Feel the love in secret gem Slovenia
HOW's your geography? Try this test. Open a map of central Europe, and point to Slovenia. Not easy, is it?
Took me a while. I knew it had been part of a much larger entity we used to call Yugoslavia in my schooldays.
This is troubling the hospitable people of Slovenia, one of Europe's youngest nations.
Their country, which celebrates the 18th anniversary of its independence next Thursday, has outstanding natural beauty.
They have so much to show us, so much potential for adventure. But most of us don't know where it is.
Their new catchphrase is, I Feel Slovenia, highlighting the word 'love' in the name.
Very apt, say tourists who have discovered it.
Brits I spoke to on my flight over told me they are drawn back to Lake Bled time and again.
When I saw it, I knew why.
Tranquil waters, snow-capped mountains, a grand castle towering 300ft above the lake, and a fairytale chapel on a small island. Enchanting.
More and more lovers are choosing to wed in the chapel or beside the lake, and, if your heart is set on marriage, I can't think of a more romantic setting.
My visit began in the north west of the country, in Kranjska Gora, in a spectacular steep-sided valley surrounded by mountains.
Proper mountains.
The highest, Triglav, is almost 9,000ft – more than twice the height of the UK's crowning glory, Ben Nevis.
It's a popular ski resort in winter and a paradise for climbers and hill-walkers in summer.
We were driven about 5,000ft up in the Triglav National Park and set free to roam across sunlit alpine meadows garlanded with spring flowers, through forests and beside gushing steams.
The hills are alive, for this is Sound of Music country: Austria lies only about three miles away on t'other side of the Julian Alps.
Our guide told us that most of the rivers, emerging from limestone, are clean enough to drink. That accounts for their vivid green colour.
We got a much closer look, and a taste, of those waters on a white-water raft trip down the River Soca.
We set out drifting placidly through a gorge, our skipper Christian breaking us in gently with occasional calls for a few strokes of paddling.
Then the river got faster. Then came wild swerves round the rocks.
"Paddle! Faster! Go, go, go!"
How can holes appear in water?
I couldn't figure that out, but appear they did, because we plunged down them, spinning wildly.
Paddling backwards took a lot of working out.
I thought a wet suit was meant to keep the water out, but I couldn't have been wetter if I'd fallen in.
We emerged soaked, but jubliant.
The oldest member of our party, in his 60s, hadn't fancied rafting, but he was wetter, and more excited, than anyone. He and I had both ended up face down in the bottom of the raft.
Back on dry land, our next venture was up into the mountains again.
With springtime temperatures well up in the 20s, you can't beat a snowball fight to cool down.
We were driven up the tortuous road over Prisank mountain – 24 hairpin bends up one side, 26 down the other – with a stop at the summit.
Back down in the lowlands, we moved to the shores of Lake Bled for the second part of our stay, calling en route at the Vintnar Gorge.
A wooden walkway winds between sheer rock faces, following the Radovna rapids more than a mile downstream to the roaring 50ft high Sum waterfall.
Our next stop was in the lowlands Karst region.
We Sheffielders know a bit about limestone caves, having grown up within easy reach of Castleton.
But the astounding caves of Postojna are something else.
The caves extend more than 12 miles, with huge, echoing cathedral-like chambers hung with vast stalactites and stalagmites.
The tourist section extends more than three miles, with almost two miles of railway to carry you into the depths.
The spindly Russian bridge spans a gaping chasm, and the huge chamber they call the Concert Hall can hold an audience of 10,000.
Sculptor Henry Moore was impressed.
"This is the best exhibition of nature's sculpture I have ever seen," he said in 1955.
Stunned by the grandeur, an American tourist was recently inspired to ask: "Who created these caves?"
Good question, madam.
In a vivarium, you can meet the bizarre Proteus, a lizard-like creature that evolved in the dark, redundant eyes hidden in its flesh.
Six miles from the caves, the amazing 700-year-old Predjama Castle stands in the mouth of a giant cave in a 360ft cliff.
Here, legend has it, lived the robber baron Erazem. A medieval tournament is staged in the grounds every July.
After all this adventure, it was pleasant to relax beside Lake Bled. A boatman rowed us out to the island, which has been inhabited since the 7th century BC. A trot up 99 steps brings you to the charming church of Mary the Queen.
The foundations of the Gothic Church and its 180ft bell tower were begun in the 15th century.
I dropped a clanger when I tried bell-ringing. Legend has it that if you can ring the bell rhythmically three times, while looking the statue of the Blessed Virgin in the eye, your wish will come true.
Mine hasn't.
Towering high above Lake Bled is the medieval Castle of Bishops, housing a quaint museum, where a 'monk' wielding a huge sword takes delight in educating you on the contents of the ample wine cellars – Slovenia has a strong tradition of making fine wine.
By the way, the locals are fond of welcoming you with a glass of blueberry schapps, a fiery tipple. Don't mix it with beer. I learned the hard way.
To walk off the fine food and drink, there's a pleasant four-mile stroll round Lake Bled. For more exercise, you can hire a mountain bike.
That gave us time to pedal round the lake and ride a couple of miles into the hills, through tiny villages of cute timber houses, in rolling, flower-bedecked meadows.
Finally, have you figured out where Slovenia is yet?
One of Europe's smallest nations, with two million people, it is bordered by Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary, having only 20-odd miles of Adriatic coastline, splendid though it is.
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Bill Auckland travelled with Crystal Lakes (visit www.crystallakes.co.uk or ring 0871 230 8180).
Holidays in Slovenia (Kranjska Gora, Lake Bled and the coast) from 662 per person per week in the four-star Hotel Park on Lake Bled, and from 588 in the four-star Hotel Kompass in Kranjska Gora, including flights with Adria Airways from Manchester to Ljubljana, half board.
The Discover Slovenia package includes a week half board in the Hotel Kompass, full-day excursions to the Julian Alps and Lake Bled, boat trip on Lake Bohinj, chairlift ride to Mount Vitranc, torch-lit walk to Lake Jasna. From 419, departing July 11 including flights.
See late deals at http://www.crystallakes.co.uk/specialoffers/specialoffers.html. Prices from 519 for a week in the Hotel Park, departing July 11.
Rafting: visit www.bovec.rafting.team@siol.net
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Friday 10 February 2012
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