In the morning I went to the post office and mailed off the strawberry flavoured, er stained, Croatia guide to the niece in case she wanted to explore other parts of the country herself. Good, one less thing to carry.
This is the Hotel Jezero (Lake) from the small park opposite. Incidentally Zlatorog which we encountered yesterday means Golden Horn. The Zlat is the same as that in Zlatni Rat back in Croatia on Brač and means Golden.
I crossed the stone bridge and watched the tourists and ducks for a while.
Then I dallied around the outlet of the lake where white water rafting enthusiasts were practicing. Finally I made up my mind to visit Mostnica Gorge, just beyond Stara Fužina as it didn't look far.
I passed some handsome dairy cows out to pasture.
At the entrance to the attraction I decided that what I'd seen so far didn't look interesting and too similar to Vintgar Gorge, so I turned back and came down to the main road another way. I couldn't see Srednja Vas, the next village up the road, it was few more km. Also storm clouds were starting to gather so I decided to give it a miss.
This is a traditional double sided hayrack used in Slovenia, the hay is hung on the sides to dry before storage.
I reached the Restaurant Triglav just off the road back before the skies opened up. The menu looked good so I decided to lunch there. The menu of the day, roast pork with potatoes, was very good, as was the desert of fig and currant roll. I could taste liqueur in the fruits.
I have to admit that I did very little the rest of the day; I napped away the afternoon in the pension. In the evening I came out to take a few more pictures.
This is a species of duck I had not seen at close range before.
Perhaps because of the nap, or the coffee, I stayed up a bit watching the German channels on the TV. My lame excuse was that I had to start adjusting to the timezone jump going east in a couple of weeks. Anyway, all I had to do the next day was head back to Ljubljana to mop up any sights I had not visited yet.
Over breakfast I chatted a little with Sarah, a new arrival in the dorm. She was studying to be a doctor. She grew up in Scotland hence the residual accent.
I was so busy copying info about other hostels from the information book in the lounge that I didn't notice the time. I thought I had missed the 0920 bus and was prepared to wait until 1020, but it was still at the station when I got there so I hopped on. It only took 20 minutes to reach Ribčev Laz, at one end of Lake Bohinj, a beautiful lake surrounded by peaks and looking even more alpine than Lake Bled. Because Lake Bohinj is in the Triglav NP, buildings here are sparse. In Ribčev Laz, the main cluster of buildings contains just: a pizzeria restaurant, a supermarket, the tourist office, and a post office. Next door is a hotel and restaurant. Between them is the bus stop. Opposite is a cafe, a sporting goods shop and outdoor activities agency. A bit further away is another hotel, and a church, and that was basically all. There were houses and pensions on the nearby roads. The tourist office found me a room in a pension 300m back.
I walked around a bit to get my bearings, and to observe the ducks and fish. As with Lake Bled, the water was crystal clear.
I decided to walk to Stara Fužina, a village 1km away, to get lunch. The houses here look very middle European, with their flower planters on the balconies. At the eatery recommended in the guide I had a lunch of a Balkan bean soup called pasulj accompanied by bread and washed down with beer. It was quite good.
By this time it was too warm to walk so I retreated to my room to nap. I also watched some satellite TV. Many of the channels were German, which says something about the nationality of the visitors here. Some of the documentaries were high quality. I learnt about how e-waste is recycled in Germany, how vegetarian sausages are made, and all about the tragic death of the Concorde.
In the evening I ventured out too late to get anything from the supermarket so I had dinner at the pizzeria. I picked the bratwurst and sauerkraut. The sausages were highly spiced so it was lucky that there were only two.
Not much done that day, but there wasn't enough time to do a circuit of the lake so that's for the next day.
