The Long-Winded Version

🛌 5am – Blogging Beneath the Duvet

I’m an early bird, which usually isn’t a problem. However, when I’m sharing a room with other people, I’m always worried about waking everyone up.

So there I was at 5am, writing my blog from underneath the duvet!

I’d slept incredibly well. It must have been all that fresh mountain air… or perhaps the previous day’s walking, hot tub, pasta and late-night stargazing had something to do with it.

🌅 6.30am – Sunrise Over Velika Planina

As the others began to wake, Snay mentioned that Emma and Claire were heading outside to watch the sunrise.

What a brilliant idea.

I pulled on my hoodie and joined them for a short walk back towards the chairlift and café.

The mountain was almost completely silent. The shepherds’ huts were still in shadow and a soft mist hung across the lower valleys. Slowly, the sky began to change from deep blue to pale pink, followed by streaks of gold and orange.

As the sun appeared from behind the mountains, its light crept across the plateau. The distant peaks glowed in the early morning light while everything around us felt calm, still and untouched.

There were no crowds and no noise. Just the three of us standing there, watching Velika Planina wake up.

☕️ 8am – No Tea? What Do You Mean, No Tea?

By 8am, everyone was packed and ready to leave our mountain hut.

We walked to the café for a traditional mountain breakfast of cheeses, ham, cereal and coffee.

But there was no tea.

No tea? What sort of crisis was this?

Thankfully, Ange came to the rescue by producing tea bags from nowhere. Every group needs an Ange!

Suitably fed and caffeinated, we began our journey down the mountain. We were the first people to descend that morning, so the chairlift and cable car were much quieter than the day before.

There were no sardines and, rather disappointingly, no random tyres to stand on.

We did, however, pass Mr Smiley travelling in the opposite direction on the chairlift. He was heading back up the mountain for another full day of not smiling while people paid to pose beside him in his traditional Slovenian costume.

🚌 9am – Back on the Road

Arne was waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain, and we loaded ourselves and our rucksacks back into the minibus.

Our first stop was the gorgeous little town of Radovljica.

🏠 Radovljica – Small but Perfectly Formed

Radovljica is a beautifully preserved medieval town, built on a natural ridge overlooking the surrounding countryside and mountains.

Its old centre is gathered around Linhart Square, where colourful houses dating back several centuries line the street. In the Middle Ages, Radovljica became prosperous through trade and skilled crafts. Wealthy merchants built impressive homes here and decorated their fronts with intricate murals and frescoes. (Thanks, ChatGPT! 😂)

Many of these painted details can still be seen today. They make the buildings feel more like individual works of art than ordinary houses.

It was incredibly pretty, peaceful and full of character. There were hidden alleyways, little courtyards and beautiful views at the end of the square.

It was the sort of place where you could happily sit outside a café with a coffee and watch the world go by.

Which we did… for about 20 minutes.

🥾 Orange Helmets, Gorges and a Very Precise Turnstile

11.57am – Vintgar Gorge

Next, we arrived at Vintgar Gorge, near the village of Zgornje Gorje.

This was so much better organised than the Caminito del Rey in Spain. Our tickets had an exact entry time of 11.57am, not midday or even 11.55am.

It had to be 11.57am.

We tried the turnstile slightly early at 11.56, but it wasn’t having any of it. That gate remained firmly locked until the clock reached precisely 11.57am.

Once through, we collected our bright orange safety helmets. We all looked extremely fetching.

Vintgar Gorge was carved by the Radovna River as it forced its way through the limestone rock. The gorge stretches for about 1.6 kilometres, with wooden walkways and bridges clinging to the sides of the steep rock walls.

The water rushed beneath us in every shade of blue and green, tumbling over rocks, swirling through deep pools and squeezing through narrow gaps in the gorge.

Around each corner was another waterfall, rapid or incredible rock formation.

In places, the cliffs rose almost vertically above us and felt close enough to touch. Moss and ferns clung to the damp rock, while shafts of sunlight found their way through the trees and made the water sparkle.

The path eventually brought us to the powerful Šum Waterfall, which drops almost 15 metres and is the highest river waterfall in Slovenia.

It was dramatic, beautifully organised and well worth wearing a bright orange helmet for!

🏰 1.37pm – Lunch at Bled Castle

Our next stop was Bled Castle.

Wow!

The castle sits high on a cliff above Lake Bled, so reaching it involved a bit of a climb. But when we arrived at the restaurant and saw the view, every step was worth it.

I don’t think I have ever eaten lunch with such an incredible backdrop.

Below us was the deep blue water of Lake Bled, with its tiny island and picture-perfect church sitting in the centre. Mountains surrounded the lake, and the whole scene looked more like a painting than somewhere real.

It was difficult to know where to look – at the view or at the food!

The meal was to die for. I chose the sea bass, although when I saw Julie’s beef, Gisella’s risotto and Claire’s prawn salad, I began to question my decision. (See photos!)

Everything looked amazing.

And then came dessert.

🍰 It Would Be Rude Not To…

We couldn’t visit Bled without trying its famous cream cake, known locally as kremšnita. (I had to look that up!)

Bled cream cake is made with layers of crisp puff pastry, thick vanilla custard and whipped cream, finished with another layer of pastry and a generous dusting of icing sugar.

The original recipe was created at Bled’s Hotel Park in 1953, and each cake is traditionally cut into a neat seven-centimetre square.

Too much for one person, so we all shared one cake between two of us.

🏊‍♀️ 4.35pm – Life at the Lake

After lunch, Arne drove us down to Lake Bled.

Some people went shopping, others enjoyed a walk along the shore, and most of the group changed into their swimming costumes and headed into the lake.

The water was surrounded by mountains, with the castle perched high above us and the island sitting peacefully in the distance.

🚌 Into Triglav National Park

6pm – The Road to Kobarid

At 6pm, we began our scenic drive through Triglav National Park towards Kobarid and the beautiful Soča Valley.

This was one of Slovenia’s most spectacular driving routes, surrounded by towering mountains, thick forests, emerald rivers and dramatic Alpine scenery.

The roads twisted and turned their way through the landscape, and Arne deserves a special mention for handling the minibus so well.

There were plenty of bends and some rather narrow sections, but he took it all in his stride.

The views were breathtaking, although by now it was getting dark and we were all becoming rather tired.

🦌 Deer, a Frog and Pizza in the Middle of Nowhere

As darkness fell, we suddenly had to stop the minibus to allow a herd of deer to cross the road in front of us.

Wow!

For a few moments, we all woke up again.

We also spotted a frog hopping through the beam of the headlights. Slovenia’s evening wildlife display was in full swing.

By now, we were all knackered, but we still needed to eat.

Eventually, we found somewhere serving pizza in what felt like the middle of nowhere.

The pizzas disappeared very quickly. Plates were cleared, bellies were full and we had only another 30 minutes to travel before reaching our accommodation.

Which, as it turned out, was also in the middle of nowhere!

🛏️ 9.30pm – We Made It!

At last, we arrived in Kobarid.

We said goodbye to Arne, who still had a long drive home ahead of him, and everyone disappeared into their rooms for some much-needed sleep.

From watching the sun rise over Velika Planina to swimming in Lake Bled, walking through Vintgar Gorge and spotting deer in the darkness, Slovenia had somehow managed to squeeze an incredible amount into one day.

And tomorrow is our last day.