Slovenia is a hidden gem! Very untouched and less touristy then the other countries we have been to. We took the train from Budapest to the capital city of Ljublijana (pronounced LUBE-LEE-YAWNAH) but in doing so we had our first major “oh shit” moment. We got to the train station early, per usual, in Budapest and were waiting at the track for our train. We hopped on a train that arrived a couple minutes early since in the past, our international trains had arrived early. The train seemed older, smaller, and empty. Something felt wrong right when we got on but it started to move thirty seconds after we got on. We asked the ticket guy if the train was heading to Ljubljana and he shook his head no. Al and I looked at each other in panic as to how we could have gotten on the wrong train. But our panic subsided when the ticket guy told us this train had the same first stop as the Ljubljana one so we could just get off and switch trains. Thank goodness! I’m not sure what we would’ve done otherwise. The rest of the train ride (eight hours in total) went smooth.
We checked into our hostel in Ljubljana which ended up basically being transformed from someone’s old apartment. It was only three rooms, and had one toilet and one shower. We had to walk through the other dorm room to get to ours. But it was very clean and was perfect for an overnight sleep. We wandered around the city, which was smaller, cleaner, less crowded and still very charming with restaurants and bars lining the river.
The next morning we woke up fairly early and walked to a nearby hotel to rent a car. We prayed they would get our reservation right and have an automatic, since us Americans don’t drive stick shift and luckily they got it right. We got into our Volkswagen Polo and started our 2.5 hour drive to Bovec. On the way, we stopped at Lake Bled and walked around the lake and climbed up to the castle overlooking it. We were lucky to get some sunshine. It was very picturesque.
We got back in the car and continued our drive to Bovec. (Quick shoutout to my Uncle Bob and cousin Jamie who went to Slovenia years ago and posted some awesome pictures which influenced my desire to visit. We might not have known about Bovec otherwise.) We had to drive through Italy and were surprised how easy it was to drive back and forth between countries. There wasn’t even a checkpoint (think driving to Tijuana and back). It was a very curvy route but very scenic. We got there pretty quickly and checked into our hostel (one of two in the little town). It instantly reminded us of a “Mammoth” like town but much smaller. The main focus of the area is adventure sports - river rafting, kayaking, zip lining, etc. in the summer and skiing and snowboarding in the winter. Everyone at the hostel was very friendly and it was very cozy and cabin like. Unfortunately, we didn’t have charging ports, Wi-Fi, or lights close to our beds, so we spent a lot of time in the common room and ended up playing cards every night with some friends we made. They were from New Zealand, Australia, and Germany and knew how to play Oh Shit/Hell and Euchre which we were super surprised/excited to discover! The first night the Eurobasket cup was also on the TV in our hostel bar as Slovenia was playing Spain in the semi finals and they won! This was a big deal since Slovenia only has around 2 million people in the whole country and Spain is a really good team. It was fun getting to witness all the local Slovenians cheer as the game ended.
Our first full day in Bovec, we went river rafting on the Soca river. This is one of the main reasons we came after seeing pictures of the blue-green river water which we learned was from algae and limestone particles. Unfortunately, Bovec had a lot of rain before and during our time there so the water was a little muddy and less colorful, but it actually made for better rapids river rafting. Our rafting guide was a Bovec local so we enjoyed talking to him and our crew consisted of one raft with four British guys and a guy from Armenia. Luckily, it didn’t rain while we were on the river but we still froze. Very glad we did it though! After rafting, we drove and explored two waterfalls in the area - the Boka and Virje - which were fully flowing!
The last day in Bovec, we were awoken to music on a loudspeaker as the Bovec Marathon was taking place. It was also pouring rain and there was loud thunder and lightning so we were very impressed at the turnout of runners. We had a lazy morning and walked over to watch the start of the race. Bovec is very much an outdoor town so it was a bummer it was raining but we managed to stay active and did a workout in our hostel room and went on a walk with umbrellas. We stumbled upon the Ravelnik Open Air Museum - which was a free outdoor museum which consisted of preserved WWI defenses with bunkers, caves, and trenches. The dark, damp bunkers were super creepy! Especially because we were the only ones there checking it out in the rain. Stepping into one you can’t help but picture every horror movie you’ve watched. It was funny that we randomly stumbled upon it.
We woke up early on Sunday to drive back to Ljubljana since we needed to return our car. We ended up driving our friends from New Zealand since public transportation wasn’t as frequent from Bovec (during our stay we also found out they are only 19…which made us feel super old). We drove back a different way then we came which turned out to be very narrow and windy. There were a couple turns where we questioned our safety. The thick fog layer also made it tough but Al did a great job driving and we returned our car early so we wouldn’t be charged an extra day.
All in all, we both agreed we need to come back to Bovec again in the summer so we can do more hiking and outdoor activities when there is less likelihood of rain. We loved spending some time away from the hustle and bustle of a capital city and were overall very impressed with Slovenia and the people we met here. Would definitely recommend it!
On to Croatia! Hopefully we get good weather for the National Parks and beaches!