Slovenian Lakes: Bohinj and Bled -> Ljubljana

Q: Why did you go to Slovenia anyway?

 

A: I have liked the few Eastern European cities I've been to in the past (Prague and Riga) and Ljubljana reportedly is a nice one as well. I tacked on a trip to the mountains because I bought Loney Planet's "Walking in the Alps" for Austria and the Slovenia parts sounded interesting as well.

 

(Oh goodie, Kelly Clarkson just came on in this cafe and the waitstaff turned it up. Please someone shoot me.)

 

Anyway, stayed at the end of Lake Bohinj at the Hotel Zlatorog. Was a slight step above "rustic". There weren't many people around which was nice compared to Dusseldorf. Hiked up to Slap Savica (a waterfall) then around the lake for a total of about 12 miles the first day. The only minus was that after an hour of uphill hiking, I found two tour buses arriving at the falls. Gah. The next day I took a bus for about an hour to Bled ($4.50) and hiked to Vintar Gorge, doing the 30 min walk along the gorge walkway then back.  No real memorable food to talk of except for the Krema Rezina which is Bled's local cream cake which I had at the newly redone Hotel Lovec's terrace. About a half-inch of vanilla cream over an inch of custard with a light top and bottom. The picture will do it justice. They did have venison goulash at the hotel restaurant but I passed.

 

Attention Loney Planet: Two things. Your Bled->Vintnar route involes walking on a one lane road with little shoulder for 30 min on the way there, then along a road with a nice wide sidewalk for the 30 min back (after the hike out of the woods). Change the damn directions to avoid Podhom. Second, in Bohinj Bistreca, the bus to the lake picks up 50m down the road and across the street from the post office, not at it as the Bled/Ljubljana buses do. That only cost me an hour.

 

Friday involved a two hour bus to Ljubljana ($10) and checking in to the Hotel Domaine Grand Media which has 50" plasma screens with TV and internet. All run through an XP box. I confused IE about 5 min in but I think it eventually crashed and came back. I also got an ActiveX window around CNN last night. They have the right idea but it still needs refinement. This is a pretty small place (280k people) and the nightlife is more university than city. The bar with "beautiful people" was starting to clear out at 1am on Friday night and they were playing Whitesnake's "Here I go again on my own". Incidentally, I heard that on the bus yesterday when there were only a few people on it. It's just like Detroit. Went to try the Irish bar but I heard Freebird coming out the door and didn't see any people inside, so I went and found a cab. Ended up back at the hotel around 2am to find the casino was open (shocking), so I played a little blackjack (down 50 Euro. also shocking.) and went to bed.

 

Had some weak sushi Friday although I suppose I can't be too unhappy since they did actually have sushi and some OK pasta. Had a good mozzellera and ham on cibatta bread for lunch. Might hunt down a mexican place I read about for dinner or just keep drinking whatever Modri Pinot (pinot noir) they're selling here for $3.50/glass and have a salad. One more day here, then to Kitzbuhel on Monday.

 

Random bits:

 

  Germans know Eminem is from Detroit. They know that and cars about it.

  Germans appear to love Dog the Bounty Hunter. He's on a few times a week.

  In Slovenia they say Dober Dan for Hello. Every time I hear it I think of George Clooney's pomade in Oh Brother Where Art Thou? (Dapper Dan) and get a few of those songs in my head.

  They apparently only have two beers in this country: Union Pils and Lasko Zlatorog. Not bad, but I'm going to try to find at least one more before I leave.