the car rental office where you are picking up or dropping off a car know the approximate time that you will be picking up or dropping off said car. I learned this because, although we had told the Avis in Zagreb that we would be dropping the car off in Rijeka at noon on Tuesday, they had not told the Avis office in Rijeka that we would be there at noon and we had not told them that either. When we got there at noon, the office was locked. I called the number, which was thankfully posted on the door, and the nice Avis man who did not know to expect us was on Krk and would not be able to get back for 2 hours. We had a train to catch and couldn't wait 2 hours, so the nice Avis man told us to drop the car off in the marina parking lot and leave the keys and paperwork at a nearby cafe. I haven't heard from Avis since so I'm assuming that they were able to get the keys and find the car, but the moral of the story is that it is best to let people know when you plan to arrive somewhere, as they may make other plans! This is probably a good rule of thumb regardless of location, but I wouldn't have thought about it for an Avis.
I've said this several times, but I really love Croatia. It has a special place in my heart. We took this trip thinking that we needed to "finish" Croatia before moving on to other parts of the world. We've hit the highlights between the two trips there but really, this trip just left me wanting more. It is that amazing. If you haven't been, go. It is well worth the trip. If you are one of those places that has been multiple times, I totally understand why! And, I really can't decide what I like best about it. I'm enchanted by Rovinj but when I look at my Dubrovnik photos, I fall in love with it all over again as well. Split is fascinating-- there can't be any place on earth quite like it. And I know there isn't anywhere quite like Plitvice....
Stay tuned for 3 days in Slovenia! It's pretty brilliant, too!
We flew into Zagreb from the US (via Paris CDG, which was much improved from last time we connected there) and landed on a Saturday around noon. Since we only had a week, we didn't spend any time in Zagreb but got a rental car and headed directly to Plitvice Lakes NP. I'm not sure how my husband stayed awake for the 2 hour drive to Plitvice (we didn't sleep well on the flight) but thankfully it all worked out. Ideally, we would have stayed in Zagreb for the afternoon and evening after that flight, and I would recommend that to anyone flying overseas unless you are good at sleeping on a plane, but we simply didn't have time for it. The drive was really nice and easy. We had a very basic road map but the road signs were helpful enough. We checked into the Knezevic Guesthouse (www.knezevic.hr) at around 2, freshened up, and headed to the park.
At the park, we were told that we could do only the upper or lower lake paths since the park closed at 7. It was around 3:00, and we didn't want to pay another entry fee to get in the next morning (we would have if we had needed to), so we set off on a very brisk pace to try to take it all in that afternoon. Wow, Plitvice is majestic. Seeing it was entirely worth making the trip. Even though we went at a fairly brisk pace-- we were able to see the lower lakes and the main upper lakes-- we stopped often enough to take over 150 photos (all beautiful, of course!). I highly recommend starting with the lower lakes and walking up to the upper lakes, taking the boat over, and walking around a couple of the upper lakes (the route comes from Rick Steves). We did all of this in 3.5 hours and while we didn't exactly mosey, we weren't gasping for breath either! I'm sure there's a lot of beautiful scenery that we didn't get to see, but what we saw was incredible.
After hiking around the lakes, we took the bus from the ST2 at the upper lakes (we went up almost as far as the turn to ST4 on the lake paths) back to ST1 and walked back to the ticket booth/ entrance on the high path so we were looking down on the gorge. Some of our best pictures came from this stretch of path, at the very end of our hike.
Importantly, Plitvice NP only takes payments in kuna. Or at least that's all the parking lot takes. We almost had to leave our car in the parking lot overnight as we only had Euro. Maybe there is an ATM in the park hotels but we didn't see one at either entrance and were only able to get kuna by the grace of a kind soul at a closed exchange counter. So make sure you have kuna when you go!
The next morning we drove from Plitvice to Rovinj (Istria) via Pula. Fortunately, we got to retrace our tracks from the day before, as we were too tired to appreciate some of what we had seen on the drive down! The town of Slonj is about 25-30 km north of Plitvice. It is very sweet and had a nice bistro and market that were even open on Sunday morning. And, it had a bank with an ATM! Hooray for kuna! Obviously, this is one of the things we missed on our way through the day before! In addition to those blessed amenities, Slonj is a really pretty town and would be a nice base for seeing Plitvice.
We also drove through Turanj, which was evidently the site of a lot of military activity in the 90s. We stopped at the location of the "Collection Future Museum of Homeland War". This very moving collection consists of several tanks, a shot-down war plane, some emergency vehicles from the war, and some other military vehicles as well as what appear to be bombed-out buildings. Across the street is another war memorial. We drove past the collection at first but turned around and went back. It is definitely worth taking a few minutes to see. There is a parking lot next to the sobe and market on the left side of the road if you are heading towards Zagreb, before you get to the turn for Zagreb. Heading towards Plitvice, the collection is shortly after you turn left heading into Turanj (it'll be on the right, I think just after you cross the Korana River but keep an eye out as soon as you get to Turanj). You can see the tanks from the road if you're looking for them.
Going west from Karlovac to Rijeka was very, very easy with spectacular scenery. Really, all of the driving was easy. Some roads are marked better than others, though.
It took us about 4 hours to get from Plitvice to Pula. We were really only going there to see the ampitheater, but all of the old town was really neat. The ampitheater definitely lives up to the hype. You turn into town and there it is!
Driving from Pula to Rovinj was a bit interesting. We took a coastal raod rather than the main road up the middle of the peninsula. We drove along the water until the road took us away from it. For a while, we weren't sure where we would end up. There weren't many road signs and we ended up driving through a tiny village on a very narrow road but eventually (probably 15-20 minutes into our drive) we hit a bigger town, maybe Vodnjan, and saw signs for Rovinj. The whole drive from Pula to Rovinj took 30-40 minutes.
Rovinj ended up becomming one of my favorite places in the world. We were staying in the old town and pretty easily found the parking lot (the whole "follow the signs to the centar" thing doesn't always work, particularly when there are pedestrian ways and one way streets once you get there!). We called the lady in charge of our sobe to let her know we were there, got directions, and made our way. We stayed at Studio Katarina (http://www.inforovinj.com/private/pr...bris-miranda-1). It was 50 euro a night and while not posh, had all of the basic amenities that we wanted and was really nicely located. We LOVED Rovinj. It is just so beautiful and peaceful and vibrant-- really a perfect vacation spot. If we had had another day to add on the trip, I'd have wanted to spend it in Rovinj. Not so much because there is tons to do there, although the rocky "beach" was a lot of fun, as because it is a place to just be. We enjoyed strolling around town and then relaxing at a couple of cocktail bars on the rocks rising up from the water. The sunset was lovely from Cafe Bar Valentino (drinks are expensive but worth it for the view) and once the sun went down we went to the cocktail bar on the rocks next to Lampo Restaurant. For dinner I recommend Restaurant Al Mare, in the harbor area across from the old town. It sortof looks like a beer garden with the Kaiser Bier lamppost and fence decor in front. They may have served the best fish I've had in my life and they fileted it at the table (had we asked, they probably would have fileted it elsewhere but it was pretty neat to watch).
Based in Rovinj we were able to drive around the hill towns, mainly Graznjan and Motovun. Both were really pretty and interesting. We had really good pizza in Motovun at Pizzeria Bistro Propeler. It is on the left after the first gate and has a really nice view of the countryside. The drive from Graznjan to Motovun isn't really marked so you sortof have to go on faith (and a gravel road at one point) and intuition if you don't have good directions, but follow the river (once you find it-- and it is a wee river) and you will get there!
We only had 2 nights and a day (half of which was spent driving around the hills) in Rovinj. This is not enough time. We left feeling like we were really shortchanging ourselves, and we were. Rovinj is magical. But there are lots of wonderful places in the world and I consider myself very lucky to be able to have visited as many as I have!
We departed Rovinj for Bled, Slovenia, via Hum (very cute, about 15 minutes off of the A down a narrow, windy road that seems to go to teh middle of nowhere but it well marked, but we really only popped in to say hello and take a photo of the smallest city in the world) and Rijeka. We dropped the rental car in Rijeka and this is where I learned another important Croatian travel tip (the first being that Plitvice parking lot only takes kuna). It is important that the car rental office where you are picking up or dropping off a car know the approximate time that you will be picking up or dropping off said car. I learned this because, although we had told the Avis in Zagreb that we would be dropping the car off in Rijeka at noon on Tuesday, they had not told the Avis office in Rijeka that we would be there at noon and we had not told them that either. When we got there at noon, the office was locked. I called the number, which was thankfully posted on the door, and the nice Avis man who did not know to expect us was on Krk and would not be able to get back for 2 hours. We had a train to catch and couldn't wait 2 hours, so the nice Avis man told us to drop the car off in the marina parking lot and leave the keys and paperwork at a nearby cafe. I haven't heard from Avis since so I'm assuming that they were able to get the keys and find the car, but the moral of the story is that it is best to let people know when you plan to arrive somewhere, as they may make other plans! This is probably a good rule of thumb regardless of location, but I wouldn't have thought about it for an Avis.
I've said this several times, but I really love Croatia. It has a special place in my heart. We took this trip thinking that we needed to "finish" Croatia before moving on to other parts of the world. We've hit the highlights between the two trips there but really, this trip just left me wanting more. It is that amazing. If you haven't been, go. It is well worth the trip. If you are one of those places that has been multiple times, I totally understand why! And, I really can't decide what I like best about it. I'm enchanted by Rovinj but when I look at my Dubrovnik photos, I fall in love with it all over again as well. Split is fascinating-- there can't be any place on earth quite like it. And I know there isn't anywhere quite like Plitvice....
Stay tuned for 3 days in Slovenia! It's pretty brilliant, too!
Oct 3rd, 2008, 02:10 PM
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Now for laid back Slovenia....
The train from Rijeka to Ljubljana took about 2-2.5 hours and went through some beautiful scenery and cute little towns. From Ljubljana we took a bus to Bled. Normally the bus ride is just over an hour (we were told) but due to construction it took over 1:30. So this ended up being quite a long travel day! Bled is a perfect place to end a day like that. It is just so tranquil and beautiful.
We had booked a room through Kompas Travel in Bled, which had placed us at Pension Mlinar (Incidentally, Kompas arranged for a car to take us to the airport when we left and that worked out well). Pension Mlinar is a sweet little place a short walk uphill from the lake, down a little lane and through an orchard of some sort. We were very pleased with this pension. The lane is pretty dark at night but it was nice to see stars. We did end up buying a flashlight to help us find our way to it after dark!
The next morning we headed up to Bled castle. Beautiful views of the lake, the island, the town and the surrounding countryside. The castle has a nice exhibit on Bled history. After that we had a nice picnic by the lake and took a pletna boat to the island to see the church. The pletna oarsmen wait until the boat is pretty full before leaving for the island, so it isn't something to do if you are in a hurry, but then I can't imagine being in a hurry when in Bled. It is a place meant for relaxation and leisurely paces! We spent the rest of the afternoon riding bikes around the lake and swimming. The water was cold but how often does one have the opportunity to swim in a lake underneath a castle in the Alps?
The next day we went to Ljubljana. What a pleasant, charming city! I can see why people say it is a little Prague. It has similar architecture, just the buildings are smaller. It even has a little river running through the center of the picturesque Old Town. And a castle on the hill. Actually it reminded me of a mix between Prague and Vienna, as it had Vienna's cosmopolitan feel along with Prague's charm. We went up to the castle first-- I would recommend holding off on this until after exploring the Old Town, as the views from the castle are probably more appealing and interesting once you have your bearings. The Old Town is small and can be a little bit lost in panorama. Somehow we still managed to take photos of the right places and we are really enjoying them now!
The Old Town is incredibly charming. It is as laid back as everyone says. We were struck by how quiet it was. It was busy-- people were everywhere-- but it was pleasantly quiet! The market was really nice and we enjoyed strolling up and down on both sides of the river between the Dragon and Cobbler's bridges. We probably took 75-100 photos in Ljubljana, just to make sure we captured everything! Lunch along the river was fun and the gelato-- oh, the gelato! The gelato place right next to the Triple Bridge gives the biggest scoops for 1 euro I've ever seen!
In all we were probably in Ljubljana for 6 hours, which is not a lot of time. There aren't a lot of "sights", though, and the Old Town is small. Ljubljana is more about relaxing and enjoying the ambience. I would love to see it at night sometime and hope to get back there someday to spend a couple of days!
We had planned to do the Alps/ Soca River drive for our last day but opted instead to stay in Bled and hike the Vintgar Gorge. Wow. I'm sure Soca is beautiful and worth doing but hiking the gorge may be my favorite thing that we did the entire trip. It had rained the night before so the gorge was very misty and mystical. I half expected to see fairies, nymphs and brownies along the way. At the bottom of the gorge trail (the trail literally clings to the walls of the gorge in places and crosses it in others) we took the path behind the ticket office (follow the sign for the "slap"
down to the base of the waterfall for a nice photo op. But then the whole gorge is amazing photo op after amazing photo op. I highly recommend this hike. We walked to the gorge from Bled, went down the gorge path and back and then took the noon tourist bus back to town. All in all we spent 3.5 hours round trip.
That sortof tapped out Bled for us (we didn't want to go to the beekeeping museum and the luge was, sadly, closed) so we kicked it into extra low gear and relaxed for the rest of the day. We rented a rowboat for an hour and I highly recommend this as well. Of course, I wasn't the one doing the rowing, but my husband really enjoyed it as well. Renting a boat for an hour costs 13 euro, which seemed steep, but we were so glad we did it. First, it was just relaxing to be on the water. Second, the views of the island, the castle, the town and the Alps are phenomenal.
We capped the afternoon off with a visit to the arts/ crafts market by the lake (I bought some beautiful stained glass angels from an artist there) and a wonderful nap in the park. Bled is really nice in that it feels completely safe, so we felt completely comfortable with a nice nap under a tree by the lake.
Bled was really quiet when we were there so I can't really report on night life, but we did enjoy spending time at Pub Bled and at the irish pub. Pub Bled has a great view of the castle. We also spent some time at a restaurant by the casino along the water front as they had live music-- a polka band one night and a 60s-70s band that played a lot of Beatles another night.
It really was a fantastic trip. We were exhausted when we got home, largely because it took a full day almost, and it took a week or so to appreciate what a great trip it was. If we had had an extra day to add to Rovinj, it would have slowed the trip down and made it seem less hectic and more of a vacation. With three more days, I would have spent the first night in Zagreb before going to Plitvice, added a day to Rovinj, and spent a day in a half (and 2 nights) in Ljubljana. That would have been ideal. I'm only commenting on this for the benefit of those reading this who are currently planning trips like this. I have no complaints. I consider myself incredibly lucky to even get to see these parts of the world and do my best to soak it in when I can! Every trip reminds me of what a huge, beautiful, amazing world we live in, and what incredible people inhabit it.
The train from Rijeka to Ljubljana took about 2-2.5 hours and went through some beautiful scenery and cute little towns. From Ljubljana we took a bus to Bled. Normally the bus ride is just over an hour (we were told) but due to construction it took over 1:30. So this ended up being quite a long travel day! Bled is a perfect place to end a day like that. It is just so tranquil and beautiful.
We had booked a room through Kompas Travel in Bled, which had placed us at Pension Mlinar (Incidentally, Kompas arranged for a car to take us to the airport when we left and that worked out well). Pension Mlinar is a sweet little place a short walk uphill from the lake, down a little lane and through an orchard of some sort. We were very pleased with this pension. The lane is pretty dark at night but it was nice to see stars. We did end up buying a flashlight to help us find our way to it after dark!
The next morning we headed up to Bled castle. Beautiful views of the lake, the island, the town and the surrounding countryside. The castle has a nice exhibit on Bled history. After that we had a nice picnic by the lake and took a pletna boat to the island to see the church. The pletna oarsmen wait until the boat is pretty full before leaving for the island, so it isn't something to do if you are in a hurry, but then I can't imagine being in a hurry when in Bled. It is a place meant for relaxation and leisurely paces! We spent the rest of the afternoon riding bikes around the lake and swimming. The water was cold but how often does one have the opportunity to swim in a lake underneath a castle in the Alps?
The next day we went to Ljubljana. What a pleasant, charming city! I can see why people say it is a little Prague. It has similar architecture, just the buildings are smaller. It even has a little river running through the center of the picturesque Old Town. And a castle on the hill. Actually it reminded me of a mix between Prague and Vienna, as it had Vienna's cosmopolitan feel along with Prague's charm. We went up to the castle first-- I would recommend holding off on this until after exploring the Old Town, as the views from the castle are probably more appealing and interesting once you have your bearings. The Old Town is small and can be a little bit lost in panorama. Somehow we still managed to take photos of the right places and we are really enjoying them now!
The Old Town is incredibly charming. It is as laid back as everyone says. We were struck by how quiet it was. It was busy-- people were everywhere-- but it was pleasantly quiet! The market was really nice and we enjoyed strolling up and down on both sides of the river between the Dragon and Cobbler's bridges. We probably took 75-100 photos in Ljubljana, just to make sure we captured everything! Lunch along the river was fun and the gelato-- oh, the gelato! The gelato place right next to the Triple Bridge gives the biggest scoops for 1 euro I've ever seen!
In all we were probably in Ljubljana for 6 hours, which is not a lot of time. There aren't a lot of "sights", though, and the Old Town is small. Ljubljana is more about relaxing and enjoying the ambience. I would love to see it at night sometime and hope to get back there someday to spend a couple of days!
We had planned to do the Alps/ Soca River drive for our last day but opted instead to stay in Bled and hike the Vintgar Gorge. Wow. I'm sure Soca is beautiful and worth doing but hiking the gorge may be my favorite thing that we did the entire trip. It had rained the night before so the gorge was very misty and mystical. I half expected to see fairies, nymphs and brownies along the way. At the bottom of the gorge trail (the trail literally clings to the walls of the gorge in places and crosses it in others) we took the path behind the ticket office (follow the sign for the "slap"
down to the base of the waterfall for a nice photo op. But then the whole gorge is amazing photo op after amazing photo op. I highly recommend this hike. We walked to the gorge from Bled, went down the gorge path and back and then took the noon tourist bus back to town. All in all we spent 3.5 hours round trip. That sortof tapped out Bled for us (we didn't want to go to the beekeeping museum and the luge was, sadly, closed) so we kicked it into extra low gear and relaxed for the rest of the day. We rented a rowboat for an hour and I highly recommend this as well. Of course, I wasn't the one doing the rowing, but my husband really enjoyed it as well. Renting a boat for an hour costs 13 euro, which seemed steep, but we were so glad we did it. First, it was just relaxing to be on the water. Second, the views of the island, the castle, the town and the Alps are phenomenal.
We capped the afternoon off with a visit to the arts/ crafts market by the lake (I bought some beautiful stained glass angels from an artist there) and a wonderful nap in the park. Bled is really nice in that it feels completely safe, so we felt completely comfortable with a nice nap under a tree by the lake.
Bled was really quiet when we were there so I can't really report on night life, but we did enjoy spending time at Pub Bled and at the irish pub. Pub Bled has a great view of the castle. We also spent some time at a restaurant by the casino along the water front as they had live music-- a polka band one night and a 60s-70s band that played a lot of Beatles another night.
It really was a fantastic trip. We were exhausted when we got home, largely because it took a full day almost, and it took a week or so to appreciate what a great trip it was. If we had had an extra day to add to Rovinj, it would have slowed the trip down and made it seem less hectic and more of a vacation. With three more days, I would have spent the first night in Zagreb before going to Plitvice, added a day to Rovinj, and spent a day in a half (and 2 nights) in Ljubljana. That would have been ideal. I'm only commenting on this for the benefit of those reading this who are currently planning trips like this. I have no complaints. I consider myself incredibly lucky to even get to see these parts of the world and do my best to soak it in when I can! Every trip reminds me of what a huge, beautiful, amazing world we live in, and what incredible people inhabit it.
Oct 9th, 2008, 08:22 AM
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The kremna rezina was tasty and you can find it pretty much anywhere in Bled. There are pictures of it everywhere, too. I got it at a place with a bear on the sign in the old town. I'm a gelato girl, though.
Oh, that reminds me. In Bled and Ljubljana it seemed difficult for people to break Euro bills for small purchases. Try to keep some smaller change on hand if possible (1 and 2 Euro coins). I got in trouble for this twice when buying gelato.
Oh, that reminds me. In Bled and Ljubljana it seemed difficult for people to break Euro bills for small purchases. Try to keep some smaller change on hand if possible (1 and 2 Euro coins). I got in trouble for this twice when buying gelato.
Oct 9th, 2008, 10:25 AM
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I shouldn't say "got in trouble". But it seemed like I created trouble for the gelato stands when I paid with anything more than a 5 Euro bill as they didn't have change readily available. Totally understandable on their part, just not something I thought about before hand.
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