Through Slovenia with rain and sunshine over the mountains

“Stromberg is somehow like Hanover. If you come from New York, it's naturally shit, but if you come from Botswana, it's not that bad.” (Jennifer Schirmann in the series Stromberg)

No, Slovenia was not just not that bad, Slovenia was beautiful. But when I look back at the bad mood in Croatia, where we mourned Albania so much, and then remember the euphoric feeling in Slovenia after we (finally) left Croatia, there may be a small true kernel in this quote.

Yes, Slovenia was really beautiful and above all, it was scenically different from everything we have seen so far on our trip. We drove over the hills from Rijeka towards the Slovenian border and after just a few kilometers, we were surrounded by green forested mountains and beautifully blooming meadows. In the first city behind the border, Ilirska Bistrica, we took a longer break and ran some errands. Then we went to a small village where a small family was waiting for us after a total of 43km and 700 meters of altitude on the Warm Shower platform. We spent the next two nights there, waited for the rain to stop and then cycled 90km and 1610 meters of altitude towards the Julian Alps in bright sunshine. Despite the many uphill rides, we covered many many kilometers because we were so enthusiastic about the ever-increasing mountains with their lush green mountain meadows on which colorful cows graze, the small villages with their alpine churches, and the small roads we cycled on. After a very steep stage at the end - thank god without luggage, which was already taken from us in the valley - we camped at a small farmhouse where we spent the night relatively alone with a panoramic view of the mountains.

Hindered by the rain and our legs being quite exhausted, we didn't start cycling until early afternoon, after a hearty breakfast. We cycled another 29km and 730 meters of altitude through the green mountains and spent the night at the beginning of the Soča Valley at a campsite in Tolmin. It rained continuously and heavily the next day and we spent hours under the roof of the campsite with a few other cyclists. We only went into town briefly to do some shopping because I had also lost our second towel by now and we wanted to spare ourselves a second day without a shower. The next day, despite several hours of rain, we continued into the Soča Valley - a valley between beautiful mountains, with small villages and above all the Soča river, which makes its way through the rocks in a turquoise color. We enjoyed the views and natural spectacles in the afternoon sun that peeked through the clouds and cycled 57km and 990 meters of altitude to the last campsite before the Vršič Pass, which awaited us the next day.

Over 11km uphill with gradients between 5% and 30% (the latter being very rare), we reached the highest point of our trip at an altitude of 1630m. With a beautiful view of the bare mountain peaks around us, we had a meal break in the midst of a flock of sheep and other people who had conquered the

mountain pass in various ways. The very steep but much shorter descent brought us down to Kranjska Gora, where we rewarded ourselves with coffee and waffles and found a bicycle pump to finally pump up our tires.

Then we continued up the Wurzen Pass and at its highest point, we crossed the border into Austria. After a total of 61km and 1720 meters of altitude, we reached our first sleeping spot in Austria, but more about that in the coming days.

We will definitely return to Slovenia in the next few years. Whether by bike or on foot, there seem to be many beautiful places left for us to discover.