Eurotrip - Slovenia
I had read about Triglav National Park in Slovenia and quickly became convinced the Julian Alps were the perfect place to spend 10 days training for the Alta Via 1.
July 6th, 2022 - Villach, Austria to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia 🚆 🚌
So we pick back up at the Villach hauptbahnhof, where we caught a train to Jesenice, just across the border into Slovenia.
It was a short train ride and we experienced compartment train riding for the first time. An introvert's worst nightmare. Each compartment had 6 seats, 3 in a row facing each other. In theory, this would be fine if you were traveling with 5 other people you liked very well. With strangers -- you can only look out the window and hope you aren't amongst talkative weirdos. Fortunately, the train wasn't very full so we sat with only one other person in our compartment.
We got on the train with cellular data and got off in Jesenice with our service deactivated. We had received a notice from Google Fi about two months prior about our service being potentially deactivated because we had not returned to the US in a certain time period. When we received this we called them and asked if our service would be cut off and they reassured us NO. Well, they lied. We called them back and all they could say was sorry, and that we needed to go back into the US to reactive our service.
We walked a few blocks to a bus stop that was supposed to have service up to Kranjska Gora, a town at the foot of the Julian Alps. We immediately noticed that Slovenia felt a little more lived in. We stood and waited, watching a few busses come by, a little confused by the wording of the bus marquees. A nice man came by and reassured us that the bus we needed was coming, and eventually it did.
We paid a few euros to get on the bus and enjoyed the first view of big mountains on the way up.
We were dropped off at the main bus stop in town.
We walked over to where our accommodation should have been -- but we couldn't see the directions to get in because we didn't have any more data! So we wandered around for awhile, trying to match the photos we did have loaded with the architecture around us. Someone saw us wandering and was able to point us around back where we could get our key and access the apartment. We found it, yay! Our place had a full kitchen and a nice view out the window. The couch was supremely comfortable.
There was NO A/C however. We had arrived in Slovenia just at the tail end of a heat wave. We spent there a very warm first night.
We walked over to a Mercator to grab supplies for our stay. I also finally found a pair of inexpensive sunglasses that were decent looking. UV400 protection for only 8 euros!
The town had beautiful views of nearby peaks.
July 7th, 2022 - Kranjska Gora
We walked over to the bus stop in the morning to catch a bus to the next town over, Mostjana. From there, we could take a free shuttle up to the Vrata Valley.
The road up was a single lane, and much windier than we had expected after boarding a full size coach.
We got dropped off at the top and walked to the trailhead which was past two mountain huts.
The mountain architecture here was super cute!
We found the sign for the Triglav Bistrica trail and followed it up the valley. The tops of the mountains were clouded with mist but we were hopeful they might lift.
We came up to the stream and saw the clearest water we had ever seen.
We had to be back at the bus at 11am so we went as far as we could before turning around. Before we turned we had a beautiful view of the valley headwall.
The view after we started heading back.
We turned around one last time and saw Mount Triglav poking out! Triglav requires via ferrata gear to summit so we didn't attempt it. We also considered doing a four day hut to hut hike but decided against it because the huts only had dorms and we weren't ready to sleep in a room full of people.
Below, a memorial to the mountaineers killed in the second world war.
We hurried back, not wanting to miss the bus and have to walk several miles back down.
We passed back through forest, noticing the rocks here were a pale grey, and that trees tended to sprout up right through larger boulders.
We made it back to the bus in time (and the only people who rode back down) and got off at Slap Peričnik. The lower viewpoint was quite busy with people crawling around.
We decided to make a loop of it and head to the upper falls.
There were quite a few steps to get up to the viewing area. They were narrow and filled with traffic going both ways! We got stuck behind a long line of old people.
Eventually we made it up though and debated on whether the trail continued under the shelf behind the waterfall or if it was a social trail.
We looked a little closer and it indeed was an actual trail, so we crossed, admiring the beauty of the Slovenian landscape.
Amaze!
We decided to continue on the trail we could see on alltrails and ran into an older couple who told us that the way we were heading was quite precipitous, and too much for them. We thanked them and went to take a look. It wasn't bad at all -- the trail just followed on a sandy ledge below an outcropping of rock.
The rock ceased and we continued through the forest the rest of the way down the hill to town.
Below, a cute model of the huts going up the valley.
We passed a cool building on the way down -- complete with giant hiking boots.
There was a Mercator right behind the bus stop back to Kranjska Gora so we grabbed some bacon and jam to make Monte Cristo sandwiches and sat to wait.
Once we were back, Vitali had a little work to do so I left him alone while he set up his mobile office.
July 8th, 2022 - Kranjska Gora
We took the 9:30AM bus to Trenta for 6EUR, a town in the Soca Valley. The road up had something like 35 nauseating switchbacks...
We were planning on hiking the most interesting parts of the river downhill to the western side, where we could catch a bus back to Kranjska Gora. We decided not to visit the source of the river as it would add a few extra miles for what looked like in pictures, not a very interesting place.
My tendon was a little sore this morning but I ignored it.
We got dropped off on the side of the road and spent a few minutes looking for the trail -- it inexplicably terminated and picked up on the opposite side of the bank and we couldn't see any signage. Once we figured it out we followed it through beautiful pine forest.
After a mile or two we slowly started getting more interesting views to the Soca River. The trail wasn't very busy thankfully.
We crossed the river by suspension bridge multiple times.
The color of the water was very pretty. A unique shade of minty turquoise.
Eventually we approached the Great Soca Gorge, the walls of the river slowly growing taller, and the crowds increasing.
We came to the deepest parts of the gorge which were incredible, beautifully colored and dynamic scenes of the power of water.
After we had had our fill of gorge scenery we clambered over the crowds and continued on towards Soca, where there should have been a bus stop. We found it, a lonely sign on the side of the road. We sat down on a rock nearby and waited since we were about an hour early.
Eventually the bus came and we rode back down to town. We only stopped once for a carsick passenger to puke on the side of the road!
July 9th, 2022 - Kranjska Gora
We took the earliest bus up to Vrsic Pass, which only cost us 2.60EUR. We headed up the switchbacks, again...
We passed by a mountain that had a natural bridge which you can climb through on a via ferrata route.
We planned to do a big hike today, up Mala Mojstrovka. It was cold when we were dropped off at the pass, and windy. We located our trail and started ascending. It was immediately, unforgivingly steep. It was a morning slap to the face as we stair-stepped our way up the slope over roots and rocks.
Once we were above treeline the view opened up -- we were surrounded by scree slopes punctuated by dramatic rock.
We heard the tinkling of bells before we saw the herd of sheep. We said excuse us and walked around.
The trail became less steep for awhile but then became extremely steep. The route we took hugged the side of a gully and was secured by a steel cable. Below, you can see the approach trail down in the greenery below.
Once we had gained the saddle we had to turn to the right to follow the trail to the summit.
We could see people ahead of us, kind of following the leading edge of the ridge. We figured that was the most expeditious way up so we followed them up.
The only problem being... the trail wasn't so much of a trail as much as a river delta of paths up the mountain. We passed a ravine on the slope that was quite disturbing to look down, especially since we were standing on a 40 degree slope... No pictures, because we didn't want to linger near it...
Finally... my tendon starting to get sore, we made it to the summit. We could see people fully decked out in via ferrata gear, having come up the route on the other side. The view from the top was incredible, the jagged peaks of the Julian Alps surrounding us.
We snapped some pics and then headed back down, electing to try the other path as it looked less steep. Below you can see some people heading up the route we followed to the summit.
The gravel was pretty loose and we had to boot ski a little bit. Below is heading back towards the secured route along the saddle.
Someone heading back down the secured route.
Here's a photo of Vitali modeling the latest RTW trip multi-purpose gear.
Once we made it back down we walked down the hill a bit to the next bus stop. The pass had gotten super busy. I took a picture for some cyclists who had biked up the pass with the summit sign!
Looking back up towards the mountain.
These sheep were chilling right by the side of the road.
We watched cyclists struggle up the final switchbacks for a few minutes...
This Lambo was not struggling.
We had a beautiful view over the mountain hut before arriving.
We walked behind the hut to a large grassy area and laid down while we waited for the bus, passing by the Pagan Girl, a face in the mountain of a transfigured sorceress who had made the wrong prophecy.
The bus eventually came and we made it down the mountain.
July 10th, 2022 - Kranjska Gora
Today was a cloudy rest day so we walked over to nearby Jasna lake.
We took a little tour through town. Most of the buildings had beautiful flower boxes and planters out front.
We came upon a cool suspension bridge nearby the lake.
Lots of people at the lake merry-making.
Along the trail between town and the lake there was workout equipment.
We walked back to town and took a close look at how these Europeans build their houses, since they are always so shocked and confused that Americans build houses out of wood. I will admit, the construction below seemed quite robust compared to stick frame construction.
July 11th, 2022 - Kranjska Gora to Bohinj 🚌
Today we would leave adorable Kranjska Gora and travel to another part of the national park, to Lake Bohinj. We took a bus to Lesce where we waited for another bus to take us to Bohinj. We got dropped off and headed to the Visitor Center to pay for our accommodation in Stara Fuzina, the next village over. It was too expensive to stay here! Luckily, the villages around the lake have a great bus and shuttle network. We took a free shuttle and had only a 5 minute walk to our place.
Stara Fuzina was quaint and idyllic. We passed a lot of houses with small farms.
We found our accommodation, a traditional Slovenian home. The vernacular homes of this area were built as living quarters above a stable for animals. They usually feature an exterior stair to reach the living area.
We were up on the second floor in a wood clad room with a nice view over the neighbor's garden.
We headed over to a Mercator and found some food; the store had a good gluten free brand. We also stopped at the info desk to see about the discounted visitor card. Normally around $25, it was discounted to $15 if you arrived to Bohinj by public transport, which we did. It provided a lot of things for free and actually ended up saving us money, which is not usual (in our experience) for tourist cards.
July 12th, 2022 - Bohinj
We walked to the bus stop to try and catch the bus to Slap Savica -- but for some reason we couldn't find it on the bus schedule. So we walked over to the Info Hut that was on the street and asked where we should go. The lady directed us to another bus stop that had a paid shuttle going up there today. It was free though, with our discount card.
We got on the bus which was pretty full and headed towards the waterfall, packing more and more people into the bus along the way. Finally we made it to the stop, which had another cute mountain hut, a cable car, and the steep trail up to the falls. We booked it up since we knew this waterfall was popular. Entrance was free with our card.
The trail was basically hundreds of steps all the way to the viewpoint, which was mobbed.
We headed back down the trail and decided to walk down the hill to Ukanc, because it would be another hour or two before the bus came back here to pick people up.
The trail was peaceful, passing through forest and along fields.
Once we made it down we looked for the panoramic boat dock which ended up being behind a campground. Our tourist card covered one boat ride a day so we used this to get across the lake and closer to home.
We loaded up on the boat with just a few others and motored away.
As we made our way across the lake the crew told a little story about how Bohinj got it's name. The story goes that God was handing out land to all the people's of Earth. He had forgotten however, about the Slovenians, who were waiting patiently in the corner. When he noticed them he felt bad and gave them the most beautiful piece of land he was saving for his own retirement. Boh, being the Slovenian word for God; they named it -- Bohinj -- God's land.
Once we arrived at the east end of the lake we disembarked and visited the church of St. John the Baptist, for a few euros. It had a beautifully painted interior.
After that we walked over to the bus stop and waited for the shuttle to take us back to our village.
July 13th, 2022 - Bohinj
Twice a day, two donkeys would start honking very loudly. Usually once in the morning and once in the evening. I guess you could say they were time-keeping donkeys. Sometimes, if they were facing the right way -- their explosive honking would echo through the valley. I didn't manage to get a picture of the elusive duo but here are some cows.
Today, we'd set out on foot through the Mostnica Gorge and up to Slap Voje, at the head of the Voje Valley.
We started off walking through the village and picking up the trail behind town. We passed by the ruins of an old blacksmith, which were the most beautiful ruins of an old blacksmith I had ever seen.
The wildflowers here were in full bloom, with all of the attendant bugs feverishly working and gathering nectar.
The path travelled through woods for awhile, before passing a mountain hut advertising cheese. Apparently -- a big draw in this area is the cheese heritage -- and a cheese trail!
We came to Mostnica Gorge where we had to show our visitor card (otherwise it cost a few euros to enter), and took a gander at the geology. We were still early so we elected to walk to the waterfall and photograph the gorge on the way back when the sun was higher.
After awhile the forest ceased and the trail hooked up to a road leading to a few houses and agricultural buildings in wide open fields.
There was no shade and we were quite warm. Eventually we made it to the waterfall which was little more than a ribbon flowing into a modest pool. We had only seen a few drizzles since we had arrived. This was in the middle of a drought that by the end of July had severely affected agriculture all over Slovenia.
We left, just as the crowds started to show up, and made for the gorge. My tendon was bothering me a little bit though.
The gorge was very pretty, although we thought the other one was prettier. There's a third one near Lake Bled but we never made it out there.
There was a flatter area that was particularly beautiful and interesting.
Towards the end the gorge became quite deep -- and I got to test out the horizontal functionality of my new tripod. It worked great!
We walked back the same way we had come to Stara Fuzina, passing more pastoral landscapes. It seemed very peaceful here.
Back at the field across from our house all the cows were gathered in the shade of the church bell tower, donkeys nowhere to be found.
July 14th, 2022 - Bohinj
We walked to the bus stop and took a mini-bus to Vogar Blato, where us and a few other people were unceremoniously dropped off in the middle of an intersection. We walked up the hill to the trailhead.
We weren't exactly sure where the trailhead began but we came across it after a short while. Vitali protested that we had already climbed several hundred feet and the trail hadn't even started!
We were planning on completing a loop but after looking closely at the map and the elevation profile -- we decided to go out and back instead of taking the loop and losing a bunch of elevation towards the end and having to climb back out.
So we started uphill. We jockeyed with another couple for awhile before leaving them behind. I already felt much stronger than how I felt going out on the first hike in Austria. But, my tendon was bothering me, a little niggle with every step.
We climbed for what seemed like a long time, before the trail moderated and we passed by a mountain hut.
We had a choice here on which route to take (the trail network here was also well signed and interlinked), and chose what looked to be the less aggressive route. After we rounded the corner we were proven wrong as the trail unapologetically steepened and turned into a gravelly mess. We were not looking forward to coming back down this later.
Eventually it moderated as we passed through some grazing areas, filled with happy cows and cow babies.
We passed by an open area filled with buildings that seemed empty.
After that was another small climb and then the bulk of the hike up and down across a hilly plateau, towards the next valley and the Triglav Lakes.
We were in the hilly part for quite awhile. The monotony of it was broken up by the explosion of wildflowers carpeting the plateau.
And there were happy bugs on almost every flower.
Mid-air collision! Where's air traffic control?
Eventually we neared the end of the plateau and popped out at the edge of the next valley and started a traverse towards the lakes.
The trail dropped in elevation for maybe half a kilometer then began a steady climb towards the lakes -- passing through more pine forest, and then finally -- huge fields filled to the brim with wildflowers and insects.
We walked through the wildflowers and came across one of the handful of lakes in the area. There was a small boat and workers removing invasive fish.
We walked by the mountain hut which was bustling with activity and smelled of incredible sizzling sausage. Alas, we had no money.
We ate some of our own provisions and then headed back, not looking forward to another 6 miles of hiking. My tendon had progressed from a niggle to what felt like my tendon sliding over a small pebble on my heel with every step.
A couple people stopped us to ask directions on the way back.
We passed the open area and now it was filled with cows!
We made it down the first shitty steep part, sliding on gravel the whole way.
Then came to the top of the second steep part. Here's a view looking down. We couldn't believe we had hiked up this so fast.
We eventually made it down and back to the bus stop -- and had about a 30 minute wait which worked out perfectly. The bus showed up on time and we rode down alone.
We passed the time by looking at bugs. We saw two ants attack a caterpillar in a brutal wrestling match. The caterpillar eventually was able to inch away to safety.
We got off at our bus stop and walked back up our final small hill of the day.
July 15th, 2022 - Bohinj
My tendon was not great this morning. I seemed to now have permanent pain when walking. I was still doing my thrice daily exercises but they only helped slightly. In retrospect, I should not have hiked as much as I did as fast as I did. Hiking uphill definitely aggravated it and it didn't have a chance to calm down between hikes.
Curiously, I also noticed that the inflammation in my tendon was responding to what I ate. Normally I try to avoid nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers) because they cause arthritis-like swelling in my joints. I believe this is due to the defects in my immune system -- celiac is an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks itself when exposed to gluten. My body seems to feel the same way about nightshades.
But, I indulged in some pasta and french fries here and both times the next day my tendon was noticeably tighter. I was starting to wonder if this was reactive arthritis from the covid infection rather than tendonitis from overuse. I read several case studies of this happening to people after being infected with covid -- weeks later, arthritis in a joint on one side of the body that caused the patient to be unable to bear weight, just like me.
That would solve the mystery of why an injury of overuse wouldn't show up until months later. That, and the fact that the pain first started only two weeks after I was infected, and got seriously worse once I had another assault on my immune system -- the three travel vaccines at once. This would not be the first time I experienced a post viral infection issue. After I realized this I cut out the nightshades completely and the tightness abated, although the pain remained.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We grabbed some provisions and then took the shuttle to the lake, and looked for a spot in the sand to lay out. We found a nice shaded area and Vitali took a dip.
Wanting some sun we walked over to the sandy part of the lake and watched as a huge group paddled up towards us, landed on the beach, and were then educated on the white water rafting they were about to experience. They headed towards the outflow of the lake over what looked like an extremely low river. More like no water rafting...
We left and took the shuttle back and had a weird encounter with a bus driver. We were the only people on the bus but we still had our masks on because who knows was riding in here just before -- and the bus driver kept saying to us "There's no corona here. No masks, no masks." Luckily the ride was only ten minutes. We got up and headed for the door as quick as possible but the driver quite menacingly, kept the door closed. After a moment he opened it and aggressively said THANK YOU before driving off.
We headed towards home and walked by an outdoor vending machine (previously empty) that was now filled with local cheese and yogurt. We dug in our pack for some coins and bought what turned out to be a delicious bottle of forest fruit yogurt.
July 16th, 2022 - Bohinj to Ljubjlana 🚌
Today we'd head to Ljubljana (lyoo-blah-nah), the capital of Slovenia. I had read in the benefits book of the visitor card that there was a free train from Ljubljana to Bohinj that we could use -- but I couldn't find out where the train left from. So we ended up taking a bus to Lake Bled, then another to Lesce, where we then found a train that went to Ljubljana. There was no staff at the station so we had to pay for our ticket on board -- and unfortunately our visitor card wasn't valid.
It was only two hours or so to Ljubljana and before long we were at the train station and walking towards our hostel. We noticed a LOT of graffiti on the buildings.
We arrived at the hostel which we learned are student dorms during the year and a hostel during the summer! It was quite cute. HOWEVER -- we were up on the 4th floor (the 5th floor in America) and the floor to floor heights were so tall that it took a few minutes to make the climb. The room was super tiny, but the shared restrooms were nice. It was a shared restroom on each floor for both men and women.
We dropped our stuff off and headed to a burger joint that was supposed to do a good job with gluten free. They did, and it was INCREDIBLE.
We picked up some groceries and some other errands, stopping by an outdoor goods store to grab some stove fuel and a water filter. I also wanted to get some naproxen for my tendon but no pharmacy was open on Sunday. After yesterday's hike my tendon was tender, and every step irritated it...
July 17th, 2022 - Ljubljana
The dorms really felt like being back in college when we went to the included breakfast buffet -- which was in the school cafeteria. A mix of young and older backpackers were staying here, which was nice.
Dober Dan! (Good Day!, a common greeting). We always tried to learn a greeting and thank you in the country we were visiting. In Russian -- Dobry Den. In Croatia, this was Dobry Dan; in Poland -- Dzien Dobry.
Vitali noted that Slovenian sounded a lot like Russian but when he listened closer he could only understand maybe 10% of it. It was interesting to see which words were shared -- numbers were the same, some phrases were similar, and things that would have been common when everyone spoke the same proto-Slavic language like horse, shovel, milk, etc., were the same or similar.
Because I have to constantly read ingredient labels for every single food item I buy I am exposed to the written form of the language, at least around food vocabulary. It's been interesting seeing how food words change from country to country. In Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, it was surprising to see how many foods were basically the same in english. It was interesting to track how food words changed between all of the slavic speaking countries too. My last name -- Pszeniczny -- means wheat in Polish. All the slavic countries we visited had a variation of this -- pšenica, pšenice, etc. So ironic that my last name is also my kryptonite.
We walked around town today, taking in the sights and atmosphere.
It had all the historic architecture you'd expect of a European capital but also a lot of graffiti, street art, creative signage, and some really nice contemporary architecture too. It had a really good vibe and a vibrant character.
We headed up to Ljubljanski grad, the city castle. Castles are always up on hills, so we headed on up.
Up top, a very charming medieval fortification from the 12th century. We were able to walk around the perimeter and interior courtyard for free.
The view was quite beautiful from the hill.
We headed back down and stopped at a falafel joint where I was able to eat a mezze platter. Vitali of course had a delicious shawarma wrap.
Then in the evening we headed over to Metelkova, an autonomous social and cultural center near the train station. Originally the site of the Army HQ of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and later the HQ of the Yugoslav National Army. The military barracks have been squatted since 1993. We didn't know what to expect -- but found a few people wandering around, including women pushing strollers and children, along with the drug dealers. 😂
There was some really cool art there. We headed back to our hostel and prepared to travel back to Villach the next day, to catch a train to Italy and the start of the trek.
Overall we really liked Slovenia -- we both rated it as the favorite country we could see ourselves living in thus far. It was friendly, peaceful, liberal (in Ljubljana at least), and offered opportunity for immersion in nature, homesteading, as well as a lively city scene. Vitali could pick up Slovenian quite easily I'm sure -- and that in turn would make it easier for me to learn. I already have a great Russian accent!
The only issue I saw -- and would later feel even more acutely the more we visited these central European countries -- was how homogenous the populations tended to be. I felt like I stuck out here. I claim no expertise in cultural relations in Europe but perhaps being a part of the EU, a greater whole, causes some countries to hold on to their own identities even more strongly, to the detriment of diversity. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban recently made a comment about racial mixing which supports my theory (for good or bad) and the evidence of homogeneity we experienced.
IMHO, an opposite example of this would be Germany, which is incredibly diverse.
In the next post, a dramatic plot twist in the Dolomiti.
Comments