Playing in the Slovenian Alps

I arrived at Bled, Slovenia, a town on a picturesque lake surrounded by mountains, complete with a church on an island and castle perched on a cliff above. It was a cool, cloudy, and misty morning, my kind of weather, and low clouds were lifting up between the mountain valleys, looking magical as they enveloped the lake with its old church. The hostel in Bled was of very high standard, clean, quiet and excellent showers. The people at this hostel were also a bit older than the university crowd, fellow adventure seekers in their mid twenties and 30s who were interested in playing hard during the day and getting plenty of sleep at night. Here, I met Mark, a guy from Northern Ireland, Jared and Matt from New Zealand, and Cam from Calgary, all of us only intending to stay a day or so, only to rebook another night first thing in the morning. We were all relaxed, getting to bed by 2300 without the temptation of partying, and this would be the place we would all temporarily recharge.

Here I was able to hike along the light blue waters of the very narrow Vintgar Gorge, kayak along a very fast, light blue, almost turquoise river, Mountain bike and hike to watefalls on the steep slopes of the Alps. Mark and I hung out quite a bit doing some kayaking and hiking, we were in the same position of just having quit our jobs. While I try to travel with no set plans, Mark really is the spontaneous traveller, having quit his job, booked his flight and boarded the plane all within a few days. He doesn´t use the internet or travel books to research accomodations, cities, transportation or sights. He just goes, and then sees what happens.

The New Zealanders, coming from a land of extreme sports, apparently couldn´t get enough adventure. We were all startled from our sleep one night when we heard a big thud at 3am. There was a groaning sound and I realized what had happened and groggily yelled ˝Shit man, are you OK?˝ Jared had fallen off the top bunk and was lying on his back. All he said was ˝Ahh, Cheers mate,˝ got up, walked around and then went back to bed. Extreme sleeping, coming soon to the states. He turned out to be ok, he landed on Matt´s backpack, but he later sprained his wrist and knee in a mountain biking accident the next day.

The 4th day in Bled was met with a downpour of rain, I was deciding between staying one more night or heading to southern Slovenia or Italy or Croatia. Cam, Mark and I spent the day playing the old college days card game of Asshole with 4 lovely Australian ladies, all of whom were better at this game than us. (There are alot of travelling Aussies and Kiwis, and while Americans and Europeans tend to travel for 2 months, they are all on 6-12 month walkabouts because of their remote location). One of the Aussie girls told me about a park in Croatia of lakes and waterfalls that were formed from limestone deposits and petrified vegetation with nice blue green waters (such clear waters now becoming the norm in these parts). I thought that sounded cool to check out, so I boarded the next bus to Croatia, planning on stopping at the park on my way to the Croatian coastal town of Split.