Slovenia 2024 

The plan was to cycle through Slovenia and Croatia in a big loop from Villach, Austria. Unfortunately, we caught COVID (for the first time!) during the flight from Sydney and ended up in a hotel room for a week as soon as we arrived in Switzerland. Once we started riding, we were so unfit and tired that we managed an average of 25km/day (rather than the planned 50km). A 22-day ride of 900km turned into a 17-day ride of 600km.

Not a bad place to get stuck for a week, except that the wall paper was a bit psychedelic.

This is how the Austrian Railway transports bicycles! Lucky we're not precious about ours' (they were at the bottom of the pile).

The beginning of our ride in Villach, Austria.

The old railway line has been converted into a cycling path, which makes for very easy riding.

Detour to Laghi di Fusine, two glacial lakes in the Julian Alps on the border between Italy and Slovenia.

Kranjska Gora, our first stop in Slovenia. Kirsten discovered her favourite local dessert: Blejska kremna rezina (puff pastry with custard and cream).

Rather than staying in the busy Jesenice valley, we rode over the hill into the quiet and beautiful Radovna valley. 

A small detour to Vintgar Gorge was well worth it. We are not the only cyclists in Slovenia!

The scenery around Bled is spectacular, hence the town is very touristy. Lucky not everybody walks up to the top of Ojstrica!

Lake Bohinj is just as spectacular and less touristy. I had to try one of those trouts that we could see while swimming!

Slovenia is amazing for cyclists. In the middle of nowhere, you find a water fountain, a picnic 

table and a bike maintenance station!

The trains are amazing too. Plenty of space for bicycles, prams, wheelchairs. It started raining just before we arrived in Ljubljana, so we hopped on the train.

Ljubljana has amazing architecture, great markets and - of course - a castle.

Bistra Castle, a former monastery, is the home of the Technical Museum of Slovenia. One of the more interesting collections are the limousines and armoured cars owned by the late president of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980).

During a skype call with my dad, he discovered the Indoor Skydiving Centre in Logatec. Of course I had to try it. Not exactly like the outdoor version, but still fun!

Lake Cerknica is an intermittent lake. When full, it is the largest lake in the country. Due to subterranean reservoirs or caverns it often drains all together. The surrounding karst landscape is littered with dolines.

The Rakov Škocjan valley is a Ramsar site of international importance. The small river Rak is fed by underground waters discharging from the Cerknica plain. It surfaces and disappears several times and created some spectacular natural bridges and caves.

My first Turmeric ice-cream. Yum!

Postojna Cave was first discovered in 1818 and has been accessible via underground train since 1872. The oldest stalagmite discovered so far is an amazing 16m tall and estimated to be 150,000 years old! The size and diversity of the formations are stunning!

We stayed two nights in Hotel Jama, at the entrance of the caves. During renovations of the hotel they found hidden surveillance rooms used by the secret service of the former Yugoslavia. Phone conversations by visitors from all over the world were recorded, some of which have been translated for tourists.

The hotel provides a free shuttle bus to Predjama Castle, which is an 800-year old medieval castle and the largest cave castle in the world. The cave underneath the castle was closed due to bat breeding season.

The nearby Skocjan Caves are UNESCO heritage listed. The Reka River has formed one of the largest underground canyons in Europe, which was gigantic. There were no photographs allowed inside, so the one below is from their website (https://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si).

After walking through the cave system, it was a long walk back through other caves and valleys.

This train was running just for us! Taking us to the beginning of the Soča Valley.

A brand new bicycle bridge built with EU money (there was a bridge for all traffic just 100m further up the valley!)

The picturesque Soča Valley, with its emerald green Soča river, is Slovenia's adventure playground.

In Tolmin we rented an apartment and waited for the rain to stop, while enjoying the local produce.

Kobarid has a Michelin restaurant (325 Euros/person for lunch! - we didn't go) and an Italian military shrine constructed under Mussolini, which houses the remains of over 7,000 Italian soldiers. 

The September 16 severe storms and floods that devastated Central Europe dumped 30cm of snow on the Vršič Pass, which was our planned route back to Kranjska Gora. Lucky there is another mountain pass out of Bovec, the Predel Pass, which is much lower. Otherwise we would have had to ride all the way back down the valley for 3 days.

Our only mountain pass this trip and it's a small one!

Back in Italy for a day...

... then back to Villach and Austrian curry sausages.

The storm also impacted the train lines in Germany so they closed the borders and a 5-hour trip from Villach to Lake Constance took 10 hours zig-zagging through the wintery landscape of the Austrian Alps.

Back in Switzerland, beautiful weather and healthier food....

...not!