The Julian Alps

In Slovenia, Travel, Walking
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Slovenia’s Triglav National Park and Lake Bled

Laying just inside the Northeastern corner of Italy and stretching into Slovenia, a large part of this range of Southern Limestone Alps is within the Triglav National Park. Slovenia’s only national park and one of Europe’s oldest, it takes its name from the three-headed mountain that dominates the massif at 2,864m. Our trip began at Dover, crossing France, Belgium, Germany and Austria with a short stay in Salzburg. We followed the Salzach River out of the city, loosely shadowing the route of the Alpe-Adria Radweg  — a permanent long-distance cycle trail running to Grado on the Adriatic Sea — to Villach before crossing into northern Slovenia via the quiet Wurzenpass route.

An obligatory Mozart recital in Salzburg
Another Salzburg institution, Café Tomaselli on the Alter Markt since 1705, as the branding proudly points out
Perched above the Salzach, Hohenwerfen Castle as seen from our guesthouse
Kranjska-Gora, the first town on the Slovenian side of the Wurzenpass
Sunrise in Bled. The iconic lake, with its island and Church of the Assumption, has become a symbol of Slovenian tourism. Its circumference of only around 4 miles makes it a great run, walk or cycle. The northwestern corner is mostly car free and quieter than the parts nearer to town – I was accompanied by kingfishers and red squirrels while taking this image
View from Bled waterfront at sunset
St. Martin’s church and Bled Castle
The Villa Rikli and Bled Castle. The large, overgrown platform in the foreground suggests that this deteriorating feature of Bled’s waterfront park used to be a railway station but there seems to be little more information out there
  • Peričnik waterfall, Triglav NP
  • Triglavska Bistrica
Walking in the Triglav National Park on a weekday, often the only sounds, apart from the faint rustling of leaves, were the crested tits, bramblings, chaffinches, serins and goldcrests calling to one another and prising open the fresh pine cones to access seeds in the canopy high above us


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