by Kasia Nowicka
I had visited Slovenia once before, only briefly, driving through it towards another destination. Then, as most of us probably do, I didn’t think much of it. A small post-Yugoslavian country with a relatively expensive vignette for the motorways. Luckily, we were driving during the day (it took us less than two hours to cross the country) and I decided that this would be my next summer destination. I was amazed by the lush green carpet covering this mountainous part of the world, here and there embellished with a small red-roofed church. I felt snugly wrapped by that generosity of nature.
And here I was a year later, arriving at the small but well-organised airport of Ljubljana. We couldn’t miss the capital so ventured there right away even though I was more excited by the mountains and lakes. What I expected to see was yet another south-eastern European city; just more of the same – a mixture of Prague and Dubrovnik. What I saw was an elegant high-class city. Its spacious old town streets were trodden by mothers with latest-fashion buggies, visitors mingled with locals walking at the same pace; no tat, no rubbish, only order and welcoming cafes by the river banks.
Slovenians struck me as quite inventive when it comes to attracting and encouraging visitors to leave more money for the local economy. Today’s tourists need to be told what to do, what to get and eat to have the full experience of a place. The locals seemed to be very good at using their resources. At one of the most central places in the old town there is an open air fruit and vegetable market open Monday to Saturday. It’s huge and my head spun with the amount of delicious berries, ripe and juicy watermelons, fragrant tomatoes, variety of beans, lettuce; all fresh and locally grown. I wanted to buy and eat them all.
Kranjska klobasa (sausage) was another well marketed speciality of Slovenia. A type of sausage eaten in such countries as Germany or Poland has gained special respect by Slovenians and become a celebrity. At a sausage bar (klobasarna) with modern design one may taste warm sliced sausage with bread and mustard. I highly recommend it but what absolutely gained my respect was mlekomat – a fresh milk dispenser. I did not see a cow behind it but it claimed to sell fresh milk by different volumes. I regretted that I had no need for more milk at that moment.
Wanting to escape typical tourist traps, we headed north-west to see the two famous lakes. It was a real breather – fresh air, moderate temperature and clear water. First on the way was Lake Bled, the one with a picturesque island with a church in the middle of it. We decided to stay as close to nature as possible and went for the only camp site right by the lake. The few days we spent there, the weather behaved as it should in the mountains. Sometimes rain, sometimes sunshine, it allowed us to get engaged in a variety of activities. One of my favourites was a walk by the lake late in the evening. There was only the moon reflecting on the still water. Silence surrounded us as, surprisingly, mosquitoes were nonexistent. When the night shrouded the campsite situated in the midst of the woods, the hooting of an owl lulled us to sleep. After a rainy night, the morning woke us up with sunshine and beckoned to the small and grassy beach. I could not imagine a better backdrop to a water-play.
After my fiance rowed us to the island on the lake and back to shore, we changed the location to another picturesque water reservoir – Lake Bohinj. It is maybe less photographed but equally lovely, if not better. I do not know myself which one I would prefer – each of them have different qualities. The latter is bigger, it has more nooks and crannies where you can hide amid the trees and just absorb nature. The water is crystal-clear, and from it the mountains rise high above you. The only campsite’s restaurant offers delicious and good value food. After my favourite deer stew, we went to the beach which we were not able to enjoy for long. From behind the mountains dark clouds hovered and swiftly brought heavy rain. We persevered for a short time hoping that it would go as quickly as it came, but we soon found ourselves soaked through. Well, these are the mountain weather surprises that Mother Nature delights in inflicting!
As I craved some salt-water swimming, we headed for the Slovenian coast. Short as it is, I expected just an extension of the Croatian coast. And that was the downer – the seaside is nothing like the Croatian spacious beaches and access to water at every step. Since the coast is short, it is used well. The towns are crowded and the few beaches rammed. It was impossible to find a decent campsite. All of them were terribly crowded, with tents back to back to each other, with some of them fixed there permanently. As we arrived at the last one before Croatian border at Portaroz, we found space at the expense of noise. At night it turned out to be a stopover place for the young party goers. Before 10pm a cacophony of sounds surrounded us from every direction. The noise wasn’t too bad later on but we couldn’t wait to escape across the border.
My advice therefore is to stay inland when you are going to Slovenia. Unless you want to enjoy the culture the coastal towns possess, the Slovenian coast doesn’t have much to offer. Apart from the staple two lakes, there are plenty of picturesque small towns to visit and wonderfully natural beauty spots in Gorenjska and Central regions of Slovenia.