Bled, Slovenia

Our travels to Slovenia took us to Ljubljana, the beautiful port city of Koper, the coastal town of Piran, the industrial hubs of Zrece and Materija, as well as the town of Bled.

Each and every one of those destinations are unique, their atmospheres differ. Piran is very touristy (also the executive mayor is Black :-) ) and pretty, so expect to do lots of walking and pay top prices for everything.

Koper is a busy economic zone but absolutely beautiful. There are plenty of restaurants, and shops, and it has that laid back feeling of wealthy coastal holiday towns. I love architecture so I was fascinated by the buildings and the homes across the bay. Navigating its residential streets by car is tricky!

I will say there was one moment in Koper when my husband and I were leaving our accommodation to find a restaurant to have supper, and we passed 3 guys who looked in their early 20s. As we were about to pass each other, probably 2 meters from us, one of the guys spat in our direction. It was getting dark, the street was empty, and anything could’ve happened. It didn’t though.

Bled is quite the tourist destination. Most of the people we encountered were tourists, so I can’t comment on the locals. We walked around the canoe club as people were packing up. No-one seemed to mind. The lake is mesmerizing, it’s island is pretty. I can recommend a visit to Bled Castle, there’s paid access as well as a free walk outside the Castle and surrounds. We visited for a day, and there’s enough to do in that amount of time.

The cuisine in Slovenia is healthy, tasty, Southern European (good oils, light salads before mains), and the portions are decent.

We traveled by hired car, I recommend this if your schedule includes a number of cities or countries. It’s important to inform the car hire provider that you are traveling to different countries so that you’re issued with the correct highway toll license disc. Also have euros ready to pay for public toilet facilities at rest stops.

I would’ve given a 100% score for traveling while black but for that incident in Koper, although I’ll admit that this town was my favourite in Slovenia.