Slovenia Alps, Lake Bohinj, Lake Bled, Toboggan Rides, Birthday Celebrations

Like my previous visit to Dolenja Vas, we had a lovely breakfast provided by the innkeepers – eggs, breads, cheese, meats, cereal, milk, coffee, etc. After breakfast, Jože came to meet us as the gostilna. We decided to take one of the vans and then Jože’s car. We first drove to the farm house to see where our great grandparents were from. We spent some time with Ivan (Johnny) & Majda, who live and work on the farm. We had potica that Majda has made and they walked us around the farm. Majda was in love with Savannah… but honestly who isn’t!

We then started our trek towards the Slovenian Alps. The roads winded through small towns with some sections barely fitting one car. We stopped in Zelezniki to see the oldest preserved blast furnace and kilns with a pyramidal core and square chimney stack – the only one of its kind in Slovenia. The remains of the last mighty blast furnace, used for smelting iron-ore, known to be the only preserved furnace of its kind in Europe. This was located in a cool square with a giant chess set and hopscotch (of course, I had to challenge the kids to a hopscotch race… let’s just assume I won! Ha!)

We climbed up the mountains and went down the mountains and on the edge of mountains! It was quite an adventure… some did better than others in the car! We stopped along the way for photo ops. We saw a lot of people out torturing themselves (this might also be known as exercising) – many of them were on roller skis and bikes – not sure if the downhill or uphill would be worse!

We made it to Vogel Mountain! We took the cable car up to top for an amazing view and enjoyed a lunch. There were too many of us so we had to split up over many tables. After lunch, the kids and I walked around some of the park – they had some neat rock art and fun things to stand on. We of course had a photo shoot with the beautiful Alps in the background!

Next stop was Lake Bohinj! We had driven by on our way to Vogel but didn’t stop. This time we did stop. We quickly parked illegally and ran over to get a photo with the Zlatorog, or Golden Horn, a statue that guards the shores of Lake Bohinj. The water wasn’t too cold and there were lots of people out and about (this is a heavy tourist area).

We got back in the vehicles and headed towards Lake Bled. We found parking and walked towards the area to get on the plenta boat loading area. On our walk, we found this neat heart structure that we just had to get our picture with. The traditional way to reach the lake's island is by a pletna boat, which resembles a huge gondola. The entire trip takes 90 minutes, including 60 minutes of rowing and 30 minutes on the island. Once we arrived on the island, the girls and I went into the church and rang the bell then climbed the bell tower. There was a cute gift store on the island where some of us purchased a few souvenirs. On the boat, Jože tried teaching us Slovenian words – honestly, I can’t remember any of them!

After returning back, we walked over to a toboggan hill so that the kids (which this time included Ashley, Kathy, and Elaine) could ride a toboggan down. We first had to ride up to the top of the hill in a ski lift. This provided one of the best views of Lake Bled. We each had to ride down in our own toboggan that was pulled down by gravity and all we had was a handbrake to slow us down. It was pretty exhilarating. The pictures of us coming down are hilarious with faces from fright to fun!

We then headed back to the gostilna for dinner in their back area – this setting is enchanting. Without Shelby’s knowledge, we planned a little surprise. After dinner, Johnny brought out a cake that had Happy Birthday in Slovenia in it. They even sang happy birthday to her in Slovenian and the rest of us sang to her in English. What a full day it was!

Savannah and I decided to have a sleepover in my room. We watched some television… good thing it was in English with Slovenian subtitles. After the day we had, we quickly fell asleep for a peaceful night.