Bled, Bohinj Valley and the Julian Alps

I have been staying in Bled, which is about 30mins outside of Ljubljana. This is the area where the locals leave the city in droves every weekend, and come out to climb, canyon, paraglide, or adventure sport of some kind. I have to say - I like the Bohinj and Julian Alps area a lot more than I like Bled! I suppose Bled has more infrastructure, but the Alps *wow*.

(Of course, this morning, when I was about to leave Bled, the weather cleared, and the mountain behind the castle, which I have only ever been able to make out a faint bit of the slope turned on all its glory. I could actually see the summit. I like Bled now. I'm shallow like that.)

Went to Bohinj yesterday by bus, one of the accessways into the Julian Alps, and it was amazing. We were following the Lonely Planet guidebook, so from when the bus dropped us off, we walked up a local hill 'Peč', for what the book called a picture postcard view.

And the view was amazing, it was so beautiful; even the walk through a rainy damp forest was beautiful. Lots of limestone around, and little sinkholes in the ground. I think that kind of terrain is called 'Karst'?

So yesterday and the day before, I spent walking around lakes. Lake Bled two mornings ago, followed by a local speciality, a cream and custard slice - then to walk that one off, I walked up to the castle. There was a bit of a pergola there, so had lunch, then sat like a little old granny, with my pashmina wrapped around me and admired the view whilst listening to music.

So yesterday, I walked up Peč hill (about 2.5 hrs return), then around Lake Bohinj, with a pause to ride the cable car to the top, have lunch, and walk around. It cost 10 euro return, but the view up there was so amazing, I think it was worth it. Walked the pretty side of the lake after we came back down, and were walking really really fast near the end, because we were trying to make to 18.50 bus back to Bled. If we had missed that one, it would've meant an hour wait in the dark, and that would have sucked.

I want to come back to Vogel in the wintertime to ski! (I know, Japan is closer to Australia, and less of a time difference, but Japan doesn't have the Julian Alps!)

Of course, we ate off all the hard work of walking around the lakes, by having a big dinner at the end of it. I got the grilled trout 'trieste style' two nights ago, and it was so good, that I had it again last night. Plus a side dish of roast potatoes (so crunchy, I'm sure that there was some frying involved). Fantastic!