The word is a very exciting place

While staying in Kranj, I headed to Škofja Loka for the day. (in Slovene, and indeed, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin, letters with the accent Š, Č and Ź, just sound like they have an H after them, so they sound like Sh, Ch and Zuh) Škofja Loka is a small little town, with not much, except for its castles. It has 3, one fully open with a museum about Slovene history and life in it, the other two are ruins in the various rolling hills surrounding the town. The first is quite nice, it has a little chapel, a large ethnographic museum, and a few nice little exhibits: Im so silly, I've just realised I didn't even take a proper picture of the first castle! You can just see it in the foreground of the cityscape picture I took. The second castle Is about ten minutes up the hill, following a little spray painted figure. It's in ruins, but you can see just by the size of the moat how impressive it would have been. The third castle, was the best,...

Kranj is Slovenia's third largest settlement, and no doubt many of them had the same problem I did. How on earth was it pronounced? Kran-yu? Kran-ee? Kran-ju? It certainly caused me problems at the train ticket booth, the poor guy there was desperately trying to work out where I wanted to go. Turns out, it's pronounced Kran. Just like Ban, Jan and man. Who would have though? But anyway, Kranj is a very quiet place, it's a sleepy town, where not a great deal seems to happen. However, Kranj is built upon a large rock formation, and during the second world war, the German dug tunnels under the Town, to act as storage and bum shelters. It was really rather interesting. There only tours on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so try to plan your day around them. Here's inside the tunnels: Spooky but interesting! I don't know how well you can see in the second picture, but that's actually a little bat who was fast asleep when we walked right underneath him. Other sights...

When someone says Maribor, (Slovenia's second city) what do you think of? The world's oldest vine? Salads in a jar? Duck ponds? Luckily, it is all of those and more! Maribor actually has the world's oldest vine that still produces grapes, although I didn't manage to find an affordable bottle anywhere. The other highlight of Maribor, is walking through the park, which contains several duck pond (although the ducks were clearly on holiday when I was there) and you can climb to the top of the hill to a point called Piramid. It gives some amazing views over Maribor, as well as you'll be able to see the remains of the fortress on the hill. Also, inside Maribor Town Centre, next to the cathedral, is Maribor Castle (Grad Maribor as it appears on signs and maps) it's nice little museum, with lots of interesting exhibits. The highlights are the pharmacy, the tin soldiers, and the golden statues. The statues on their own are well worth the visit! ...

A real highlight of the area surrounding Bled is Vintgar gorge. It's stunning, it's about a 40 minute walk away from town, through fields and villages, all the while with the snow capped Julian alps watching over you protectively. It's just 5 euros to enter, and it's well worth it. The path is made up of wooden boards, built together to create long swooping boardwalks that follow the walls of the gorge, the whole time keeping you close to the river. It's a breathtaking place to be it really is. Sometimes I was the only one there, other times it was full of tourists. But it didn't matter, I enjoyed it, and that's all you can ever ask for. He's just a few pictures from the gorge.

After Ljubljana, I went to Lake Bled. A stunning lake, the area around it is beautiful. But it comes with a price. Bled is probably Slovenia's most expensive place to be. Luckily, I stayed in Castle hostel, a really great hostel, all mod con and with very helpful and friendly staff. Well worth going to if you don't want to spend the earth. Here's a few shots of Bled. In the Lake, towards one end, is the Blade island, on it stands a church, a tearoom and a souvenir shop. However, I paid 10 euros to get to it, had around 45 minutes on there, and to be honest it wasn't really worth it. The most beautiful part of the island is the stairs leading up to the church. It's full of tourists, literally the place was more crowded that I imagine Hong Kong gets. But if you're lucky, wait for a shower of rain, and you'll have the place to yourself. See what I mean? Sometimes rain can work to your advantage. Also in Bled, is the Vintgar Gorge, or which...