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Talk about places that surpass your expectations! Slovenia was always a place that slipped under the radar for us and we honestly only went there because we were passing through it on our way from Slovakia to Austria. When we realized the route was taking us that way we just decided on the fly to make an actual stop there and see what the country had to offer - it was completely worth it.
This was way at the beginning of our photography days and we were still shooting everything on our iPhones and the Mavic Air. It is such a fun trip down memory lane to look at these photos and remember how this all started for us. The composition was never that great, the editing is a bit rough and the quality is clearly no where near what our professional camera equipment now provides but Slovenia is so beautiful that it helps to distract from our lack of experience.
From the start, one of the things that impressed us was the hospitality of the people. Everyone that we came into contact with was extremely kind, helpful and overall just excited to see people visiting from a place outside of Europe. They have amazing food too, which is always a plus for us because we love to eat. You are definitely going to want to try the Carniolan Sausage, Prekmurian Layer Cake, and Struklji. We also found an amazing pizza place in Bled (Pizzeria Rustik) that served traditional, locally styled pizzas as well as the standard international favorites that we all know and love.
All delicious food options aside, you have got to check out the landscapes here. Slovenia is like a more relaxed Austria in our opinion: you have mountains, waterfalls, hiking, caverns, and beautiful landscapes, but it is affordable and there are far less rules (Austria is incredibly expensive). Our initial plan was just to spend a couple days in Bled but we ended up exploring a good amount of the surrounding area because we just couldn’t bring ourselves to leave. We spent two days hiking along different trails along the Soca River and found hanging bridges and semi-secret waterfalls tucked away into the rocky cliff walls. There is an endless amount of small, crystal clear pools and rivers that can be found here and you can certainly keep yourself occupied for more time than we spent here exploring. We also explored parts of the Triglav National Park and loved Kozjak especially. The waters here are so beautiful and make for the perfect backdrops.
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Bled proved to be an incredible launching point for exploring Slovenia and also had a lot of beautiful views to offer as well. No matter where we decided to run off to for the day we always returned to Bled to have a nice dinner and get a good night’s sleep. It has everything you might need so there was really no reason to stay anywhere else. The lake is definitely the draw for a lot of people and it is definitely worth seeing one day for yourself. There is an island with a large church built on it, remnants of old caste’s on the surrounding mountain tops and even a few hikes just along the lake’s edge that provide some incredible views of the small town.
We spent quite a few mornings wandering around the lake. There is a walking path that encompasses it perfectly and the morning light makes some incredible reflections on the surface. There are rowboats that you can rent in the early mornings and there are even tours that bring you to the island in the middle of the lake. We spent a lot of time just flying the drone all around the lake, taking photos and getting some videos. If you want to catch the good reflections you will want to be up early, however. As the day goes by the wind comes through and the water can actually get a little choppy in the afternoon. The sunrise colors are worth seeing so if even for just one morning, try to get up before the sun comes up.
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We have been to a lot of European countries but the charm and the untouched feeling of Slovenia seem to carry with us in our memories from the time we spent there. Other countries in Europe are definitely incredible, but Slovenia felt a little more special to us. We love when our upcoming destinations are more on the rugged, untouched side of the travel spectrum and we always look forward to getting photos in places that we haven’t seen online before. After doing some quick searches on the internet about Slovenia we were actually pleased when we didn’t really find a lot of blogs or posts that talked about it. We really only found things about Bled itself. If the coming year brings you to Europe for one reason or another, definitely look into this lesser known country. Book a stay in Bled and you will see exactly what we are talking about.
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