Triglav National Park 🇸🇮

We set off from Bled for a day trip around Triglav National Park.  There is a Slovene folklore of a legendary white goat called Goldhorn that lived in the heights of Mount Triglav.  The horns of the goat are said to be the key to a treasure hidden in the mountains.  The story goes that a hunter fell in love with a girl and won her heart with beautiful flowers; however, a rich merchant from Venice stole her away.  To win her back the hunter tracked and shot the legendary Goldhorn.  As the goat was dying it dragged itself onto a narrow, rocky ledge where it ate the magic Triglav flowers that grew from its blood.  This gave Goldhorn tremendous life power and ran towards the hunter knocking him off the mountain.

The Vršič Pass is the highest pass in Slovenia, reaching 1,611 meters consisting of numerous cobblestones switchbacks (50 in total). The road is commonly known as the Russian Road due to the ten thousand Russian prisoners of war used as labourers in the 1915 construction. There is a Russian Orthodox chapel built by the Russian POWs to commemorate their comrades that died during the construction. The Vršič Pass made the Transfăgărășan highway in Romania looks like a 6 lane freeway especially as we passed tour buses on the narrow lanes.

Our next stop was the Soča river, a 138-kilometre frosted blue water river flowing through western Slovenia.  The kids enjoyed getting out of the car to explore the river and crawl around the rocks.

Our last stop on our circle route around Triglav NP was the Tolmin Gorge.  We spent a few hours hiking around the gorge while the kids looked for fish in the river.  There was even a water tap dispensing fresh spring water that was the kids highlight of the hike!  At the end of the gorge is the Bear's head, a boulder wedged between two cliffs.