Slovenia

Road Trip Slovenia 9 Bled

From the Skocjan Caves, the two of us drove up to Bled, home to Lake Bled, one of the most famous sights in all of Slovenia.

The accommodation for the night was at Garden Village, a green resort just a short walk from Lake Bled. I was absolutely blown away by this resort.

It was beautiful, natural, and the accommodation was a mixture of treehouses and luxury tents. It had a “swimming pond” that was built into the landscape and its own stream in the back. They grew so much of their food, including several varieties of mint for mojitos.

And look at their dining tables! That is GRASS!

They switch out the grass panels periodically to keep the grass as fresh and green as possible.

Adventurous Kate (to be continued)

Road Trip Slovenia 8 Škocjan Caves

Day Two: Skocjan Caves and Bled

A second shimmy through the mountains brought us to the Skocjan Caves, Slovenia’s second World Heritage Site. These caves are gargantuan, spooky, and an absolute must-visit if you’re traveling through Slovenia. I’ve never seen a few caves before (and even swam through one in the dark), but none of them have been as impressive as the Skocjan Caves.

There’s also an excellent viewpoint on a trail behind the caves’ visitor center. Don’t miss it.

Adventurous Kate (to be continued)

Road Trip Slovenia 7 Hotel Kendov Dvorec

What I don’t have pictures of is us nearly having to break into our hotel at midnight. Turns out they shut down at 11:00 PM and forgot to tell us. After trying to get in and realizing that the only way to contact them was to call (we had no SIM cards and the wifi didn’t work outside), we probably would have had to go to a gas station and beg them to use their phone if we hadn’t discovered a back door.

It’s too bad, because the hotel was nice otherwise. Just know that they close early.

Day One Essential Info: Visiting the mercury mine (Anthony’s Shaft) costs 9 EUR ($12 USD) for adults. It includes a tour of the mine and a short movie.

Admission to the Mestni Museum is 3.50 EUR ($5 USD) for adults.

The tasting menu at Hotel Kendov Dvorec costs 70 EUR ($94 USD) for six courses with wine pairings.

Rates at Hotel Jožef start at 98 EUR ($131 USD). You can find other hotels in Idrija here.

Adventurous Kate (to be continued)

Road Trip Slovenia 6 Idrija Lace

Idrija is also famous throughout the world for its lace. Post-World War I, their primary clients became Italians, who demanded fine, intricate, detailed lacework.

Urban took us back to the Mestni Museum, which has some fantastic lace displays, lots of mercury and minerals, and a moving memorial to those who lost their lives in the Idrija mercury mines.

Next up was dinner at the Hotel Kendov Dvorec, a pretty oasis up in the mountains just outside Idrija.

I loved this place. It was fancy enough to host a small wedding, yet small and friendly with a wonderful staff. And the food? Superb. The best food that I had in all of Slovenia.

Best of all: a main dish of venison and chanterelles that absolutely rocked my world. And yep, those are more žlikrofi underneath!

Adventurous Kate (to be continued)

Road Trip Slovenia 5 Largest Wooden Wheel In Europe

While having an after-lunch coffee, Peter and I ran into Urban, the curator of the nearby Mestni Museum. He kindly offered to cart us around to every attraction in town; I asked him if instead he could take us to the highest point in town so we could take pictures. He obliged and took us to a church on top of a mountain.

On the quirky end, Idrija also happens to be home to the largest wooden wheel in Europe - 13,6 m. It used to power the whole town.

Idrija is also famous throughout the world for its lace, which is on display throughout the town.

It’s interesting seeing how Idrija’s lacemaking style evolved over time with political and geographical changes. Pre-World War I, Idrija’s lace clients were mostly Austrians, who preferred large, country-style lacework.

Adventurous Kate (to be continued)

Kurent, Ptuj, Slovenia

Kurent has been popularly reinterpreted as an extravagant god of unrestrained pleasure and hedonism in early Slavic customs.

In today's festival, groups of kurents wear traditional sheepskin garments, boar fangs, leather tongues, holding wooden clubs with prickly hedgehog skins,

Around the waist they are wearing huge cow bells, the noise of which is believed to "chase away winter".

In this way, the presence of kurenti announces the end of winter and beginning of spring.

Being a kurent was at first a privilege offered only to unmarried men, but today, married men, children and women are also invited to wear the outfit.