Koper Slovenia

Our guide, Graham was an Englishman who came to Slovenia, met his wife and has stayed to make this country his home. As part of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia has had a very chequered past, but we were very surprised by the countryside and culture. Bordering Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, Slovenia shows the influences of its neighbours – the architecture in the south is very Italian/venetian while the northern part is very Austrian – reminiscent of those snowy Christmas cards.

Our first stop was in the capital, Ljubljana (lew–be–arna) in the centre of the country, about an hour from the port – described a true art town because of the beautiful architecture – it was lovely to wander around the pedestrian streets, across the triple bridges and into the farmers market in the Town Square – stalls filled with all the local fruit, flowers and vegetables. The Town Square was surrounded by the Town Hall, picturesque homes and the Fountain of Slovia – inspired by bernini’s Four Rivers fountain in Rome. The coat of arms of the city is a castle surmounted by a dragon, and it is seen on buildings everywhere.

 It was cooler and started to rain, so a few purchases of jackets and umbrellas were in order. We had a great coffee while the rain eased, at the Vodnikov Hram café, in a lovely old building and then returned to the van to travel further north to Lake Bled.

OMG – what a beautiful sight – the water of this stunning lake is a clear turquoise colour, surrounded by pine trees – and on a rocky outcrop above the lake stands Bled Castle, which dates back to 1011. The photos tell the story much better than I can.

There is a steep walkway up to the castle which is surrounded by a high defensive wall, and three terraces. The views across the glacial lake from the castle are spectacular – in the centre is a small island with a medieval church – a picture which is famous worldwide and the site of many weddings. The tradition is that the groom must row the bride across the lake to the church and then carry the bride up the 300 steps to the church – wow!! A local cultural monument, this castle includes a museum, medieval chapel, café, printing works, wine cellar, ironworkers forge and reception centre – admission is 8 euros – well worth it just for the views.

We drove back down to the lake and walked around the lake and stopped for lunch at the Park Hotel deck overlooking the lake and its white swans. The two local specialities are Blueberry Snapps and Blejska Kremna Rezina -  the original Bled Crème Cake – a concoction similar to our vanilla slice – with layers of flaky pastry, vanilla custard, cream, and icing sugar – first developed in the 1950’s. I am reliably informed that both were delicious.

The daily special menu at the door was interesting – Crème cake with your choice of Southern Comfort, Muscat or cocktails – the cake was very sweet so these offerings were intriguing.

Back at the port, we had time for a walking tour of the walled old city, led by Graham. Since tourism makes a huge contribution to the economy, the old town is very similar to those in every other city around here – souvenir shops, cafes and bars, all crammed into the previous castle spaces. We did find a lovely shop selling salt products, since Koper is the site of a large salt pan. As well as flavoured cooking salts, there were all variety of handmade body scrubs – I loved the lemon and ginger scrub – smelled so refreshing.

Some local vendors had set up alongside the ship, and a cultural shop was in full swing – we danced our version of a polka?? to the upbeat music. One stall was giving away tastes of local wines – not really to my taste but we did buy a glass because they were so friendly.

Another great day in scenic country that I would come back to in the future – an unexpected delight.

Captain, throw off the lines and let us head back to Croatia, Split looks interesting……