The Julian Alps
Bohinj is an emerald-green mountain paradise lying in the heart of the Triglav National Park(TNP), one of the Europe’s largest protected natural area with towering Mt. Triglav (2864m), the highest in the country. The mountain ranges that stretch from northeastern Italy and reign over the TNP are called as the Julian Alps. There are approximately 150 mountains over 2000 m high in the Slovene Julian Alps with 25 of them over 2500 m high. They provide visitors with varieties of hiking trails ranging from an easy family hiking path along the lake shore to climbing to the nation’s symbolic Mt. Triglav which usually require two days of ascent with a mountain guide accompanied.
Lake Bohinj
Lake Bohinj is located 26km southwest of its glamorous twin sister of Lake Bled which is the most popular tourist spot in Slovenia. According to the description on a sign board on a hiking trail, Bohinj is an excellent example of a typical glacier landscape and its Glacier was the largest in Slovenia during the last glaciation about 20,000 years ago. Many traces of glacial erosion along with moraine dams and glacial erratic still remains here. It is directly connected by bus from Ljbljana in 2 hours. Leaving Kamnik, I was planning to get on the bus for Bohinj that would depart the Ljubljana bus station at 11:20am, but it was already fully booked before 11:00 am. So I waited for one hour and took the next bus, which was also crowded with many young wanderers coming from the various parts of Europe. But most of them got off at lake Bled. There were only two couples besides me who got off at the end stop of Bohinj Zlatorog in Ukanc village on the far west shore of the lake. It was a place for nature lovers who like camping, fishing, swimming or hiking.
5 nights stay in Ukanc village
At the Ukanc bus stop, Jože waited for me and took me to his pension by car where I was going to stay for 5 nights to enjoy hiking in the Julian Alps. His pension not only entertains guests at dinner on the comfortable open terrace with traditional Slovenian food and wine, but also provides hikers with the lunch package of sandwich, fruits, and drink at their requests. This was critical for a lonely senior traveler like me, which allowed me to explore the area anywhere and at any time without having to care about food.
(To be continued; the next is "Hiking in Bohinj" )
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