Slovenian ADVENTure - Visiting Bled, Slovenia

To get away from passed journeys a little, I dedicate this post to the latest one. Until now, during this time of Christmas holidays , I went on advent trips with my highschool to popular advent cities. From Salzburg and Budapest, to Vienna. Everyone that knows me, know that I am a huge fan of Christmas and the holiday spirit and that I'm like a child when it comes to sparkly streets and squares that smell of mulled wine and sparkle from all the ornaments and other little dangly things. That's the exact reason that I decided to organize a little advent adventure with my love, since I'm in college and there are no such trips. Even before this decision, I wanted to visit Bled in Slovenia ever since I ran into it searching pictures about various locations outside of Croatia and adding them to the ''Place to go'' list. Well, if you don't know what Bled is and even where Slovenia is. keep on reading and you'll find out.

We woke up kind of late, it was around 7.30 , which was our first mistake. Ofcourse, we had to get something to drink and eat and go to the exchange office to exchange our currency i.e. the croatian kunas (KN/HRK) to euros (€). We exchanged as much money as we thought we'll need for things that we will maybe need along the way or for a couple of souvenirs, and we put the rest of the money in our car. Considering our car runs on gas too we didn't have to pay much. That's one more advantage of our travels; if you have a car that you know will last you long and you are a passionate traveller - build in the gas. Trust us, it's worth it. While we were done with our last-minute errands it was already 8.30 and we still haven't left Karlovac. We concluded that it will take us 3 hours to get to Bled and we thought we were already late and will not make it to see what else we planned to see. The climax of our trip was Bled but we wanted to see the Bohinj lake, of which we heard was beautiful, and stop in Ljubljana on our was back to visit their advent. I couldn't wait to stroll through alleys of little advent booths and buy myself that special souvenir.

Slovenia is a country that borders with Croatia on it's northeast. It has a population of 2 000 000 and covers more than 20 000 square kilometers. It is most known for it's Postojna cave and the Triglav National Park. I myself have never been to Slovenia and I was ready to meet it and explore it. But, was I really?

Entering Slovenia, we immediately noticed something was off to us. Those Slovenians obviously mixed their solid line with the broken one because it is allowed to cross the line in the most vast turnings, and there is almost no solid line. Andrei and I kept looking at each other and couldn't believer this little apsurdity. But, it turned out it was just the beginning. Considering Andrei is the man with the best sense of orientation that I've met I let him plan the trip. The second mistake we made - going on a trip with an old map of the state you are visiting. It seems that Slovenia doesn't want to greet their tourist in a good way but to set them up every way possible. You know that saying ''All roads lead to Rome.'' ? Well, in Slovenia it is ''All roads lead to highway.'' Take this seriously and don't think I'm joking. They will try to take you to the highway any wy they can, and they will succeed unless you're not prepared enough. Which leads us to the TIP nr.1 - go to Slovenia with the most recent map possible and a trip planned to the littlest detail. It cost us 5 hours of getting lost on their roads. Since Slovenians mixed the solid line with the broken one, they may as well also be daltonists. You see, what they do, and from what you can get out a valuable lesson, is that they cheat with road sings. It is well-known that a yellow sign means a simple state road and a green sign means highway. But, not in Slovenia. They will first put up a yellow sign and after you take a turn and follow it for a good couple of kilometers they will surprise you with a sudden green sign without the chance of turning back. You will find yourself on their higway whether you want it or not. They succeeded in tricking us and we were on a highway in no-time. Luckly, we found an exit soon and weren't stopped by the police. Maybe there are some of you that wonder why I make a big fuss about a simple highway. Well, exactly bacuse in Slovenia there is this thing called a ''vinjeta''. It is a highway paying agency that comes in a shape of a sticker for your windshield. But, the point is that no matter how short of a distance you want to cross by highway you have to buy a 7-day vinjeta that costs 15€. Which leads us to the TIP nr.2 - don't believe the Slovenian road signs. If among you are the ones that can afford the vinjeta, you will save a bunch of time. But, I'm sure there are those of you that want to use those 15€ way better then on some stupid sticker. When we got back from our trip, we googled the fine for driving without one and came to know that it is a 300-800€ fine that you have to pay on the spot, and if you don't they take away your driving licence, identity card and the car's documents. So, it is better to learn from our experiences and follow our tips to plan to the littlest details. If you get lost, and I'm 99% sure you will, there is my TIP nr.3 - don't be afraid to ask for directions, all the people we asked were kind and helped us a lot. Also stress out that you're looking for the old road and that you DON'T WANT to use the highway

To come to Bled we had to go through Ljubljana, to which we also hardly came because of bad road signs, which is absurd because it's their capital city! But, the real challenge was still waiting for us. Exiting Ljubljana we became a little nervous; we barely found the way to the capital city , how will we now find the way to the little place as Bled. The only thing we were holding onto were advertises of the advent on Bled. After we got lost more times than we can count on ur way from Ljubljana to Bled, we finally found the right road to Bled, over Višnja Gora and through the Naklo village. But, the nature is really beautiful. The whole time we were there we felt like we were in an alp village because the towns were situated just under their mountains which made our experience of Slovenia a little bit better.

We also noticed that Slovenians don't like to advertise their atractions. Ofcourse there were no advertises for nor signs until we got a couple of kilometers away from the town. But, regardless of it, we were relieved by realizing we finally got to our destination and by the fact that we are out of the car for the next few hours. We made a circle around the lake and barely found a parking lot that cost us absurd 5€. But, we didn't come all this way to get stopped by a 5€ parking ticket.We payed those 5€ and headed of to explore. Bled had us at first sight and cheered us up a little bit. This is where the good part of this post beginns.

Bled is a town that lays on the same-named Bled lake, and in the base of the Julian Alps. It is most known for the Bled island that is standing right in the middle of the lake and which is the only real slovenian island. On the island is a chruch which is one of the notability of Bled. If you want to go visit the island, you can access it by boats that charge 10€ for a ride. Ofcourse, we recommend to do it during much warmer days, unless you have a high tolerance to cold. There is a boat club by the lake too and it has all the olimpic games that took place until now carved into it's ground.

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Bled is also known for a millennial Bled castle which overlooks the lake from it's 130 meters. Considering it stands there from the beginning of the 11th century, it is the oldest slovenian castle. Ofcourse we went up there and we can say - it is not that easy. There is no stairways or paths but it is a little hiking adventure. But, all that is payed off once you get to the top because the view on Bled and the lake is just breathtaking. The hight is not that scary but if you are easily afraid of hights, we recommend rethinking before you go up there. I have a fear of hights too and it's wasn't that scary but be prepared. We didn't get around the castle, which you can do,but we stayed on one side of it. If you want to explore the castle inside the ticket for grown-ups is 9€, for students 7€ and for children 4-14 is 4,50€.

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It was already 4 o'clock when we climbed down from the castle and the sun started to slowly set. We hurried towards the car so we could go home while there's still daylight outside. Just as we were going to our car, the setting sun shined down on the mountains in beautiful orange and pink colours, and a beautiful round moon also peeked out. With this sight we ended our day and , with it on our minds, we left Slovenia.

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The trip didn't turn out as we planned, and we came back home totally disappointed by Slovenia and it's roads. But, we were most disappointed by the fact that because of that stupid nonsense we didn't have time to visit Ljubljana and see the Bohinj lake, and also admire the beauties of Slovenia a little bit more because they are the ones that fixed our impression of Slovenia.

But, if you don't travel, you won't learn a thing. Bad experiences behing us, one more location less on the list, and the next question is - WHERE DO WE GO NEXT?

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