Slovenia

Soon after checking into the hotel in Ljubljana, the skies opened to heavy rain and quickly developed into an almighty thunderstorm. This was not a good start and neither good news, as I had a ticket for the open "Home Supporters" stand to watch Slovenia play Norway in a very important World Cup Qualifier. Regardless of this, I set out on the 90 minute journey by train to the stadium at Celje with some Norwegian fans from the same hotel. Travelling through two river valleys, you get excellent views of the Slovenian countryside, with the occasional white church perched on the wooded hillside overlooking a small village below. However, you don't get to see much of this on a return train at 1am on a Sunday morning, but it was still excellent value for a match ticket paid under £12.50! Unfortunately for my Slovenian hosts, Norway won the - mostly wet - game 3:2 in injury time.

Ljubljana is beautiful, and with the shops shut on a Sunday, visit the Old Town's antique market. This sells all kinds of Eastern European bric-a-brac, although I did see an old British 50 pence piece in a tray of coins. Wander up the hill from Gornji Trg, passing the 10-15 cats at halfway, to find a great panoramic view of the city from the tower at the Grad (Castle). Then stroll back to see the statues on the Dragons Bridge and the wonderful ornate bronze doors of the Cathedral. The areas around the central square of Prešernov Trg and the Three Bridges are colourfully illuminated in the evening and can be admired from a seat in one of the many street bars and restaurants there.

Moving into the Julian Alps, there is the very touristy, built-up Lake Bled, where there is a cliff-top castle overlooking a beautiful fairy-tale island. This can be too popular at times, as most visitors head over to the island by gondolas to climb the long South Staircase to ring the "Wishing Bell". Not "wishing" to join them I instead took an excursion to the wooden walkways of the fabulous Vintgar Gorge that crisscross over turquoise pools and waterfalls down to the Šum waterfall, the highest at 13m.

Even though Bled has the most hotels, the best place to stay is in the area around the more natural setting of Lake Bohinj. At the western end of the lake, take a ride in the Vogel cable car to get a better glimpse of the highest point in Slovenia - Triglav. From the top cable car station there are some ski-lifts to take you further up the hillside to get onto some walking trails.

Here I tagged onto a group of Austrians to tackle the steep ascent of Vogel, but we had to turn back within a mile of the summit due to the increasing cloud cover.

Enjoy one of the wonderful evening meals served at hotels and restaurants in Ribcev Laz. Then wander down to the waters edge of Lake Bohinj, pick up an ice cream from the kiosk and watch the bats fly over the tranquil waters down by the boat house. This is even better if you leave it until your last night in Slovenia.

There are now plenty of guidebooks for Slovenia. I took the Lonely Planet Slovenia as there were some street maps that I needed. English is well spoken in the country, but taking a Berlitz Slovenian phrasebook helped with translating menus.

Regarding maps, the Freytag & Berndt Slovenia Top 10 map at 1:150,000 and double-sided is very clear and easy to read, and they also publish a single-sided version: the Freytag & Berndt Slovenia 1:200,000 map. For walking I used the Slovenian Alpine Club maps at 1:50,000.

Author: Robert Daw
Date: 1 March 2006