Bled castle shows an amazing view of the Lake Bled and the island. The castle by itself has an entrance of 9 euros to just offer the best view. There are some flight of steps that go down, but the view is not so spectacular. There are restaurants in the castle which offer a whole meal range and a good view. Walk around the Lake Bled is the most relaxing thing and some souvenir shops and eateries around it. There are boats that you take you to the Bled Island for 15 euros. Not sure if its worth it. We stayed around the lake in Guesthouse Makro whose owner was too good and provided lot of comfort. Walking around the village Bled is also fun.
Our next drive was inside the Triglav National Park to view the Triglav mountain, it was a 2 hour long drive with unnamed roads but exciting. The exit had been closed , so we used some other smaller paths to reach the place and had to follow the signs the read : "Slap Pervicka(waterfalls) and the Horse Dom" . The Horse cottage provides a good view of Triglav . As the name suggest it has 3 heads and really mighty.
Vintgar Gorge - our next location in Slovenia , I would say a must see, a beautiful gorge with plenty of turquoise bluish green water flowing around it and over it and the crisp sunlight - beautifies the place. The trek is about 1.5 km and difficult with a pram . But its a good easy one and some awesome views of the gorge and the mountains and the water .
Lake Bohinj - a much smaller lake but much peaceful lake. It resembled the Thun lake in Swiss a lot, but worth a visit. The church at one end ends the lake. There are plenty of activities around the lakes - canoeing, rafting, kayaking, biking. There are plenty of activities in the national park - horse riding, cycling, trekking, hiking and what not..
CROATIA: Our next drive was to Croatia to cover the world famous Lake Plitvice National Park and the Adriatic sea!!! We drove first to stay in the area of Plitvice, Croatia does not look like Slovenia and its a much older place and there is no newness. We stayed around the Plitvice lake at a small private accommodation. The people around Plitvice have an excellent business of just renting their houses to tourists, well its the most prominent activity there. Lake Plitvice was all together a different experience , a wonder I would say! The continuous water falls, the massive lake , the beautiful park, the easy hiking trail! There are different routes to go around Plitvice and route C and H are the best. We took route H and it covers the entire park with one bus route and one boat route. The view it offers initially itself its worth the entrance you pay. The entrance is 110 Kn(14 euros approx). Its a easy hike, but with baby its a little difficult since there are lots of wooden steps and smaller paths to allow them to walk alone.It was a 6 hour hike which took us 7 hours with appropriate breaks and rest and lunch! The water captivates everything, the color I would say! The Turquoise blue, I don't think any camera justifies the capturing of this color except for your eyes!!There are 3 restaurants where there is good food available! The crowd is always there ! Tips to hike the Plitive: easy dress, good shoes and patience for photos and not getting lost in the crowd. There are maps available in the souvenir shop for 20 Kn which is easy to follow. You can see people with babies doing the hike, so dont worry!! I had my husband the great doing it :) A well worthy day spent!!
Adriatic sea: The name just pulled me to it!! The best drive ever - after the Norwegian fjords! Following the coastline in Croatia to see the Bluish Adriatic sea. Our first halt was in Senj which is a smaller version of Dubronvik according to me. The port in Senj is small and the beach too in small. We did not spend much time there but drove to Nova Vindovci for our next coast. The beach in Nova v is pebble beach and hugely crowded being an awesome sunny day! I had loads of fun and my baby with the pebbles and water too! We had our lunch and walked around the beach. Our next stop was in Crikvencia , one of the few sandy beaches in Croatia. The only beach where I have heard WE NEED AN ENTRANCE of 15 kn per person :). Anyway it had pebble beach too and it was so much like I wanted to do for a long time, play in the water, lie on the sand and watch the sky and think nothing!! We finished our "sea mania" and drove to a beautiful sea side view apartment in Rijeka - Apartment Luana and drove very little around Rijeka ..
There is much to do in Croatia. the Hvar island and Dubronvik.. may be for the future :)
The people in both countries spoke a lot of English and were very friendly. One old man literally drove himself to Vintgar and explained to us the parking feasibility too. We did not taste the local food there but it looked yummy!!
Totally an AWESOMEASTASTIC much needed vacation and my urge to travel continues...
After a long time i saw/heard of Yugoslovia. Great post. There is so much temptation to visit Croatia
ReplyDeleteYes. rightly said. thr is a lot to attempt. thanks!!
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