Moving all of 20km up the valley in an attempt to avoid the ‘Bled’ tourists and nutty fitness enthusiasts who were apparently arriving to carry out a ‘Sparten’ event over the weekend, we found a lovely place to stop in Bohinjska Bistrica where we planned to enjoy the sunshine following the torrential rain and get some good walking and cycling in. (Camping Danika 33 euro per night)

When we arrived I had a little walk around the campsite to pick a suitably sunny spot as pitches were open and not marked out. I thought I had found a nice looking area which was open, without too many trees and had gravel underneath as the ground was saturated following the rain…. unfortunately the ground was deceptive and what I had thought was gravel, was in fact sand underneath…. a little bit of a sticky – or sinking – moment. Thankfully Keith managed to land in a reasonable location and three days of sunshine led to the ground being dry enough for me to drive off with traction control, grip pads and a little bit of welly. Lesson learnt by me to check a little more on what is underneath those little stones!

The campsite was right on the edge of the town with both a river and a cycle path passing beside it. The river (and cycle track) came down from the mountains into Lake Bohinj and on to Bohinjska Bistrica where we were ,and then on to Lake Bled and beyond in the other direction. The valley was nestled between the mountains…some still with a little snow on top. A truly stunning, tranquil location.

We set off into the hills on Friday afternoon for a lovely circular walk, finding that after an hour and a quarter and a few small stream jumps, our path was completely cut off due to a waterfall that had ‘broken its boundaries’ following the recent torrential rain and there was no way of passing. So we turned around and came back on the same route… it was pretty much half way anyway and a beautiful route despite the low cloud.

On Saturday we popped over to visit to the local market in the morning, where there was an exceptional offering of dairy produce as we well as walnuts, hazelnuts and oils from local producers, before setting off on the bikes to explore further afield.

We cycled towards Lake Bohinj and then up into the mountains beyond, arriving at ‘Slap Savica’ – more waterfalls, these ones were full but slightly more controlled, possibly just had more space to grow naturally than the ones from the previous day that had broken free!

Our final day gave us a chance to walk along the valley and also sample some of the local produce… well who doesn’t like a good Sunday lunch? I had found an interesting looking restaurant (Sunrose7) which focussed on sustainable, local, seasonal produce and they were pescatarian friendly which always helps.

The restaurant offers a small, a la carte menu which changes every day both for lunch and dinner, additionally they offer 2, 3 or 4 courses for a set price which was excellent value…. naturally we had all four courses as we just wanted to try everything! They happily adapted the Gnocchi dish to use Vegan bacon for me and the food was delicious. Another location that we will come back and visit next time we are in Slovenia… as there is still so much more to see and do.

Leaving the mountains behind us, we headed to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where we had booked to stay at a campsite (Ljubljana Hotel Resort and Camping 35.33 per night) which was 6km outside the city centre beside a river. After doing a bit of food shopping, we set off for a little walk to stretch our legs along the river before the rain arrived…and when it arrived, it arrived in abundance again, raining all night and well into the following day.

Although we would normally venture out on the bikes given the choice, it really was too wet, so we opted to take the bus into town. It should have cost 1.30 euro each person, each way however, despite tapping our debit card twice on each journey – and once the driver took 3 journeys from us – the debit card only appears to have taken 2.60 in total each day… very odd.

We pretty much had Ljubljana to ourselves on the first day as it was so wet in the morning and people had obviosly just decided not to come into town at all which was nice. We walked, drank coffee, walked a bit more and explored the market before the heavens opened again and we decided to give up and come back the following day.

Wednesday was slightly dryer but cloud was still low unfortunately, so the views from the Castle and Park Trivoli weren’t much too write home about. We still did some good walking and explored the city a bit more despite the weather – it is a lovely small city with lots of coffee shops and a good central market with local produce.

We stocked up on fruit and veg, a large pot of chestnut honey, and also bought some Prekmurska Gibanica – a strudel-like layer cake. It is made with pastry, stewed apples, walnutes, poppy seeds, cottage cheese and lots of spices and is one of the old festive and ceremonial Slovenian desserts, dating back to 1828. It isn’t very sweet but has a delicious rounded flavour and is incredibly filling… even between Keith and I the piece we bought – which admittedly was pretty big – lasted two days!

Three days in Ljubjlana passed quickly and we moved on to Kamnic (Kamp Resnic, 22.50 per night) – an impromptu detour – to take in a little bit of Velika Planina.

Kamnic itself is nothing special, but it is the main point of access to Velika Planina which is 12km away, a great place for both walking and cycling in the summer, and ski-ing in the winter.

We headed out to explore and had a little badly timed walk around the town, getting soaked on the way back. Then on Friday morning got the washing hung out and popped into town again for 30 minutes to be chased back by the grey clouds and rain. Thankfully we got back in time to get the freshly washed clothes under the awning, and an hour or so later the sun came back out again. The weather is just a little bit like that at the moment.

In the afternoon we decided to cycle up to Velika Planina where we caught the cable car and then chair lift to the top. Absolutely stunning views in all directions.

We hadn’t really thought our plan through from two perspectives…. 1) We arrived at 3pm and the last cable car down was at 6pm, so if we had wanted to do any walking we wouldn’t have had time and 2) We were wearing shorts and t-shirts and barefoot shoes, albeit that we had jumpers and waterproofs in the paniers…. 1650m on a chairlift can be pretty fresh!

Both of the above though, coupled together meant the cold wasn’t an issue, and nor was the clothing/footwear. We benefitted from amazing scenery considering the weather in the morning …and it was a taster, whetting the appetite for our next trip.

The cloud was low again on Saturday morning but dry, so we headed in to the local market, which again sold lots of dairy produce, walnuts, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts and oils as well as locally grown vegetables, enabling us to stock up on everything for the next few days without going to the supermarket.

In the afternoon we headed off on foot into the hills above the town for a 8.5km and 450m ascent/descent. The forest was thick and unfortunately gave us minimal views… it certainly tested a few muscles that haven’t been tested for a while though – very steep both up and then back down!

I am sure you will be pleased to hear that we have been doing a little bit more experimenting with new recipes this week!
– Caponeata – a twist on a ratatouille with a lovely depth of flavour
– Giant Burrito cake – an alternative way to make burritos, or looking at it from another perspective, an alternative to a lasagne
– Salsa – a lovely refreshing salsa mix that goes well with most dishes

And finally the map….

Leaving Venice and Italy behind us, we set off taking the torrential rain with us towards Slovenia. We had decided that we were going to head to Portoroz first which is on the coast, just 8km from the Croatian border as it looked like an interesting point to start our journey through Slovenia.

A little bit last minute, but Keith had remembered that Slovenia has toll roads but no toll booths – meaning that you have to buy a box/tag system and pre-load it with credit before you can drive on most of the main roads running through the country. Therefore entering the country on a toll road is always a bit of a risk not knowing how, or where you can buy the ‘box’ as the fines are quite substantial.

We opted to take the risk, setting up an account online literally 10 minutes before we were crossing the border, and thankfully on the route we had taken from Italy – which did turn directly into a toll road in Slovenia – there was a fuel station on the border selling the ‘DarsGo’ box which is what we needed for a 7.2 tonne motorhome. The chap I spoke to was incredibly helpful, set up the system for us attaching the box to my account and we were off… phew!

Portoroz became popular in the late 19th century for the Austro/Hungarian Monarchy based on its ‘health’ benefits from the concentrated salt water and salina mud and although I am sure it is incredibly busy during peak season, it was actually beautifully tranquil whilst we were there.

We had chosen to stay at Portoroz Marina (45 euro per night) which is nestled right in the centre of the bay, giving us beautiful views out of our front window to watch the yachts as they came and went. We were parked with our nose almost on the beach, which as the tide started to rise later in the day caused a few concerns – thankfully though the high tide stopped roughly 1.5m from the front of the motorhome, and as we are in the bay the water was calm and glistening, just perfect!

The area is set up for cyclists, runners and walkers with several circular routes going up the coast, down the coast and inland… enough to keep us busy for a few days and providing me with a wonderful morning running route.

The walk south took us along the coast into a Marine park and then up into the hills – they were only small, rolling hills – taking in a sculpture park Vineyards, Olive Groves and providing beautiful views out over Croatia and of course the salt fields. Salt that we ended up buying from the salt farmer himself just as he had packed all of his goods away the following day in Piran.

The walk North took us through Portoroz and on into Piran, a pretty fishing village with a castle. Keen to try out some local food, we headed towards a seafood place for lunch that looked interesting – Fritolin Pri Cantini – but as it is effectively a serving hatch where you order your food, they suggest turning up early as it is a small place and you need to find a table. It is a good set up as it shares the tables with the bar next door who provide table service for drinks and also the all important toilets… a perfect match.

We arrived at about 12:45, got a shaded table on the terrace and ordered a grilled seafood platter (albeit with a bit of deep fried calamari) accompanied by a green salad. It was light, fresh and delicious. We would definately go back if we happened to be passing through.

Wanting to enjoy the coast for just a little bit longer as the weather was being kind to us, we headed 20km round the coast back up towards Italy, arriving at Ankaran (Ankaran Hotel and Resort 53.66 euros p/n inc.)

Slovenia only has 46.4km of coastline and unfortunately nestled between Piran and Ankaran is Koper, Slovenias only Port and although I am sure that it is a very pretty town, it meant that the views out to sea from Ankaran were mostly of container ships…. they made for a beautiful shadow on the sun set though!

Ankaran is 4km from the Italian border making my morning run a little different – round the peninsula, up over the hills and a quick dip into Italy and back again. I did have a bit of a panic on the first day when I passed the border control police, wondering what would happen if they stopped me on my way back and wouldn’t let me back into Slovenia…. it was all ok though. Apparently Sundays are their day off should you ever want to smuggle something in, or out of the country… weird eh?

Exploring the area, we walked up into the hills, through the Vineyards and Olive Groves and then around the peninsula which gave us slightly more than we had bargained for. The views over to Italy and Trieste – also a port – were expected, however the route Keith had planned took us down onto the beach where we had to negotiate high tide, doing a bit of paddling whilst also trying to step round the naturists without imposing on their space….nothing like an all over tan!

The following day, after catching up on our washing and a little walk around the Memorial Salt Park in the morning, we set off on a little bike ride. Once again heading up into the hills – even higher this time which was a good test for the bikes – taking in more Olive Groves and Vineyards before coming back down to the coast into Muggia in Italy where we parked up the bikes and had a little walk round. The historic center was pretty small and not a huge amount to write home about, but we were distracted by the gelatrias and felt the need to stop and taste – well it would have been wrong to pop back into Italy on a sunny day and not have gelato wouldn’t it?

The following day, it was time to move on again, away from the coast and heading towards the mountains this time, stopping over in Postojna to see the caves. As a general rule, we don’t tend to go to tourist attractions and especially not on ‘organised tours’ as such, although we are happy to make the exception for something unique and after a little research, these caves did sound pretty exceptional.

We had booked our slot on line for 2pm, so parked up (Car Park 4 @ 20 euros/24hr) and headed off into the caves with jumpers, jackets, raincoats and woolley hats despite it being 20ish degrees and sunny outside.

After collecting our audio guide we got on the train and were happy that we had brought the extra clothing….10 degrees and humid! The railway is the only double track railway of its kind, is the worlds first railway in a cave. and is 3.7km long, dating back to 1872

All I can say is Wow! – glad we did it but no, we don’t need to do another cave anytime soon. It was in Keith’s words, probably one of the most amazing things he has ever seen… and that includes seeing the wierd looking ‘Olms’, or in latin ‘Proteus Anguinus‘…. better known as baby dragons.

The ‘Olm’ is a pale pink, almost translucent creature with short legs with three digits on their forelimbs and two on their hind feet and they move around in the water by twisting their bodies, assisted by the legs. They breathe through gills and rudimentary lungs. They have no eyes but they can “see” everything with the help of skin receptors leading them to be very good at sensing their prey. The wierdest part though is that they can go without food for many years…very odd creatures….all in all quite a unique experience!

After a slightly cooler morning run/exercise routine and breakfast, leaving the caves behind us, we set off towards Lake Bled where we were hoping the rain would hold off long enough so that we could take in some of its beauty…. and we were luckier than we thought we would be.

As the weather forecast was looking pretty wet we opted to stay in Bled (Bled Stellplatz 25 euro p/n), rather than at one of the campsites and it worked well as not only was it perfectly located for us to get some shopping done, it is 1km from Lake Bled and not too far from the Vintgar Gorge.

After lunch, we headed towards the lake to stretch our legs and ended up walking all the way round, being captivated by the views at every clearing in the trees. The clouds were low, leaving the skies looking a little moody but Lake Bled was still the most incredible Turqouise colour… and better still, it was quiet.

The following morning was dry, so taking full advantage and after letting the rolls I had made cool enough to make the sandwiches, we headed off on a little walk to Vintgar Gorge.

Vintgar Gorge is carved out of the rocks by the Radovna River and is situated just inside the Triglav National Park, 5km from Bled. The Gorge itself is 250m high and 1.6km long and protected, restricting the number of people who access it and where you can walk.

The water was so clear and the colour was mesmerizing. The sound, despite being incredibly loud through the rapids, was relaxing.

At the end of the 1.6km path, we circled back up through the woods to eat our lunch before heading back down through Zasip, arriving back at the motorhome just before the weather broke…. perfect timing!

Having threatened to rain but not having arrived, it arrived in its abundance…although not so much of an issue overnight, just ensures that the rivers flow freely and helps keep the area looking beautiful and green.

The rain didn’t bother us too much this morning either as it was a planned ‘rest’ day, although we made it out for a reverse loop of the lake, which despite not being able to see the top of any of the surrounding mountains – or even hills today – still had a ‘special’ feel. There is no doubt that it is a very beautiful place and we consider ourselves lucky to have seen it whilst it has been so quiet.

We have been cooking alot – and even had the BBQ out twice last weekend as the weather was so good…. although I had to remember how to make pittas again as it has been a while!

We haven’t however been cooking many new recipes – its been curries, cobbles, stews, pies and more. The only new recipe that we have now added to our repertoire is a Rich and Creamy Lasagne which has a lovely combination of Squash, Aubergine and Porcini mushrooms amongst other deliciousness…. and yes, it is plant based but you wouldn’t know!

We came to Slovenia without any expectations and having done very little research, and from what we have seen so far, Slovenia is a very beautiful place and incredibly easy to travel in.

The people are friendly and although we have learnt a few words of Slovenian, thankfully most of them appear to speak reasonably good english.

We are just nine days in to our visit and from what those nine days have given…. we are excited about what there is to come. There is so much more to explore – including the food and wine but here is the map of where we have been so far.

We have been truly spoilt over the last week, falling upon the most beautiful locations to stop at and enjoy… so this blog is a little full of photos – for which I won’t apologise!

The last stop in France before crossing over into Italy was Bonneville (Camping Car Park 13.94 euro per night), a lovely little town in the Auvergne -Rhone-Alpes just south of Geneva. Bonneville is a typical French mountain town with a good local market, the Arve – a stunningly beautiful turqouise river which flowed through it, and a castle, all of which accompanied by the back drop of snow topped mountains made it jaw droppingly beautiful and incredibly relaxing.

We spent three days exploring the area – both up into the hills and also along the river – whilst catching up on our washing and shopping before crossing over into Italy – from previous experience, you just don’t know what you are going to find in Italy so we felt it worth being prepared….or as prepared as you can be at least!

Leaving France behind us – unfortunately being accompanied by the grey skies – we set off into the mountains to take the Mont Blanc Tunnel over into Italy. Although we knew this was going to be an expensive option, it cuts the time and distance we need to travel and obviously saves on the fuel consumption as there are less hill climbs…. it was just a shame that the cloud was so low and we couldn’t see anything as from what I understand there are some spectacular spots to stop along the route and take in the views.

10 miles of tunnel, a few hairpin bends and 195.60 euros later we were in Italy surrounded by clouds and it was raining heavily …. perhaps next time we pass this way we will be lucky enough to enjoy the views!

Our first stop was Montestrutto (Miglio 608 Camper Area 12.50 euro p/n)) a tiny village just north of Ivrea. We were the only motorhome on the aire and after setting up and having some lunch, we headed up into the hills for a walk. The rain subsided and we were left with a moody light and stunning scenary – it was a truly beautiful, tranquil area to be in with just the clanging bells from the goats ringing out across the valley.

The following day, waking to birdsong and sunshine and following a beautiful morning run along the Via Francigena, we set off into Ivrea – where my mum had spent six months on sebatical in 1969 as it was home to Olivetti. Ivrea is now a UNESCO site based on its relationship between industry and architecture based upon the Olivetti involvement in the area. Not your typical UNESCO site but interesting all the same, it is pretty enough and although most things were shut on a Monday, we had a good walk around and found a lovely place to eat gelato – so no complaints from us!

A beautiful location to stop off at with another incredible gelataria alongside the Area in Montestrutto – which naturally, we also had to try – somewhere to come back and explore further next time we are passing through.

We moved on again though as Bank Holiday was looming and following previous experiences with the Italians herding towards campsites for weekends in their masses, we had made provision for 1st May by booking ourselves into Mabellina Agricamping (62 euros p/n) just outside Desenzano del Garda.

The Campsite was nestled within the vineyards, roughly 1 mile from Lake Garda and just under 1km from a lovely little non-touristy Trattoria… so we thought it’d be rude not to try out some proper Italian cuisine whilst here.

‘Mama’ was on front of house and ‘Papa’, or I should probably say one of the ‘Papas’ was in the kitchen, and the other was on the bar. All three were welcoming but ‘Papa cook’ was incredibly animated and proud of his food – although what he was saying as he served up the seafood platter we have no idea, all we can say is that he seemed to be very happy!!

We went for simplicity and were not let down, tortellini with a meat based stuffing and pancetta for Keith and a Squash and Sage stuffing for me, both with a butter and sage sauce and a nice amount of parmasan to start, grilled seafood and a fresh salad to share for main and we both opted for Tiramasu to finish. The restaurant only had locals – young and old – I imagine something hard to find near Lake Garda.

The weather was incredibly varied over the five days we were on Lake Garda with the day we arrived being 29 degrees and almost unbearable, changing to torrential rain, then back to an agreable 23/24 degrees which was just about perfect.

My morning runs around the southern part of the lake were stunning – each day the views changed as the sky and clouds changed colours. We took the bikes out to explore Sirmione and Desenzano del Garda – the former being an incredible walled island which we weren’t expecting – lack of research on our part – although we were a little overwhelmed by the quantity of tourists as well as the number of gelatarias per sq foot! A really pretty place but slightly too full on for us, and that was on a Friday in May, not a weekend or holiday season.

Not thinking that we could surpass the beauty that we have seen over the last week – despite knowing our next destination – we finally moved further east to get to Venice (Camping Venezia Village 44 euro per night).

The campsite is located 10km outside the city and felt quite tranquil for the amount of time we actually spent there, most importantly though, Venice was easily accessible. We caught the bus in on Sunday afternoon after lunch to do a little reckie, having pre-registered online and paid our ‘tourist tax’ as you now need to do on certain dates, and set off to explore the non-central areas for fear of too many people enjoying the sunshine on a Sunday afternoon.

We were really pleasantly surprised as we managed to avoid the crowds right up until just before we left and came back towards the bus terminal. I took a huge amount of photos – of which I will only bore you with a few – most of which were completely free of people, we couldn’t have asked for more. We walked up and down the streets between canals, crossing bridges and finding little ‘Osterias’ and ‘Trattorias’ hidden away with people finishing their lazy Sunday lunch and soaking up a bit of afternoon sun.

Such a beautiful city with a wonderful shabby chic feel… it was lovely to be able to soak up the athmosphere as we walked and explored hidden corners of the city.

Whilst checking into the campsite on the Sunday we found that there was a bus and train strike between 8:30am and 16:30 the following day. Although we could get buses and trains outside these hours, it was obvious that they would be packed and as we had read that Venice is one of the most ‘unfriendly’ places for bikes that wasn’t our immediate option as it would normally have been.

You can’t take bikes further into Venice than the bus station and there weren’t any bikes chained up to railings, however whilst doing research previously we had seen that there was a secure bike storage place in one of the underground car parks so decided to try our luck.

Each box was 10 euros for 24 hours, so although not cheap for the short stay tourist like us – it was 25 euros for 30 days, which I guess would help encourage people to be ‘green’ – it meant that we could come into Venice and leave whenever we wanted to, having the confidence that the bikes were safe…. in our minds, 20 euros well spent.

Bikes parked securely, we set off to soak up more of the athmosphere and enjoy more of the beauty we had indulged the previous day.

Despite the mostly grey skies it was warm but not too hot, pleasant enough to explore the humid city without feeling overwhelmed. We walked towards St Marks Square, twisting and turning as we came to bridges and dead-ends, enjoying the architecture and noting the differences between the wealth close to it and further away.

Naturally it was busier as we got closer to St Marks Basilica and the main square, but to be honest, it really wasn’t too bad – we were lucky. We stopped for coffee and people watched which is always interesting, before continuing our walk through the market and out towards the university where once again the athmosphere changed.

Whilst people watching, and curious by the quantity of people drinking the ‘lucozade-like’ drink on the terraces- better known as Apero Spritz to most – I looked online to find that it was a drink developed in Venice in 1920’s, you learn something new every day, shame it took until 2019 to take off though!

A lovely couple of days exploring and enjoying the city along with its hustle and bustle, we are glad we finally made it after our first attempt nine years ago… apparently only about another 76 years until it will be under water and un-inhabitable.

And just to finish our short – but incredibly beautiful visit to Italy – a map of where we have been… we will try not to leave it nine years until we come back to visit this time!