Ljubljana; Sunday, 03 August, 2014

I’d booked onto a tour called “Slovenia in one day” which is a pretty talk ask, even for a relatively small country. In reality it only covered a chunk of the Western part of the country, but did include most of the top five tourist attractions.

I was picked up by the tour guide just before 8 and after collecting the four other members of the party we headed North West out of the city along the deserted Sunday morning roads. We had a clear and smooth journey all the way up to Bled in the North West of the country and it’s imposing and spectacular lake.

We parked in the grounds of Tito’s former summer residence, now a very exclusive hotel, and joined up with another tour group to take one of the small wooden boats that ply the lake over to the island located just off shore. The island houses a church which has been a site for pilgrimage for centuries, but the real reason for going over was for the stunning views of the lake, castle and surrounding mountains that can be had from there.

As we were so early we were the first people over to the island so had the space to ourselves for a few minutes of peace and tranquillity, but looking out over the lake it was clear to see, that like a Viking army, hordes of tourists were rowing towards the island.

After a quick photo stop on the edge of the lake we drove round and up to the impressive Bled castle that is located on a rocky outcrop at the edge of the lake and had a quick tour round there, before driving back down into town for an early lunch lakeside.

Lunch over it was back in the mini-bus down the motorway, past Ljubljana and on down to the South Western corner of the country and the castles and caves of the Karst region. First stop was the castle at Predjama, built into a massive cave system, halfway up the side of a cliff.

From the castle we drove back into Postojna to visit the amazing caves that are located there through a torrential downpour. After the 90 minute tour of the cave system, which included a 4.5Km ride into the caves (that’s how large they are) on a small train, we emerged back into a gloriously sunny afternoon.

A relatively short drive back up the motorway and we were back in Ljubljana just after 6. After dropping my stuff off at the hotel I headed out for dinner, before, exhausted from a long day, returning to the hotel for an early night.