SLOVENIA
Slovenia was on my list, it is home to Lake Bled – another image sitting in my bucket list folder…
A rainy day prompted me to drive here early from Split. Even in the rain the scenery through Croatia and Slovenia was beautiful.
When I reached Lake Bled I drove around a couple of times to get my bearings and then found somewhere to stay.
Before I got my bags out of the car, I jumped in a boat to visit the iconic island in the middle of the lake – truth be told, I thought it was just a trip around the Lake… nice view from the island!
Once back on the shore a walk round and I was done. Lake Bled is pretty but I wasn’t blown away – wasn’t expecting that, bit disappointed…!
Rogier (Who I met in the Congo while we were driving through Africa) suggested I drive up the Vrsic Pass in the Julian Alps (built by Russian POW) and through the Soca Valley – all located inside the Triglav NP (only one in Slovenia)
Now this blew me away!
I could only go a third of the way up the Vrsic pass as it was closed – dam! The scenery I had seen so far was amazing! I had to see more! I checked out the map and decided to drive around to the other side of the pass via Italy (don’t you just love Europe!!).
When I got to the other side every hairpin turn got better and better until I had to stop again and make my way down to start exploring the rest of the NP!
The crystal waters of the Soca River running through the valley is so clear it is almost invisible in places. The Meadows are covered in millions of flowers. The Alpine villages with single lane roads dotted around are so cute – I want to live here!
I spent two and a half days exploring the Triglav National Park, driving up and down every little road, I could find over 18 hours on tiny mountain roads I’m tired – but what a magic place!
I think Slovenia might just be on top of the beautiful Balkan mountains list
