Slovenia

When we had explored most of what we could in Lake Bled, we decided to find some ‘day outs’ and see more of Slovenia.

Triglav National Park

We drove to Triglav National Park, near Lake Bohinj, and took the cable car up the mountain.

Cablecar Up

Caleb Simulating Free-falling

The view from the top was truly stunning!

View

At the top we took the Vogel Trail for a short hike, or rather a ‘walk’.  It was a short 1.4 km around what is the Vogel Ski Center during the winter months.

Trail Head

Once we found a fun picture spot, we spent a lot of time taking some fun shots (don’t worry – it was really a gradual climb going down).

Chris Holding On for Dear Life

Pushed Over the Edge

Madeleine & Hannah

Caleb’s Leap

Of course, Caleb just couldn’t stop at leaps.  He needed a shot for his ‘handstands around the world’ book.

After our nice little photo shoot on the edge of the mountain, we finally saw the sign that was tucked away in the corner.  Perhaps they should have it in a more prominent spot!

Danger of Falling!

We did have a nice walk around the ski area, and watched a number of mountain bikers barrel out of the hills as well.

The Dads (Chris, Scott)

The Kids

Before going back down the cable car, we ate at the ski chalet and were very impressed with the food there!  It was very good!

Ski Chalet Menu

Chris on the Ride Back Down

Radovljica

On our way back to Lake Bled, we took a side trek to a small town recommended by Rick Steves, called Radovljica.

Kids Getting a Haribo ‘pick-me-up’

Radovljica is actually so small that we had to try to get there a couple times.  We ended up having to park the car and walk into the little town.

Town Centre

The highlight of the town was the Beekeeping Museum (Apicultural) . . . and the ice cream break that we had.  Such a cute town!

Old Beeboxes on a Wagon

Searching for the Queen Bee

Skocjan Caves

The following day we took Rick Steves’ recommendation on the Skocjan Caves in Skocjanske jame Park.

We were a bit shocked when we saw the size of our tour group.  When we got to the cave entrance they split us into two groups – a Slovenian/English group and an Italian/English group.  Thanksfully there were only about 3 times when we had lengthly explanations about the caves that had to be given twice, in two different languages.

After the last lengthy information session, the tour guide let us go on our our own.  We were really surprised how huge it was!

Parts of the cave were lit but it was quite dark most of the time.  As we got to the center of the cave, there were machinery noises from where workers are still working on excavating, etc.

”Stepash’ Family on Bridge

When we finally reached the exit and saw daylight, it was a welcome sight!  Chris and the kids had slipped a couple times in the cave so they were ready for solid ground!

Shadow Children at the Exit

Of course, we didn’t realize at that point that there was a 15 minute trek back to the parking lot!  It was quite the trek with many stairs.

Hike After the Caves

We were really glad that we did the caves, as they were very rugged and ‘the real deal’ versus one we saw that had a little commercialized train that you rode on through the cave.

Ljubljana

Our first taste of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, was when we ventured in for church on Sunday.

Church Building

We had a great visit to this small branch.  When they found out we were from London, they asked us if they knew one of their friends that was in London from their branch.  It just so happened that she was in our ward . . . and taught Cami’s primary class.  What a small world!

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” in Slovenian

We were able to have part of the Sacrament meeting translated from a missionary, but then his microphone battery died.  We enjoyed listening to the testimonies anyway and were even able to pick out a few words.

Slovenian Hymn Books

We went back into Ljubljana the day we were leaving to get a tour of the rest of the city.

Ljubljana Castle

On the hill above the city sits the Castle.  We were able to park up there and work our way down.

Castle Details

Cami

Castle Chapel

Down in the city, we walked around the City Centre with the weekend street markets.

A City Street

Shoe Alley

Chris said the city reminded him a lot of Prague.

Of course, honey products were sold all through the markets, as Slovenia is the home of the most famous beekeepers!

Slovenian Honey

One of the iconic features of the city is the Dragon Bridge, which was built as a Jubilee Bridge in 1901.

Dragon Bridge

After we had a couple hours of exploring on our own, the Ashton’s met us in the capital city as they came into town as well.

Girl ‘Selfie’ (Cami, Hannah, Madeleine)

You wouldn’t have thought it was only a couple hours since they’d seen each other!

‘Stephash’ Family in Ljubjlana

Before leaving the city, we decided to get a bite to eat back at the Ljubjlana Castle.  Instead of walking all the way back up, we took the funicular up the side of the hill, which was quite worth it!

Funicular to the Castle

City View from the Castle

Our lunch at the castle was good . . . not very kid-friendly, but we made it work for our group.

And, of course, it was all topped off with the holiday dessert of ice cream!

Saying Our Farewells to Slovenia

You would have thought that was the end of our holiday – ending on such a happy note.  But, no!  As we were in the airport, preparing to leave, my padded camera backpack slipped out of my hands in the bathroom.  It didn’t fall very far, but it fell at just the right angle that I was devastated when I looked in to check on my camera.

Thankfully, as I looked harder, I realized that it was my lens protector that was broken, not my camera lens!  Thank goodness for lens filters/protectors!  That was an easy fix!