Portorož, Postonja, and Bled

Slovenia has a limited coastline on the Adriatic Sea on its west side and it is very picturesque. I drove towards Portorož from Ljubljana. It is a distance of about 80 miles due southwest of Ljubljana. As it was the Labor Day holiday, it brought a lot of Slovenians on the road.

The mountains and houses on hills strewn all throughout the drive made for a very pleasant and scenic drive, however, when I reached the hotel for the night, I discovered it was in the old town that had no driving access.

I tried finding a parking spot close by, just like the other local holiday makers, and kept increasing the search radius until I found one in a multi-level underground garage. The garage was extremely cramped with very narrow entrances leading from one underground floor to the other. The big Audi station wagon I was driving made the parking job too difficult because I had to drive down five subterranean levels.

As soon as I walked to the water, I was rewarded with very beautiful views of moored boats and colorful building facades.

The old town was teeming with people and had many restaurants to choose from.

The square had many monuments and sculptures all around.

For dinner, I found a place which was very highly recommended, named Neptun. I walked in there but they were closed and were to open in two hours. I waited around and went again in two hours but they were fully booked. The owner was moved by my determination to eat there and put a special table outside for me even though he was worried about rain and did not want to serve anyone out on the patio.

The food was delicious and I got the owner's personal attention. I was happy and satisfied, paid my bill and as I was about to leave, I was offered a complimentary glass of his private homemade stash of liqueur, a gesture that I gladly accepted.

The place looked very pretty in the night and I strolled around before retiring. I had planned on an early exit to the next destination the following morning.

Through beautiful tree studded roads, I drove until I reached Izola. It is very well known for its pizzas, something a fellow traveler told me not to miss. I complied and had pizza for lunch, I did not regret it.

My next destination was Postonja caves. I have been to caves in many parts of the world, including in USA, Poland, Colombia and Belize, so I was not expecting to learn or see anything quite different in this visit, but since it was on the way, and I had time, I decided to go.

It seemed like a very commercial tourist trap. It had a hotel, a big restaurant, massive parking lot, several hundreds of visitors, and the entrance ticket also seemed a bit expensive. Furthermore, I had to wait around two hours to start my visit.

Over the next three hours, my attitude changed as I experienced the very dramatic spaces, stalactites, and stalagmites which were multi million years old.

The baby dragons only found in this cave which are noise and light sensitive, who eat once every decade or so, were fascinating to see.

The next place on my list was to visit Bled and Mount Triglav. Bled turned out to be indescribably beautiful with the lake being the centerpiece of the town.

I found the Grand Hotel Toplice as I walked around the lake and it had the Julijana restaurant mentioned in the Michelin guide. The next three hours were gastronomical bliss.

I had the lake front table and saw the sky change as different courses of the meal was presented.

The Bled Castle was the highlight with its beautiful colored lighting.

Bled is a place I would return to as it offers many active adventures.

The next morning I walked all around the Lake Bled, which was probably 5 km or less in circumference.

The views from each shore were spectacular.

The church of the Assumption on a small Bled Island within Lake Bled looked very cute.

Overall, this was one of the best place in terms of scenic beauty, man made monuments, food and weather.

My time in Slovenia was ending as I had to drive back to Munich for my onward journey.

I felt like I need more time in Triglav area for hikes and more time in Bled to soak in the nature. As the terminator dramatically said, ‘I’ll be Back’!