Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Slovenia

Tuesday, 27 May   Bled, Slovenia  Hotel Park, Bled  Weather - Cloudy - Max 20c We woke to a cloudy day but the views from the hotel were outstanding. The hotel looks out onto the stunning aqua green lake, Bled Castle and St Martin’s Church. Further along the lake is Bled Island. We toured until 3.00pm and we then had time off until tomorrow morning. We had all sorts of weather today but thankfully it was all well timed so it rained mostly when we were in the bus. We set out at 9.00am through pretty countryside, forrests and farmland, alongside clear aqua green creeks and rustic buildings to arrive at Lake Bohinj which is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia. We were very close to the Italian and Austrian borders. We had outstanding views of the lake as the clouds cleared and we could see the surrounding mountains. In the distance were the Julian Alps. The water was so clear we could see fish slowing swimming below us from the old stone bridge. On the shor...

Monday, 26 May   Opatija, Croatia - Bled, Slovenia  Hotel Park, Bled  Weather - Warm and sunny in the morning, late storm - Max 24c Today we left the Adriatic Coast, headed north, left Croatia and arrived in Slovenia. After a scant breakfast due to a locust plague of Chinese tourists we were on the bus at 8.30am. It was a diverse day with a visit to outstanding caves in the morning, visiting a castle, icing gingerbread in the evening and a fantastic group dinner. After leaving the hotel and a half hour’s drive we reached the Croatia/Slovenia border and went through without stopping and just like that we were in Slovenia. The country has only 47kms of Adriatic coastline and 60% of the country is covered in forests. It is very green. It has half the population of Croatia at 2M.  We arrived at the Postojna Caves at 10.00am for our 11.00am tour. We spent the spare 45mins having a coffee and a slice of a yummy apple strudel. The ticketing schedule was strict an...