The country of Slovenia is only about the size of the state of Massachusetts, so our base in Ljubljana provided an excellent launching point from which to explore some of the country to the west of the capital. We rented a car for a couple of days, heading to the Julian Alps that mark the border between Slovenia and neighboring Italy.
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As was my experience in the Dolomites when we were staying in Bassano del Grappa, the number of hiking trails in the Julian Alps had me feeling a little overwhelmed with choice. After spending some time on my trusty AllTrails app we decided on a hike to summit Viševnik in Slovenia’s Triglav National Park, nestled in the Julian Alps midway between the mountain towns of Bohinj and Bled. It was a beautiful drive through the Slovenian countryside to the trailhead, made all the more pleasant by the almost brand new Volkswagen Polo Hertz gave us with its adaptable cruise control. The cruise control would sense surrounding cars and do pretty much everything except steer, I didn’t touch the car’s pedals for close to an hour! The hike to Viševnik was a little shorter than our mountain hikes in the Dolomites and some of our longer walks in Alaska, but was our largest elevation gain on the trip thus far at almost 2,600 feet/800 meters. Almost the entire elevation gain was from about 0.5 to 2.2 miles into the hike, meaning that we were averaging about 1500 feet of elevation gain per mile (or about 300 meters of elevation gain per kilometer). Quad crusher! The hike up was beautiful, and once we got above the tree line the view west into the Julian Alps started to wow, but it definitely felt like we were on a perpetual StairMaster for the bulk of the ascent. We all stripped down from our initial sweaters/jumpers to t-shirts in short order. Both kids were very impressive on the way up, all the mountain biking during COVID during the last 18 months and walking around Europe has them in pretty top shape. A number of hikers asked Max his age as he was motoring up the scree.
The views from Viševnik summit were incredible, equally as jaw dropping as those from the peak of Col de Ciampac in the Dolomites. I’m not exactly sure how far the border to Italy was from our vantage point atopViševnik, but it felt like we could see forever to our west, surely all the way into Italy and then some. There were a few sections of the descent around the back ofViševnik that had the kids puckered up as the trail traversed some quite steep scree sections with sheer slopes on both sides. Got the adrenaline pumping for sure! After putting my camera away and then having to retrieve it from my bag over and over I ended up just hiking with it in my hand for most of the upper ascent and descent sections, just amazing vistas everywhere.
Nearby Lake Bohinj – Slovenia’s largest lake – was a beautiful and tranquil spot to relax after our hike, the mountains of the Julian Alps backing the turquoise water of the lake making for a very picturesque view. We found a little beach with an adjacent cafe hut serving cold beers and enjoyed an hour or two at the lake before the sun went behind the mountains. There’s so much adventure sport in the area, with lake activities and a ton of mountain bikes whizzing around we could definitely spend some more time around Bohinj if we had more toys at our disposal. There was a very relaxed vibe to the whole Bohinj area. Ukanc at the western end of the lake is the end of the road so there was no through traffic, just hikers, bikers, boaters and the occasional farmer holding up traffic with a tractor on the main road (last photo below).
We also spent a day exploring the area around Lake Bled. Bled Castle and the Assumption of Maria Church in the middle of the lake feature on a lot of travel advertisements and postcards of Slovenia, it was certainly a postcard-like spot to enjoy a swim and paddle board. In reading about the area, Lisa learned that to get married at the Assumption of Maria Church the groom is required to carry his bride up the 99 steps from the water’s edge to the church without the bride touching the ground or making a sound. The beach at Velika Zaka was great: pebbles into the water with a nice patch of grass on which to lay, and the SUP rentals for 10€ an hour were a big hit with the kids.
What a wonderful travel experience we are all having while you do all the work.
Peter
Glad you’re enjoying yourself, Flatty!