Remember in my previous post where I was telling you about how wonderful my long-lost family from Slovenia was? Well, they just kept continuing on with that trend of being absolutely amazing.

After Maribor, Stephanie’s and my original plan was to just jump onto some trains and explore around Slovenia, well our family decided instead that they would personally treat us to some of the best spots and most exciting places in Slovenia.

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First Stop:

Bled

The picture-perfect-literally-out-of-a-storybook town of Bled, Slovenia; known for it’s tiny church on the lake and it’s towering castle overlooking the lake. It is one of Slovenia’s most popular tourists attractions and THE hottest destination to have your wedding at.

Koper

Next we traveled towards the only bit of coastline Slovenia has: the seaside town of Koper.

Now I have heard a lot about Koper growing up, mainly from stories from my Grandpa, since this was where he was born and lived most of his life before immigrating to Canada. Koper is a big deal in my family. So while there Stephanie and I decided that we would really like to find out where my mom, aunt and grandparents grew up. Originally we thought, ok this might be a bit of a challenge since things might have been renovated, or construction might have occurred. In one aspect we were correct; it was very difficult to find their old house, mainly cause there are no street signs! The city has also renamed several streets and thus since they moved their street name had been changed. So to find this place all we had to go on was an old name and the fact that the building was an apartment complex that was painted red and was close to the water. Of course, if my mother was here it would have been much easier since she would just walk through the streets via memory and pointed it out.

Alas, we did manage to find it after around an hour of searching. Victory!

Postojna Caves and the Predjama Castle

I LOVE castles. This clearly comes from my love of all things fantasy. So the fact that I am visiting a picture perfect renaissance castle built on the side of a mountain is truly something that makes me very giddy indeed.

Now the inside of the Predjama Castle is nothing spectacular, it is damp, cold and somewhat dreary; kinda like a true renaissance castle and unlike some of the famous French castles. All this is thanks to the cliff side it is built on. And while this may seem like a huge fault, it is actually a gigantic strategical military advantage. Seriously, who is going to try and attack this castle by foot?

One of the most exciting features about this particular castle is that it actually tunnels into and links up to the Postojna Caves; a 20 kilometre network of passages, galleries and underground chambers. Talk about your escape route!

The Postojna Caves are Europe’s most visited caves and Slovenia’s most popular tourist attraction. Now the only other caves I have had the pleasure of being able to visit were the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand, and those are nowhere near the size as the Postojna Caves.

Although we were not allowed to take photos I still manage to sneak a few quick snapshots in. They are nowhere close to representing how vast the actual caves were.

We seriously have the best family you could ever ask for. I can’t wait to show them around Canada when they come visit us :)