Drop-Bled Gorgeous
Almost the instant we crossed the Italian-Slovenian border at Rateče, in the far north of both nations, the weather, architecture, and horned grazing cattle took a distinctly alpine turn as a scene from The Sound of Music opened dramatically in front of us. We drove the short, mountain-lined distance to the tourist town of Bled, panic-stricken over the fact that we failed to purchase a vignette (road toll sticker) before passing by the first road camera of the day and feared the €600 fine Google informed us of. Our only hope is that good old Brexit gives us our first tangible benefit in six years if the UK and EU road fine systems are no longer aligned with each other (I later found out they are still aligned and so no benefits just yet).
Bled is synonymous with its lake of the same name which eager tourists from all over Central Europe flock to in the summer months to admire its beauty and to take small, rickety rowing boats to its centre where a small island and picturesque church are located. This would be a very risky undertaking in November, however, as the wind whipping off the Julian Alps made any seaborne activity an extremely perilous mission indeed; ask the many mallards we saw fighting, and failing, to maintain their grace and dignity atop the surging swells. Instead, we decided to admire the lake from far, far above; from the impressive, and Transylvanian-like, Bled Castle.
A medieval fortress, Slovenia’s oldest, built on a precipice above the lake, the castle now functions as a historical museum representing the region’s rich and bloody history. It also has a banging gift shop, cliff-top café, and wine cellar which only sold the very finest, and most famous, Slovenian wines. We settled on a fridge magnet, given the price, before making our way back to the road. While the country may charge a pretty steep fee for the privilege of driving its highways, they’re in far better shape than any of their Italian counterparts and, I must admit, are very well laid out. Its main motorways run diagonally across the country from one corner to the other, much like the Scottish saltire, converging at the country’s heart which just so happens to be the location of the capital and our next destination.
Ljubljana, quite simply, is a fantastic city. Quite small, even by European capital standards with a population of just 279,000, it has a fantastic balance of metropolitan hustle and bustle and quaint car boot sale. Dissected by the meandering Ljubljanica River (try saying that after a couple of pints), both sides of the serene waterway are lined with rustic restaurants serving Slovene cuisine and bijou bars with their hipster Hendrick’s and cucumber tonics. We decided to abandon Vishnu on the outskirts of the city and give ourselves a well-earned treat by booking into the best Best Western this side of Bratislava, which still cost less than a one-bedroom Airbnb in Briton Ferry.
On our first night, we went on our customary Irish bar hunt and were not disappointed with what we found: Patrick’s. Hidden underground, mind-blowingly expensive Guinness, filled floor to ceiling with stereotypically Irish memorabilia (usually highly offensive), and exactly the right balance of sticky carpet, cigarette smoke, and dinge: heaven. After some fantastic conversation with the barkeep/owner who just so happened to have visited Wales on several occasions and had a penchant for Tiny Rebel and bara brith, we decided to leave before we were, inevitably, locked down there forever and kept as barrel changers. We then continued our pub crawl along the Ljubljanica back to our downtown domicile.
The following morn we proceeded to explore the city’s famous landmarks including Dragon Bridge, previously named The Jubilee Bridge of the Emperor Franz Josef I (can see why they changed it), and Ljubljana Castle. I also couldn’t pass up the opportunity to recreate a snap from my only previous visit to the city, almost ten years ago to the day. See if you can spot the months and years of van living on my increasingly Gordon Ramsey-like forehead. Southern Slovenia awaits…
J
