Slovenia - Week 45

Monday 22nd April

We stayed at the little stellplatz at Markovci on Easter Monday and on Tuesday morning we peeled ourselves away and drove the few miles up the road to Slovenia’s oldest town Ptuj (p-too-ee).
After reading the following in Lonely Planet, we knew we had to visit ...

Rising gently above a wide valley, Ptuj forms a symphony of red-tile roofs best viewed from across the Drava River. One of the oldest towns in Slovenia, Ptuj equals Ljubljana in terms of historical importance. The compact medieval core, with its cobblestone alleys rimmed by interesting facades, scattered with ornate monasteries and topped by a grand whitewashed castle, may be easily seen in a day, but the laid-back ambiance, cafe culture and great hotels may convince you to base yourself here for a while longer ...

We parked on some waste ground and walked across the bridge over the river. Although the weather was a bit dull, we had a great view of the old town. 

We walked up the steps to the castle to admire the views 

and wandered back again looking at the architecture. 

We visited the old monastery where they had stone carvings on display from the 15th Century. 

A market was just packing up but the few people that were left were selling some unusual things. 

The wildflowers and blossom were just beautiful.

We had coffee in one of the many coffee shops and used their free WiFi to download some more TV from Netflix, before driving back to Celje for the night. 

On the way we stopped for some lunch, one of our favourites, mushrooms cooked in butter, garlic and Suha Sunka (think thin bacon) on toast!

We were wowed by our first glimpse of Lake Bled. I’m sure we are going to run out of superlatives, trying to convey how stunningly beautiful it is. We pulled into the campsite, Camping Bled, a stones throw from the lake and checked in. Although we only wanted to stay 2 nights, there was a special April offer on for 3. Not one for missing special offers we booked for 3. But as much as we wanted to go out and explore, there was washing and blogging to do. We did manage a walk around the edge of the lake after tea though.

We woke up on Thursday morning to brilliant sunshine, so we put the whirligig up and pegged the washing out. 

Whilst I caught up with some more blogging, Andy made his signature lunchtime cuisine, using international ingredients... 
Irish cheddar (found in all Lidl supermarkets everywhere).
Italian tinned chopped tomatoes (found in every shop in Europe).
American toasty bread (not sure why it’s called American?
English HP sauce (made in the Netherlands) we buy it when we see it! Yum!!

After dinner, we walked around the stunningly beautiful Lake Bled, admiring the church and clock tower on top of the little island in the middle of the water as we went. 

We marveled at the castle on top of the rocks in the distance and the snow capped mountains behind.

We took a trip to the island in one of the traditional Pletna boats 

and walked up the 99 steps to the church. 

We paid to go into the church

Rang the wishing bell 

and then walked up another 90 steps to the top of the clock tower. 

The views of the lake were just gorgeous. 

 And in the distance we could see the campsite.

We asked the oarsman if he would take a photo of us which he obliged. 

 And then he rowed us all back to the shore.

He informed us that the weather was about to change, and snow was forecast. One of the great things about being in a Motorhome is that you can follow the sun if you want to.

So back on the shore we stopped for a drink and a piece of traditional Bled cream cake. 

So back on the shore we stopped for a drink and a piece of traditional Bled cream cake. (Good job we only had one piece between us as we weren’t very keen on it if I’m honest) and then strolled back around the gorgeous lake to get rid of the calories lol

Friday morning we drove the short distance to Vintgar Gorge. We paid the parking attendant €5 and parked up and paid to enter the gorge.

From now on, we’re going to call the place Vintgar Gorgeous. Wandering along the side of the river on the man made board walk was wonderful. They criss crossed the river as we walked down to the end, to give us different views of this stunning place. Ducks paddled in the shallows and the colours of the flora and the river itself were amazing. All you could hear was the sound of rushing water and bird song. It was Mother Nature at her best!!

We returned to Camping Bled for the last time and treated ourselves to a meal in the camp restaurant.

We left on Saturday morning and headed to Lake Bohinj.

The weather wasn’t too good (and neither was the forecast). So instead, we went Truckin’n’lookin.

We had a bit of fun in between the rain showers and hailstones, doing a photoshoot with Harriet lol. We took her mountain climbing up to 1250m, through some gorgeous scenery and even found some snow!

We drove all the way to the UNESCO town of Idrija.

We found a parking area for the night which turned out to be a stones throw from the tourist attraction we’d gone to visit. We went for a walk around the industrial town to get our bearings.

We woke up to liquid sunshine but luckily we had an indoor attraction planned. We were visiting the 2nd largest mercury mine in the world, and until WW1 was one of the best technically equipped mines in Europe. We learnt how poisonous the heavy metal was and how dangerous it was to mine.

We also had a tour around the Ore Foundry to learn how they extracted the mercury from the Ore.

As a dental nurse (many years ago), we used to handle mercury to mix with silver powder to make amalgam for fillings. If we spilt some, we would just push it into the sink and down the plug hole. Little did we know how poisonous it was.

The town is also famous for lace. The miners wives would make lace to supplement their husbands wages. There was a “lace trail” to follow but because of the weather we didn’t go. A good reason to return I think!