Bled & Vintgar Gorge

A farewell hello and the last post from our trip in Eastern Europe for now,

After a wonderful day in the capital of Slovenia, on Monday we headed to Bled and its famous pilgrimage church in the middle of the lake.

We parked a little outside and then walked to and around the lake. There isn't much to tell, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Here we followed some trails - on wood and on asphalt.

The circuit around the lake takes a little more than an hour, and after a short break and some consideration on how to get to Vintgar Gorge the fastest and cheapest way, we drove to the P+R parking lot and from there took the shuttle to the gorge.

Here too, I can't speak any better for nature than it does itself:

On some days, you can still catch an old steam locomotive on the tracks here.

Unfortunately, the photos show that the armored glass on my camera has a crack, so the colors don't come out as well as they actually were. Apart from that, the colors in reality were even more beautiful than a camera could capture.

After 1 hour down the gorge, we took a little break and then headed back to the main entrance to catch the shuttle.

Unfortunately, it started to cloud over and drizzle on the way back.

But as the saying goes - there is only bad clothing, not bad weather.

The way back was a really nice little hike, passing by sheep and many many flowers. We also found the Slovenian equivalent of El Cap.

The whole hike, including the gorge, took about 2 hours and was an extraordinarily beautiful experience. Afterwards, despite the rain, I went for a swim in the wonderfully cool and blue Lake Bled and enjoyed it to the fullest!

Then we drove to the campsite and cooked delicious wraps. It has become clear to me here that I want an outdoor kitchen for my future. Wherever it may be, along with my hammock and outdoor shower, but those are my goals if/when I ever have a home for an extended period of time.

In the evening, it started raining heavily and thundering. Being in the tent and exposed to the weather is not as nice as watching the spectacle from the window.

Since this was now the third consecutive night of rain and the next two days did not promise any improvement in the weather, we decided the next morning to break camp (literally) and head home.

The plan was to visit the Škocjan Caves before leaving and then drive 7 hours back to Tyrol. As planned - at 7 am we took advantage of a rain-free window, packed up the tent, and got the car ready for the journey. Everything was still wet though.

We drove for 1 hour to the caves only to find out that all the tickets and tours were sold out and we had forgotten to buy the tickets (even though we had planned to do so in advance). Oops. Well, next time in Slovenia.

We arrived safely and today I took advantage of the peace and the rain to share the final impressions with you.

In the next few days, there will be updates from Tyrol and what will happen next for me. In any case, the blog will continue and you will be kept informed.

In this sense:

GOODBYE COCOA!

Yours, Britta