Last year, we did a bike trip to Tuscany with Trek Travel before Sidi and Ellie’s wedding in Italy and had a wonderful time. Following that experience, we planned another bike trip for 2024 to Slovenia.
We started our trip departing on a Thursday night redeye to
Ljubljana with a 6-hour layover planned in Munich. No issues with the flight,
but with the long layover we could not pass up on the chance to head
into Munich for lunch.
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We arrived late on Friday in Slovenia’s capital and were struck by the beauty of the city. Much of the terrain was mountainous and filled with pine trees, which is very different than the jagged treeless formations that are typical of the Alps. After checking into the city, we went to a pizza place recommended by our hotel front desk attendant that was apparently the oldest restaurant in the city.
Saturday
We spent the day touring around the city and going to the local market to pick up snacks for lunch. The old town of the city was very large and pretty with a network of rivers running alongside the walkways. During the afternoon, we did a tour of the Plecnik House. Joze Plecnik is the most famous Slovenian architect who designed much of the city. Following an earthquake in the late 1800s that wiped out most of the city, Plecnik was responsible for the redesign that is now much of modern-day Ljubljana.
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Our dinner was at Altroce, which was very good. Most notable part was when we were trying to order a local schnapps as a digestif that there was some confusion and we were instead given an overpriced rum from Denmark…
Sunday
We met the rest of the Trek Travel group at the hotel at 10am! Before that, we did a quick tour of a
very small portion of Tivoli Park before a short bus ride to lunch at Strmol
Castle to start the trip.
Our tour group was all Americans this year and mostly e-bikers:
- Kay
and me
- 2 Iowans
in their mid-70s celebrating one of their retirements (Jim and Pat)
- Young
Californian couple in their mid-30s that was on a delayed honeymoon (Bryce
and Jenna).
- 5
Gonzaga alumni that were biking following their ‘wine camp.’ This group
was on e-bikes and many made the uncomfortable choice of not bringing bike
shorts (Jacob, Joe, Maryann, Teresa, Daniel)
The first ride was through the countryside and ended in a
rainy descent into Bled:
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| Bled Cream Cake |
The second day’s ride was the hardest of the trip; 50 miles with 10 miles that were a continuous incline with a few very memorable sites:
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Following the day’s rides, we took a boat to the church on the island in the center of Lake Bled and had a tour, rang the church bell, and had a gelato before dinner that night. The legend says if you pull the rope and get the bell to ring 3 times, you get to make a wish. I got the bell to ring 3 times on my first try.
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Tuesday
We left Bled and biked from our hotel to Lago di Fusine.
Highlights of the ride was half of the day was on a very nice trail that went
by Kranjska Gora ski resort and crossed into Italy and ending the ride with a short climb to the lake in a downpour. The
rain climaxed during the ascent and we then had a freezing ride back down. It
felt like we rode through a cold blow dryer - by the time we reached the
restaurant we were dry.
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For the rest of the bike trip, we stayed at Gredic Castle. It had only a few rooms. Kay and I were lucky enough to get the single suite and had a full floor to ourselves.
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Wednesday
The one downfall of the Gredic Castle Hotel was it was at a
bottom of a hill, which meant there was a quarter-mile, 15 percent-grade hill to
start every ride.
The ride was rolling hills with very pretty weather. The lunch was…interesting. So far on the trip, we had not gone hungry - the meals were really good and usually 3 or more courses. The lunch this day was a traditional Bacalao stew that smelled so awful we couldn’t eat it. When the water came to pick up our plates, he said “I agree that this fish is not very good - it smells like sh*t!” There was no shortage of other food (salad, soups, sides, dessert) so Kay and I definitely did not starve even though we skipped the entree.
Thursday
We convinced our guides to start the ride 30 minutes early beat the rain. I did not mention yet, but before our trip started the weather showed rain every day; however, we managed to avoid torrential rains on most rides so far on the trip. Leaving early paid off, as the rain started right as we reached the lunch spot.
Ready to start the day!
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Friday
We did not bike this day as it was downpouring and
thundering in the morning so the bike portion of our trip came to a close, and
Kay and I went to Venice.
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With our afternoon we purchased some sandwiches for a quick lunch in St. Mark’s square. While eating lunch, a large seagull (more eagle-sized than the US seagulls) quickly stole the bread from Kay’s sandwich right out of her hand!
After finishing what was left of the sandwich, we took a boat tour to Murano to see glassmaking and Burano to see the colorful houses. It was nice to see something new and escape the tourists in Venice.
Saturday
We spent the day with Sidi and Ellie sightseeing, eating
Italian cicchetti and having drinks, before dinner that evening. We went in the
morning to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. As Ellie grew up near Venice, we took
advantage of her expertise to see less-touristy parts of the city, including
the Jewish Quarter, and to try spots popular with the locals.
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Sunday
We departed midday for home from Venice.
The bike trip portion of our trip was great with two very contrasting areas of Slovenia. The first few days were spent in the capital city and in the mountains whereas the end was on the Italian border in the wine region. The bike riding crew was diverse, with many different perspectives, and fun to travel with during that portion of the trip.
The Venice portion of our trip was also great as it was fun to spend time with old friends!
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