6 days road trip in North Slovenia
After traveling down under for almost 20 months, with my girlfriend we decided to do two short road trips in our home Slovenia/Croatia region on our 1 month pit stop before the next more extensive travel and adventure; one in the mountains and one on the seaside. It is funny and fascinating at the same time, considering just how small Slovenia actually is, that we can every time go somewhere we have never been before, especially in the mountains.
Slovenia has 25 peaks higher than 2500m and over 200 that are higher than 2000m. For the first micro destination on the 3 day journey we selected Storzic (Cone Peak) with 2132m elevation and roughly just an hour away from the capital Ljubljana. We decided to sleep over just on the parking lot near the mountain cabin Dom pod Storzicem hoping for an early start.
Road trip in Slovenian mountains
The gravel road to the cabin is well maintained and on certain spots pretty steep, but that did not present any problem for Valter that climbed the road like an mountain goat! Of course, nothing feels warmer than the morning cuddle in the camper van and when we stepped out of the van, the parking lot was completely full (last night we were alone!) and some mountaineers were already coming back from the top. Well, we weren't in such a hurry. Taking the easier, more panoramic saddle route to the peak we needed around 6h to return to the cabin to treat ourselves with a beer and a schnaps, but just for medical purposes; beer to relax the tension of the muscles with amino acids and schnaps - the cold and sore throat prevention.
Spring is the best time for road trip
Next stop - Pokljuka plateau with pitstop in the already famous lake town of Bled. The National park center Triglav flower in Bled is worth a visit by itself, with plenty of useful maps and information about everything a hiking enthusiast needs to know about NW Slovenia and the Julian Alps. Ascent to Pokljuka from Bled takes around half of hour and from Pokljuka plateau there are infinitive options to hike and climb the mountains in Triglav National Park including the highest of them all-the godfather: 2864mTriglav (Treble Cone). But Triglav was not the goal of our visit, not this time, we were not quite prepared yet. Instead, we wanted just to spend the evening, night and morning in this really magical autumn porn environment and do a morning walk to shepherd huts on Konjscica mountain where they have hips of sheep's in the summer and make famous Bohinj cheese.
Morning was fresh, the pines smelled divine and we discovered that we were still pretty soared, in spite the beer medicine. Next stop -> Bohinj Lake and Vogar mountain. As one of the most pristine alpine villages on the way to Bohinj, we discovered to be the Srednja Vas in Studor. Houses and life tempo as it once was. One village bar, one groceries store and a lot of cows everywhere. As an afternoon goal we wanted to see the Bohinj lake (2nd Slovenian mountain lake jewel) from the Vogar mountain, great view point and another place of traditional shepherd hut architecture.
Lake Bohinj view from Vogar plateau
Such a relaxed place. Except the parking lot was not relaxed, the price for daily parking is 10eur! "Well, let's do it anyway": we said, while we had a brunch in the warm autumn sun. It was worth it; as well as the chilly dip in the Bohinj Lake afterwards. Water temperature was already below 15c, it was October after all .But again, it felt nice for the soared legs. Of course this treatment works more efficiently in addition with beer. We took a quick bite in our favorite restaurant Skarucna on our way home. The mountains are so beautiful in the autumn, but the water is cold. "Let's go to sea side", said Ana; "what do you think?"