Discover the Best of Slovenia with Roundabout Travel
The tour started as soon as we were picked up by Luka from the meeting point near our hostel in Ljubljana. As we were driving around to leave the city, he told us a bit about the different buildings and parks and their history. Before we know it, we were already outside the foggy city, and mountains and clear skies came into view. It’s amazing that Slovenia’s natural wonders are just half an hour away from the city.
Bled Castle
Our first stop was Bled Castle, one of the oldest castles in Slovenia. The 12th century castle is perched on a steep cliff with spectacular views of Lake Bled and Bled Island.
There is an entrance fee of €11.
You will find a castle print shop, the Stolp (tower), a honey products shop, and a cafe in the lower courtyard while the wine cellar can be found in the middle courtyard.
The print shop has a reconstructed Gutenberg printing machine where you can watch a printing demo. Did you know that the terms ‘upper case’ and ‘lower case’ came from the layout of the ‘type cases’ used to hold the metal cast letters used for letterpress printing? The capital letters were stored in a case above the one holding the small letters which were more frequently used. Cool!
Bled Island/Lake Bled
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For €15, visitors are transported to and from Bled Island by a pletna – a traditional wooden flat-bottom boat. It is operated by a skilled oarsman who must be a descendant of the 23 families who have the ownership rights to operate the boats.
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Like most fairytale towns, Bled is rich in folklore. For example, they say that Bled Island was formed when God flooded the pastures in order to protect the chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary from the sheep that often grazed and wandered into the open chapel desecrating the place.
Upon reaching the island, one must climb 99 steps to reach the Church of the Mother of God (entrance fee is €6). It’s said that couples who wish to get married here must climb the steps with the groom carrying his bride without stopping or putting her down. If they are successful, then their marriage will also be successful. :p
Take note that you can opt to do just a half-day tour to Lake Bled, but we wanted to maximize our time to see the best of Slovenia and went with Roundabout Travel‘s full-day tour.
Before going back to Ljubljana to drop off the half-day joiner and pick-up another joiner for the afternoon tour, we stopped by a nearby arcade for lunch.
Predjama Castle
The afternoon tour started with a visit to Predjama Castle, a medieval castle integrated into a cave and ranks among the top 10 unique castles in the world. The name Predjama literally means “in front of the cave”.
The castle tour can take about an hour and an audio guide available in 17 languages is provided.
Postojna Cave
Last, but definitely not the least, on our tour was Postojna Cave, which is just about a 15-minute drive from Predjama Castle.
Postojna was discovered 200 years ago and is the largest show cave in Europe. It’s 24 kilometers long and only 20% is open to the public. It was formed by the Pivka River millions of years ago.
Like in Predjama, the tour is available in several languages and lasts for 90 minutes.
We first rode the electric underground train for 3.5 kilometers then walked along the footpaths (about 1.5 kilometers) for the rest of the tour. Would you believe we even passed by the Dance Hall with chandeliers? And I don’t mean karst formations that look like chandeliers, but Murano glass chandeliers! Electric lighting was first installed in 1884 preceding even the capital of Ljubljana.
We were fascinated by the stalagmites! Some are so old scientists can’t even date its official age. Other formations are so distinct they gained their respective monikers: Brilliant – a 5-meter-tall stalagmite that has a bright white color; Skyscraper – a 16-meter-tall stalagmite which is also the oldest; drapes or blankets; and noodles.
Before leaving the cave, we passed by the Vivarium to see the “baby dragons”. These are endemic species called olm. They’re blind and adapted to life in the dark so flash photography is prohibited. It has a lifespan of 100 years and can live without food for up to 10 years. Whoa!
The tour ended at the Concert Hall. With exceptional acoustics and sufficient space to accommodate 10,000 people, symphony orchestra and various soloists perform here. They even stage the traditional Living Nativity here during the festive season.
Postojna Cave truly is one of nature’s greatest masterpieces and definitely one of the best of Slovenia!
Few people come to Slovenia when they go to Europe, but I encourage you to visit. I promise it’ll be worth it. Some of the people we met at the hostel were extending their stays, and I wish we could have done the same!
To find out other activities and experiences you can do while in Slovenia and its neighboring countries, get in touch with Roundabout Travel and follow them on Instagram.
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