Around Lake Bohinj

I was rather peckish in the morning, and I was glad that this pension provided a full cooked breakfast which I took advantage of. There seemed to be quite a few British lodgers.

After picking up a bottle of water from the supermarket I set out along the southern shore of the lake. Lake Bohinj is about twice the size of Lake Bled, but also looks more sombre because it's ringed by high mountains and its surrounds are more sparsely populated.

I reached the cable car lift to the ski fields, near the western end in 45 minutes easily. I paid the 10€ to go up, even though I thought the views wouldn't be good due to the summer haze. And so it was. Still, you get an inkling of how pretty the view could be on a clear day. It was significantly colder and windier on top even on a summer's day.

These are the old cable cars in the photo. I was glad they weren't using these any more, they looked dodgy. Slovenia is modernising.

Back at lake level, I passed the Hotel, named Zlatorog after a legendary chamois inhabiting Triglav and found the path to Savica Falls. This is the headwater of the Sava River which we met before in Zagreb and Ljubljana. The path got rockier the further in. I didn't mind the incline. The problem was that the soles of my shoes were so worn down after weeks of hiking that I could feel the stony path through them. At one point it started to rain so I just stood under some cover and rested a while.

After 45 minutes of walking, all the time asking myself existential questions like what am I doing here, why is the universe so mean to me and what time can I have lunch, I reached the end of the open path. Here I paid an admission fee of 2€, and started up the steep guided path to the falls. I was wearing a jacket against the cold, but I was also sweating heavily due to the exertion so I was soaked at the end.

Well, I had to say it was worth the effort.

So let's catch our breath and enjoy the view for a couple more pictures shall we?

I don't think they would ever allow swimming in it; it looks too dangerous. Anyway the water must be freezing cold.

Curiosity satisfied, I spoke words of encouragement to oncoming visitors on my way down.

Back at the lake I looked in at the Hotel Zlatorog for lunch, but it looked too posh. However judging from posters, it was the venue for live music on weekends. Don Andro's pasta place across the road was in my spending league though. The tagliatelle with ragu was reasonable, though there were only a couple of cherry tomatoes in the salad. I'd noticed this before in Slovenia. Were tomatoes rare in this country or what?

Incidentally it's nice to know that the proprietors of this property give themselves and their guests permission to trespass.

I thought the northern shore would take about the same amount of time as the southern shore, but again, similar to Lake Bled, it was less interesting. The path was rough and overgrown most of the way, but there were vistas. I returned to Ribčev Laz after a 2h15m walk for 4 km. If I had known, I might have taken the bus.

I checked my email at the free terminal at the tourist office and returned to my room to nap. When I ventured out for dinner, it was pouring cats and dogs, so I settled for the nearest restaurant. I think this was the first time this trip I brought out the raincoat, wearing it on top of my jacket. However the lake trout was good, as was the coffee with cream. Slovenia beats Croatia in the coffee stakes.

Everything was breaking down. My MP3 player was mono only now, and the radio/torch was only a torch (well, what did I expect of $2?). The universe was telling me two things: one, the day to go home was approaching, and two, don't expect too much of China-made electronics.