S♡nia - (3)

Day 3 - Vintgar Gorge and Soča River Rafting 

We drove just 15 mins to Vintgar Gorge (which only cost €4/person) and walked for 2 hours to the end of the trail and back surrounded by the calming sounds of water either splashing against rocks or smoothly flowing down the course of the gorge 

Look how insanely clear the water is and also the lovely emerald colour again 

Some stretching!!!

SO CLEAR

My fav photo from the gorge!

We then headed back to the hostel and grabbed extra clothes for rafting and set off on a long 2.5 hour drive to the town Bovec where to go rafting in the Soča river 

Fun Fact: The source of the Soča river is the Julian Alps and the emerald colour of the water is due to the limestone rocks surrounding and in the river that gives off minerals 

Weely didn't join us for rafting as she was furthering her travels after Slovenia and had plans to do rafting then, so she went on her own hike and thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Rafting was so much fun!!! We had the opportunity of swimming in the river which was incredibly cold at 7° (I can't even describe the feeling of being in such cold water - it was almost numbing but I could feel my blood circulating at the same time!!) and we were told that the river had a flow rate of 12㎥/s but during a flood a few years ago, the river was flowing at rate of 600㎥/s!!! At one point, the river was calm enough for us to put the raft upside down, leaning against a huge rock to create a slide into the water! And so we sled down head first, feet first, did canon-ball jumps off it into the river and even did a backward roll into the river - it was an incredible amount of fun! The whole rafting route was incredibly scenic as well - imagine rafting in clear emerald colour water, being surrounded by luscious green forests and tall mountains with nothing but the sound of water currents and the occasional birds chirping :'))))

We met with Weely after rafting and had a meh-dinner at a local restaurant and then drove 1.5 hours back on a different route than we came on - through a mountain range this time and it was one of the most scary drives I have ever been on. Just 15 mins into the drive and the sun had already set and just 30 mins later, we were driving in pitch black conditions and were literally the only car driving up the mountain. We could barely see where the bends were and once even nearly drove off the cliff as we couldn't see the barriers!! BUT WE MADE IT SAFELY BACK TO BLED YAY and I was so surprised that none of us slept on the journey back especially after doing water activities (which I feel really tire you out more than any other kind of activity). We played a few rounds of categories, listened to music and just chatted about random things - it was a really enjoyable drive now thinking about it despite the fear that we wouldn't make it back safely! We slept so well that night and gave ourselves an extra hour of sleep :)

The next day was our last day in Slovenia :((( 

We started the day with the most tiring hike of the trip - to the view point of Ojstrica, but boy was it worth all that inclines!!

View of Bled Island from the ground

View of Bled from Ojstrica!! (and that's my packed lunch hehe)

We walked round Lake Bled after coming down and chanced upon these cuties!!

We headed back to the hostel for lunch (but we had already checked out at 11am that day) and then were told to check out the annual Chocolate Festival in Radovljica - and so we did! However, we drove in the wrong direction for a good hour through crazy foggy conditions (could barely see past 5m) but managed to reach the town in the end! It was really funny actually because even just 30 minutes into the drive, we knew something was wrong as the hostel host told us that it was just 10 mins by bus hah.

We were rather disappointed by the chocolate festival and didn't find the chocolate any special (Lidl's £1 dark chocolate bar is better than any of the samples that I tried) but at least we did experience it since it was an annual thing. After that, we drove to Lubljiana - the capital city of Slovenia, dropped Weely off at the train station as she was continuing her travels in Europe and Clarence, Nicole and I walked around the city centre for a bit, had Japanese for dinner and then headed to the airport!

Slovenia was a dream :')))) I would best describe it as a secret gem - it's like a place that no one really talks/knows about but is absolutely beautiful and pristine and simply breathtaking 

It is definitely one of the most scenic countries I have visited 

Thank You Slovenia!!!!

S♡nia - (2)

Day 2 - We went Paragliding!!!

This was booked with the hostel as I mentioned earlier about the list of services they offered and before the paragliding crew came to pick us up from the hostel at 12pm, we went to Bled Castle in the morning

Shimmering water!!

The crew came at 12pm on the dot and we drove for close to an hour to the top of a mountain, 1250m above ground where we were greeted with this breathtaking view!!

We went in twos and so Nicole and I waited whilst Clarence and Weely went first. We were also left sitting on the slope of the hill facing this exact view chatting about life, just hoping that the crew members would come back up for us as the driver had to drive back down the mountain to get the same 2 paragliders that went ahead with Clarence and Weely (so we were literally the only 2 human beings left on that hill - wee bit scary but also surreal)

and then it was Nicole's and my turn! It was truly exhilarating being so high up in the sky (we were going up at 3m/s) just sitting on something similar to a car seat! I was also expecting the wind to be so loud that there was no chance of having a conversation but it was so peaceful and quiet, I was just chatting to the paraglider like it was so normal to just be having a conversation close to 2000m in the air with nothing surrounding me but nature 

He took me on a crazy spin before we landed and the only downside was that my stomach was churning after and I felt like vomiting for the next 1.5 hours (so did Nicole). But after heading back to the hostel, we all took an hour nap just to recover from that crazy experience, and we both felt tons better after :)

After rejuvenation,  we explored Lake Bled!

And as you can see, the weather was brilliant!

We then hired a boat (€15 for 1 hour, min 4 people/boat) and rowed our way to Bled Island situated in the middle of the lake 

Other people made it seem so easy, but rowing was tough business!!!

This was from Bled Island - there is nothing much to do on the Island - time constraints allowed us to stay there for just 5 mins but I feel like 10 would have been enough to just soak in more of the views. Because of our lack of rowing skills, we ended up taking 30mins more than we were meant to, but the kind gentlemen manning the boat station did not mind and did not charge us extra - thank you kind soul!! 

For dinner that night, we went to the same vegan place again hehehe - so glad my friends were willing to go back to the same place because the food was incredible and also really really affordable!! 

S♡nia - (1)

S♡(love)nia - geddit 

Ok moving on 

So a few months ago, I met Nicole in a lecture and I was asking her about her plans for Spring and she told me that she was planning to go to Slovenia with a few others and kindly offered if I wanted to join them and so I did!! 

I arrived in Slovenia at 4pm on the 19th and Clarence, Nicole and Weely were there 2 days before me. We decided to rent a car for easier travels around Slovenia and so I had to luxury of being picked up from the airport to the hostel! We had booked for Castle Hostel 1004 in Bled and it was one of the best and cleanest (vvvv imp factor) hostels I have ever stayed in - and super affordable at just £12 a night! We were also told extensively about the 'Things To Do' in Slovenia and of course Bled and were given a band each that gave us a10% discount at numerous restaurants and bars around the area. There was also a list of activities e.g. paragliding, rafting, canyoning that the hostel could book for us at great rates!

There wasn't much for us to do after we got settled into the hostel, plus it was too windy and cold and so we just had pizza for dinner at Pizzeria rustika before calling it a night in the hostel. The night ended with us playing Guess the Word SG (the Singapore version of Heads Up!) till our throats were sore from shouting and stomachs were aching from laughing! 

The next day was our proper first day exploring Bled! First stop was to Lake Bohinj where we got on the Vogel Cable Car to have a 360° view of the mountain ranges the surrounded us

 

This was the top of the mountain

and this was the bottom of the same one! A world of difference! 

We then embarked on a long trek to Lake Bohinj and to visit Slap Savica Waterfall

I could not tear my eyes away from my surroundings because it was just full of luscious green vegetation and majestic mountains :') (ended up taking so many of the same photos which I later had to painstakingly delete)

 

Nicole and Clarence drinking glacial water from the stream!

Love the emerald colour :')

Look how clear the water is!!

Climbed up stairs like this for 20 mins straight to get to the waterfall and they got steeper as we neared the top as well - doesn't sound like much but it was really tiring!!

But it was so worth the view! I also had a packed lunch of hazelnut Muesli drowned in the best hazelnut milk I've ever tried (honestly tastes like liquid nutella) that we bought the previous night in the local supermarket 

Views!!! :')))

We then embarked on more trekking after the waterfall round Lake Bohinj

 

 

After a long day of trekking, we drove back to the city centre of Bled and had an epic vegan dinner at the Public Bar & Vegan Kitchen - a must try!!! 

Feeling satisfied with our bellies full of yummy vegan food, we headed back to the hostel, confirmed our plans for the following day and then went to sleep!