Vintgar Gorge and back to Ljubljana

After miraculously cheating death on the open water yesterday we woke we renewed vigour and energy, walked to one of the cafes on the lake and ate a hearty breakfast of champions.  Packed the car and headed for Vintgar Gorge.  This is a gorge known well enough that it has hundreds of entries on Google you would think the road there would be fairly easy to navigate?  Through a bit of farmland, cutting through little villages where the road narrows to admit just one car through at a time while large coaches navigate past the car with all inside breathing in and waiting for the impact.  We did however find the carpark without too much trouble, just 9 kilometres from Bled.

Any anxiety we felt during the drive was quickly expelled as we entered the gorge.  It is a narrow section of mountain which a stream has cut away, leaving the most picturesque walk I’ve ever seen.  The walkway looks like it was built in the 1800’s, mostly of timber, crisscrossing the water as you head down river.  We took hundreds of photos but they really can’t display the changes in temperature as you walk around another corner or the noise of the rushing water washing over rocks, the mist and fallen timber.  The amazing changes of colour in the water and of the vegetation made it a kaleidoscope as we walked the 1.6 kilometres along the length of the gorge.  Because the walkway zigzags back and forth along the gorge we are sure the walk is well over 2 kilometres.  Lots of trout in the water, it has been reported that there may be some Czech pike also in the stream but we failed to see any this time around.  We walked back at about 11.00, just in time to meet busloads of tourist coming in, thank goodness we got there before the crowds started.

It was a huge disappointment when we had to return to the car and take Frank and Belinda to the Ljubljana airport so they could return to Prague.  They seemed happy to go back home and work??!!  We were so happy they arranged the Hisa Franko dinner (which was a highlight in itself), but it also encouraged us to take in more of Slovenia which has been some of the best sightseeing days of the trip.

We came back to Ljubljana for the night, booked in to the hotel and made inquires about a laundry.  The first one we were directed to didn’t operate weekends, the second had closed down, the third did only guests laundry, the forth didn’t exist, the fifth one was closed.  It was stinking hot and we’d just done the laundry walking tour of Ljubljana.  We gave it up and went back to the hotel to recuperate.  Decided ice cream would fix everything, found an ice cream shop, all is well in the world again.  We then tempted fate by doing a 30 minute cruise on the river, nice and cool down there, very pleasant.  It’s been hot enough for a storm and sure enough there was one brewing.  I know you’re waiting for a story of wild weather, ship wrecks and mayhem, I’m going to disappoint you, calm as a cucumber today.

Got back to the hotel, showered, changed (into our last set of clean clothes) and went down for a soothing ale.
Walked to town, had dinner and a gelati, staggered home overfed and overnorished. 

Slaps on the backs all round following our traumatic sailing experience.

The following photos are of Vintgar Gorge - I'm sure they are not in the right order - but you get the idea!!!!

Back to Ljubljana

Dragon Bridge

There is a square in town near the Triple Bridge which has a sprinkler strung high above it, keeping the locals and tourists a bit cooler on those hot days.

Ready for another cruise - smiling now?

Ljubljana by night