Wednesday, 28 May 

Bled - Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Weather - Sunny - Max 24c

The weather for the afternoon was forecast rain so our afternoon visit to the exquisite Vintgar Gorge was brought forward to the morning. It was a ten minute drive from Bled. Following the visit we set off to Ljubljana which was only a hour’s drive arriving for a walking tour of the city before checking into our hotel. We also said farewell to Zoran, our driver for the past 2.5 weeks as tomorrow is a rest day for us and he has been assigned another job. Zoran did a terrific job and certainly knew the size of his bus as he manoeuvred some very tight corners. 

Access to the Vintgar Gorge was by short ride on a shuttle bus. Sanda briefed us to make a dash for the bus if there were many people waiting. We had our elbows ready if needed but this wasn’t necessary. The gorge is breathtaking in its pristine beauty and we saw it at its best in the sunshine. We all couldn’t stop taking photos throughout the 1.6kms walk. 

Prior to starting the walk we had to don hair nets (to prevent nits transfer etc!) then put on orange helmets. 

The walk was mostly on a boardwalk on the side of the Radovna River.  On occasions the path crossed small wooden bridges over the wildly flowing river and we had good views up the gorge. 

There was a mixture of pools and rapids with the clearest of aqua blue and green waters. The air felt so fresh. 

Near the end of the walk was a high stone arch bridge especially built for the Bohinj Railway. The bridge was built in 1904 and is 33m high.

We all took photos of the rainbow made by the rising mist from the rushing waters at the end of the walk near the gorge’s cafe. 

Following the walk through the gorge we walked slowly through the Slovenian forest on a wide dirt road to meet our bus. The kilometre walk was a gentle, quiet climb through a lush forest with some lovely birdsong.

When we arrived at our hotel at Ljubljana we quickly unloaded our bags, said farewell to Zoran and set out for an hour’s tour of the town’s centre. Sanda our guide lives in Ljubljana and her familiarity of the city came to the fore. We are fortunate to be only a few minutes from the city centre. I immediately fell in love with the elegant, busy capital city of Slovenia filled with many cyclists hurriedly making their way through the car-free city centre and the beautiful buildings. 

Sanda gave us our city bearings for the major sites as we have a free day tomorrow. We now don’t see Sanda again until Friday, however, she is available if needed. It will be our first full free day on the trip. Most other days we have had a half day of free time.

At 1.30pm our tour finished and we quickly found a cafe as we were quite hungry. We chose the Meat Point. As we couldn’t get into our rooms until 3.00pm we had plenty of time to relax and have a relaxing long lunch. 

Henk, Brian, Julia and I met at 6.30pm for dinner. After our long lunch we weren’t hungry but felt we needed to have something. The forecast afternoon rain didn’t eventuate but as we headed out we felt a change in the air and rain was on its way. We crossed the city’s river to a long cafe precinct set against the river. The outdoor cafes were busy with locals having a drink. There was very little eating happening at the cafes. That comes later. 

It was difficult to choose a cafe but we finally settled on the Divine Cafe and shared a prosciutto and cheese platter, continued our Aperol Spritz drinking and followed with the most divine icecream we have ever tasted. Ever! It lived up to the name of the cafe and the icecream is made on site. We hope to go back tomorrow to try some other varieties. 

The waiter helped Henk and Brian choose their icecream. It required careful consideration.

Tomorrow we have a few plans to make the most of our stay in lovely Ljubljana.