I sLOVEnia!

When I first told my Taylorsville family that I was going to be spending a year teaching in Slovakia, Eric (the dad), asked me in his strong southern voice, "Now, why would you want to go to Slovenia?" I laughed at him and told him that I wasn't going to SLOVENIA. I was going to SLOVAKIA. For the next few months until I left, Eric continued to ask me every time he saw me why I wanted to go to Slovenia. No matter how many times I corrected him, the question remained the same.

Guess what, Eric? After this weekend, I can tell you why everyone should want to make a trip to Slovenia : )

On Friday, we left Tisovec for our last big trip of the year. After school, we hopped on a bus to Bratislava and then rented a car to ROAD TRIP the rest of the way.
Our route led us through most of Austria before we crossed the border into Slovenia.

We arrived at Lake Bohinj some time in the middle of the night on Firday. On Saturday, we woke up early and drove a couple of towns over to Bled. Lake Bled is one of the most famous and picturesque sites in Slovenia. This area is well-known in Central Europe for hiking, biking, and rowing. The lake is surrounded by the Julian Alps --- which are so high there was still snow on them in the middle of June!

We had a picnic brunch and dangled our feet in the lake water. Lake Bled is home to many birds. This is the swan who thought he could snag part of my sandwich.



After brunch, we spent the morning walking around Lake Bled. The weather was picture perfect.

This is the church in the center of the lake.



In this picture, you can see one of the peaks of the Julian Alps behind the church.



This is the castle that guards the lake.



In the afternoon, we hiked through Vintgar Gorge. The hike was beautiful --- the path was actually a series of raised bridges that wove back and forth over a river.



Because of the mineral deposits and high sulfur content in the sediment, much of the rivers and lakes in Slovenia have a goregous bluish-green tint.



Check out that white water!



This is the waterfall (or SLAP as it's called in Slovenian) at the end of the hike.



Later that evening, we walked around Lake Bohinj.



The next morning, we woke up early enough to catch the tail end of the sunrise on the lake and then we made the short drive to Italy so that we could have gelatto for breakfast.

This is the view from above the Italian coastal city Trieste.



And this is a typical narrow Italian street. I love the stucco. And I love gelatto.



From Trieste, we meandered our way back through Slovenia and into Austria until finally we were back in the SK.

Slovenia was on my radar until Eric West mentioned it (repeatedly) before I left for Europe. And to be honest, I jumped at the chance to go to Slovenia simply so I could tell him all about why someone would want to go there. And I am so glad that I went. Slovenia has one of the prettiest countrysides in Europe. I am ready for Eric to ask how my time in Slovenia was : ).