This is our pitch in Bled, a pretty site situated in a steeply sided valley with lots of trees.
Whereas Bled is a rather manicured destination ( but no less enjoyable for all that) Bohinj is far more as nature intended and we loved the camping at Zlatarog which although basic had all that we needed. This was such a beautiful spot, it is very peaceful and all you could hear in the morning are the birds and the falls. The lake is about 12 kms round trip and it is possible to walk part and take the lake steamer back to our camp site.
Traditionally this looks like more of a winter sports destination but the adventure sports are here now ( see below) and also there has been a new venture called the Wild Flower Festival which was in its second oyear when we visited. The area has wonderful spring flowers and the festival has a series of events, all loosely connected with wild flowers to attract the tourist – these could be escorted walks through the meadows, horse riding or photo courses for example. The events all look really interesting and I believe are all in English. A great place to visit in late spring and there were quite a few Brits about.Have a look at this site for details of the event in 2009 www.bohinj.si/alpskocvetje/eng to get a better idea of the place and the activities.
One day we went out on our bikes to Ribčev Laz ( the nearest town to us) – past the nicely named Adrenalinski Park where they did climbing, high-rope thingies etc. – and then on through Stara Fužina to Studor. Once beyond Ribčev Laz we were into a beautiful Alpine valley full of wild flower meadows, with towering cliffs each side and circling raptors. There were also a few peasants cutting the hay and loading it into the racks which had puzzled us earlier. Not sure that you could call them real peasants when they have a newish car parked in the field and the hay cutting is being done by tractor. Slovenia is clearly a much richer country than Croatia.
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Near Studor there are a lot of traditional two-storey barns and we also visited an excellent little museum – Oplen House – which is a traditional house where the sheep lived in the basement and the people lived above. It was locked when we arrived but the caretaker lived next door and was just passing so he opened up for us and explained – in broken German – the various bits. The kitchen – with no chimney – was wonderfully blackened and had a built-in boiler for cooking pig food. In the next room there was a bed on top of the back oven which would have kept you decently warm in winter, and all of the bits required to go from sheep to cardigans – carding tools, spinning wheel and loom. In the bedroom was the smallest double bed we have ever seen. In the final room Gregor Resman – the caretaker – had set up a bar selling his home-made schnapps. Sheila tried the pine variety while Gilroy had the pear type – bottoms-up style. Reckon the pine was best.
