To Bovec

Up early to put money in the parking meter, off to breakfast.  Had a vist to the castle then got on the road to Bovec.  We decided to take the scenic route which was a unanimous decision but by the time we arrived at our motel at 5pm was a decision which some may have had second thoughts about considering the narrow roads and the traffic traveling towards us taking more road than they deserved.
But what a drive it was, we quickly headed in to the mountains, through little towns where the roads were one car wide, into, up and over winding mountain, some with very little safety features like guard rail.  The scenery was of course spectacular but because of the nature of the road, gave us very few opportunities to stop and take photos - you'll just have to listen to all our stories when we get home.
We managed to stop a couple of times and saw some precarious bridges, cold clear mountain streams full of trout and towering rocky ranges which seemed to go up forever.  At one point we could see hang-gliders and paragliders high above the cliffs just cruising around, must have been 50 in the air.
We got to Bovec and were given a very friendly welcome.  The hotel is right on one of those streams with the water coming straight off the glaciers.  We told the receptionist we were going for a swim - she looked at us as if we were crazy (a prophecy which may have been somewhat correct).  Anyway we decided to risk it and were very glad we did, very bracing, it was so cold it hurt.  We jumped in and swam around for about 10 minutes, there was a bit of a breeze and it was much warmer out of the water than in.  We found out later the water was 14 degrees, after we estimated it at anywhere between 4 through to 12 (we're still sure it was MUCH colder than 14).  We headed back to have a cold beer before tea.  While having a beer we did The Australian quiz and after Frank and Belinda (and all their combined guests) have only ever achieved 7 out of ten over the last few years, we actually got 8/10 TWICE.  Must have been the cold water freeing up our brain cells.
Taxi picked us up at 7.30 and we went to tea at Hisa Franko, the chef there (Ana Ros) as been subject of a documentary on Netflix and about a month ago won the award for the best female chef in the world.  We had an 11 course degustation meal accompanied by wine chosen to suit each dish.  The best meal I've ever experienced with such a range of flavours from the duck, sardine, cuttle fish, tripe, rabbit (and more) and finishing with a couple of sweet desserts.  Shame to have a sandwich for lunch today!!
All in all we think it has been the best day of the holidays, in no small part because of the great company and fine food and stunning scenery.

Early morning walk along the river

Breakfast on the river

At the Three Bridges

Up to the castle

On the funicular

Jail

Ceiling of the prison chapel

The moat

Stairs up to the tower

The view from the tower

Our house - the last white one just left of centre.

An old friend found in Ljubljana

On the road - found a little bridge

Over a creek

Clear, clean water

We didn't drive over this one - not even sure it was safe to walk over.

But is it safe???

 

The 'wannabe' stone skippers

Getting an education on the finer points.

Came upon a few mountains

 

 

Beehives

Another bridge

Beautiful scenery

In for a swim

Out for tea at Hisa Franko