Summer Travels to Slovenia and Croatia

by Elizabeth Ahronson, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Our last trips from Prague as our base were to Lake Bled in Slovenia and to Zadar in Croatia. This final trip was a bit different to our previous travels because we went as an end of year celebration with a larger group of sixteen friends.

Our first stop was to Bled in Slovenia where we stayed in a hostel 200 metres from Bled Castle and the Lake. Lake Bled is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. After we got some breakfast the morning after a long overnight coach, we walked round the lake. We spent the first day swimming and sunbathing. We were in Bled at the same time the European Rowing Championships were being hosted and so we were able to watch some races and even saw the British women’s team win their heat.

Along with discovering diving boards and rope swings along secret spots of the lake, we also swam to the island in the middle of the lake where in which a church and a pub was situated. Hiring row boats and rowing around the lake with music on was one of my favourite memories from Lake Bled, although proves rather challenging before you get the hang of it.

Another memorable moment from visiting Bled was when we walked through the alps to the Vintgar Gorge National Park. About a fifty-minute walk from Bled, we entered the gorge and were immediately immersed into the bright blue waters of the river leading to the main waterfall and the tropical wooden walkway taking you all the way to the end of the park. The gorge was filled with little caves and was enclosed by huge rock walls. On our walk back to our hostel, we stopped at a traditional Slovenian pub where we were able to try the local Bled layered cake. During our walk back we began to hear thunder and before we knew it, we were in the middle of a thunderstorm. As beautiful as the lake is in the sun, the scenes of the moody skies and lightning during the thunderstorm were incredible. Later that evening when the storm had passed, we sat and ate dinner with a view of the lake.

Then onto Croatia we went. Another overnight coach that led us to wake up in the city of Zadar, Croatia. We stayed in a lively hostel for one night as a layover, until the rest of our friends were able to come and meet us to move into our Air BnB we had all booked for the rest of our time there. We moved into our 16-bed villa the next day and enjoyed our last trip together of the year, relaxing by the pool, visiting the beaches of Zadar, and exploring the old town. One day, went on ferry ride to the beautiful Island of Preko where we sunbathed and swam to an island a bit off the shore. However my favourite day was when we hired a boat as a group and a skipper drove us to two islands where we could have music on, jump off the boat, and go swimming.