Bled

The last stop on my quick tour of Slovenia was the town of Bled. It is situated on a very picturesque lake.
The water is an amazing color

The town itself is nothing special. Just your typical ski town look. I spent very little time there

The best part is the lake and its surroundings. This church is on a small island in the middle.

I rented a boat and rowed out there for kicks. Pretty church

wild stairs to get up there. Some of the tourists were having a rather hard time.

I circled the island for fun. The bells were tolling constantly, echoing over the lake.

The mountains in the background were beautiful. The large one on the left forms the border with Austria. Snow courtesy of the recent crazy storm.

I know these pictures are repetitive, but I couldn't decide which one I liked best, so...

There is also a castle above the lake.

awwww, pretty

I didn't actually stay in Bled, I was in a hostel in a neighboring town. That evening I went sunset chasing. Climbing the alps, even just a foot hill, on a full belly chasing after a fleeting sunset? yeah, so I didn't get above the houses in time to catch the spectacular, but hey, you will just have to trust me that it was lovely.

The next morning, I went back up the hill, at a more leisurely pace, because the town I was in was pretty cool.

This church had a fading fresco on front

and a really crazy tiny door on the side of the tower.

It was a very pretty walk

This is looking towards the town of Jesenice

Looking towards Bled, you can see the castle on the little hillock to the right

The Julian Alps in the distance

Back towards Ljubljana

A pretty shrine up the hill a ways. though not on top by any means, I only had 2 hours! The Alps are just wild how the go strait up, and up, and up

I had some time to kill in Lesce while waiting for a train. This unusual way of storing hay is very Slovenian.

The town of Lesce

Predjama Castle

I was bound and determined to see Predjama Castle in the karst region of Slovenia

When I got to Postojna, the (rather unattractive) main town, I asked how best to get there. After waving down the suggested bus, the driver smiled, waved back flirtatiously, and kept driving. What? So I rented a bike from my hotel.
It turned out to be a wonderful idea, since the weather held (after my morning in Piran, I was a little doubtful), the scenery was spectacular, and the roadsides covered with wild strawberries.
The castle itself really is amazing. It is built partially inside a cave
The most famous owner was a baron who got mad at his king (for the trifling reason that he killed his best friend) and went renegade. He held up in this castle for over a year (don't quote me on any of this), got his revenge by robbing the king's caravans, and resisted all sorts of siege tactics until the day a traitor shone a light on the bathroom (the little building on the left) when the guy was doing the necessary in the middle of the night. they then proceeded to blast him to kingdom come. ouch.
The front gate was well defended in at least one way
The pretty little scallopings on the top? They open up over the drawbridge for a perfect aim of boiling oil.
The inside of the castle was obviously part of the cave, with back hallways into the cave itself

and even secret passageways between levels or to the outside.

The legends say (or at least the hokey tourist pamphlets) that the baron used to sneak out this one during the siege to pick cherries.
Part of my tour was in the cave below the castle. You can see it in the bottom left of this picture. They used to use it as a stables.

The whole bottom of the cliff was riddled with caves. the top of these 3 holes actually opens into the stables I think.

The creek that is responsible for all of this disappears into blackness rather quickly.

One last look at the castle before I go in. This cave system is the second longest in Slovenia I think. something like 12 or 15 km long.

I didn't take many pictures inside, because, well, the light wasn't exactly up to it. ha

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this guy though

So, in general, I think it was worth the 20 km bike ride through the Slovenian hills (much steeper than your average)

Piran

The third stop on my trip was Piran, on the coast. Slovenia only has a tiny section of coast, but this little town is just absolutely lovely.
Amusingly, I started out my stay there with a bit of a shock. When I walked into my hostel room, a half naked, embarrassingly handsome man poked his head out of a tangle of sheets and said something along the lines of hello. Who really knows though. weeee
Turns out, in addition to his superficial attributes, Dan is a lovely human being. (blushing yet Dan?) We ended up spending a wonderful day together:

wondering over the boats decked out in black flags (any ideas?)

having a drink in the main square and exploring the twisty streets/alleys of Piran

A monastery The old city walls.

Piran used to be part of the Venice city state (or whatever the official title of that type of government is)

lots of blue water, red roofs, and wonderful places to get lost

the church tower

The Adriatic

Pretty stuff

The sunset was interesting because it sort of got swallowed up by the approaching storm. There was a guy playing really bad guitar on the sidewalk

Dan

after the sun set, we watched the lightening hit Venice across the Adriatic

In the morning, the storm had arrived. With a vengeance. The main square was flooded. Umbrellas floating and all. The tiny streets were now rivers (though an upside of cobblestones is you get to now almost keep your feet dry on the same stones that tripped you up the night before)

Quite a change from the day before