600 Stairs to Slap Savica in Triglavski Narodni Park

The 600 stairs to the waterfall Slap Savica had us wondering why in the world we took them. After all, we knew there would only be a small stream because it is summer. And yet, up and up we went. What we didn't know is that the entire way was stairs. But, we don't give up easily and the workout is good. The waterfall was definitely underwhelming, but the green pool below it was pretty.

The hunk of Prekmurska Gibanica "cake" was completely justified after those stairs. This mouthful of yum was an unusual (to us) combo of layers containing a cottage cheese filling, poppy seed filling, walnut filling, and apple filling done twice, with phyllo dough in between the layers. It was served warm with a side of whipped cream. Wow!

Taking the cable car up to Vogel Ski Center was next. In summer, it is a hiking center. After the stair climb, we were not eager to take any more hikes. But the views from the Rjava skala viewpoint of the eastern Julian Alps and of Lake Bohinj, the largest glacial lake in Slovenia, were spectacular.

St. John the Baptist church, c. 1300, was the last quick stop we made before calling it a day. It was a hot day and many people were taking advantage of Lake Bohinj. It looked very tempting!

Vintgar Gorge Hike and the Apiculture Museum

It's finally the right day for our entry into the Vintgar Gorge. After the previous day, we knew exactly what to do and we're even early! (Read the previous entry to understand why.) However, the QR reader was more than happy to tell us that we were TOO EARLY!  Once the time hit nine, we were allowed in (along with at least 50 other people). With our required helmets, we're off to walk the boardwalks over one of nature's masterpieces. We even saw some fish hanging out. 

The King Triglav trail was the one we chose to walk out on vs. the forest trail. Nevertheless, it headed uphill through a forest for quite some time. After all that effort, we decided a splurge on a piece of the Bled region specialty, kremšnita (cream cake) was in order. It is made with a thin golden crispy butter crust, topped with vanilla cream of exactly the right consistency so that it does not collapse after cutting and layered with whipped cream, plus a final layer of butter crust and a dusting of icing sugar. It went down fast along with the sparkling water.

No calories were counted, especially since the rest of the hike was in 90 degrees and no shade on a dusty trail. But the views of the valley were lovely! 

Showers back at the AirBnB felt darn good. With our energy restored, we walked to the charming downtown of Radovljica to visit the Museum of Apiculture - which means bees to you and me. Son, Blake, has bee hives and I was interested to see the Slovenian approach.

It is a very well done museum with a lot of informative displays in both Slovenian and English.

I was particularly interested to see bee hive door art. There were several displays of different themes and all were obviously done by talented artists.

Protecting and respecting apiculture is important to Slovenians. As we walked around the cute town, we saw several activity displays to especially educate children. More places in the world should consider doing this sort of thing to save these industrious, endangered, and critically needed insects. 

Lake Bled, the Mother of God church, and the Zippy Toboggan

 I'm pausing the blog about Sicily (I plan to get back to it!) and switch to Slovenia and our upcoming Rick Steves' Adriatic Tour. We've come a week early to see and experience the things that won't be covered by the tour. While the tour will go to Lake Bled, we wanted extra time to see other things covered in Rick's travel book. Even though I start out with photos of the Mother of God church on the island in the lake, we will get to see it again. Maybe we'll even take a pletna boat out to it. We did walk the 3.5 miles around the lake and made some images...and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

The scenic Vintgar Gorge is a very popular activity and sight in the area. I had reserved 9 a.m. entry tickets online at home in order not to miss out. We ended up taking a dry run by driving there, parking in lot P1, riding the shuttle bus and scanning our tickets in the QR code reader only to have the readout tell us that we "are a day early for entry." What?! My jet-lagged mind said that today was the day but my carefully crafted and detailed itinerary (which I did not consult first) said that it was actually tomorrow. We switched to plan B and decided to take not one but three rides down the toboggan at Straža Bled. We have been known to enjoy a bit of adventure and speed. Plus, the views from up on the mountain of Lake Bled and the castle were amazing.

We rode a chairlift up to the top where the toboggan track starts (seen in the photo).

Ready to fly!

There goes Bob!

He is still smiling at the end!