SMS and I headed for the Slovenian countryside for our second full day in the country. We had heard so much about how beautiful it was and we were really excited to check it out. The weather was overcast and misty, which was quite beautiful, although I’m sure a sunny, blue-sky day would be stunning.
We got to Vintgar Gorge around 9 a.m. There is plenty of parking near the entrance and a ticket booth to buy a trail pass (5€). The 1.6 km trail is rather level and mainly on wooden platforms attached to the rocky hillside or crossing the Radovna River. It is beautiful. The water is a jewel-like green-blue that changes in intensity and depth along its course. Due to the contrast of bright sky and darker gorge, my pictures are a bit blown out and don’t do it justice.
We walked to the Sum waterfall. It looks as if the trail connects to other hiking trails but we turned around to head back. While it was equally pretty on the way back, the trail had gotten much more crowded since some tour buses had arrived. It was much more pleasant when the trail was near-empty so I recommend arriving early!
Next stop: Lake Bled. This was where the weather affected us the most since the classic island-chapel-on-the-lake view was nearly obscured by the mist. We decided not to pay the castle entrance fee since it was 20€ and we were really only going for the view. We walked around the castle to the right and found an open gate that led up to a side entrance of the castle. We couldn’t get into the castle but the view was quite good. I suspect that the gate isn’t always open but we lucked out that day to get a cheap-y view!
We ate lunch at Pizza Rustic. It was an early lunch and it hit the spot. Afterwards, we drove to Lake Bohinj. This is the lake that in-the-know travelers recommend, sometimes over Lake Bled. I’m going to be diplomatic and say that I like both! I would like to return more to Bohinj than Bled in the future because it seemed that there were more outdoors-y things to do. It was a bit quiet since it was a cloudy mid-weekday during the shoulder season.
We grabbed a coffee at the Lakeside hotel and then headed over to Staro Selo to check into our AirBnB before our dinner at Hiša Franko. The apartment was a fantastic. It was walking distance to the restaurant and would be a good base for the regional outdoors-y activities. It is also the only lodging in Staro Selo apart from the few rooms at Hisa, which were already booked when I wrote.
I had discovered the restaurant during my internet research for Slovenia. When I say discovered, I mean for myself since the foodie world has known about Hiša Franko for the last several years. They got a particularly big boost when Ana Roš was featured on season two of Netflix’s Mind of a Chef.
We headed out almost straight away for our 5:30 reservations. I know, so early but it was that or nothing! I had made the reservations by email, which was very easy. The hostess wrote back at the time of reservation (about three months early but then a switch on our part at the two month mark). She asked for any dietary restrictions/preferences. She also wrote back the day prior to confirm our arrival.
We had been given some tips from our food tour companions the day before: go hungry, but not starving since the food is plentiful but not overly so and ask for the multi-herb digestif at the end of the meal made by the old man in the mountain. Got it!
The restaurant was quite nice. The tables were far apart enough that we had our own experience but not so far that we couldn’t exchange pleasantries with people nearby. Our waiter was funny and spoke excellent English. Our sommelier was a super cute Slovenian woman who had studied Slovenian wines extensively but now lived in Asheville, NC but was working at Hisa for two months.
The food was delicious. We enjoyed the aged local cheese in the cheese lollipop and grated in another dish. Many of the courses were quite savory. Unfortunately, writing this several months after the fact leaves a little shaky on the details (or was it the wine flight?) but I’ll try to find my menu. Regardless of the level of detail I remember, it was an exquisite experience.
We ended a meal with the recommended digestif and little cookies. I had two glasses of the digestif because it was delicious and only available there- no bottles are sold and it really is made in a local man’s mountain hut. It was bracing and deliciously herbaceous/aromatic. I highly recommend!
